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    Compass 55. Voice coach.

    App Store

    When enabled and configured, the voice coach will announce active track distance and duration as well as current speed and altitude.

    In the current version, the voice coach only runs when a GPS track is being recorded. This ensures that the coach provides exact and reliable information, whether the app is running in the foreground or background.

    The app gives a hint whether the coach is enabled or disabled (disabled by default). When you tap on the MENU button, the hint is on top of the “NEW TRACK” button:

    Until you start a new track, this is just a label, and to access the voice coach configuration you can delve into Advanced Settings > Voice coach.

    Once GPS track recording is running, this hint becomes a button:

    Tapping on it will open voice coach settings:

    By default, the coach is off and some configuration is pre-populated for you, like an enabled announcement every 5 minutes of tracking and a disabled announcement every 10 miles or kilometers. Until you enable the voice coach, all of this stays mute and inactive.

    This way of configuring things enables you to set up multiple voice coach “triggers” without having them active and then switch only those that you need for a specific situation. Driving and skiing, for example, are quite different activities that need quite different sets of triggers.

    The “+” button on top allows you to add more triggers.

    Tapping on a row with a trigger allows you to configure its specific parameters. Here is a screen for a time trigger:

    And for the distance trigger:

    There are no limits on the number of triggers you can have, though there are minimum limits of 20 seconds for a time interval and 100 meters (328 feet) for distance. Of course you can still shoot yourself in the foot by configuring and enabling triggers that overlap — the app will queue the announcements with a reasonable timeout and discard the most outdated ones as new announcements arrive. But why would you configure it this way? :)

    All ideas for the voice coach evolution to match your needs are welcome!