Last week was a big one at Zwift as they announced a restructuring and “right-sizing” of the business, eliminating ~200 positions in a company of 700+ employees (read more here).
Zwift says the move away from hardware will let them focus on improving what really matters: Zwift’s software. “We are committed to increasing the development of the core Zwift game experience, increasing the speed of new feature releases, and making the platform more accessible than ever before.”
When will we see the fruits of Zwift’s refocused efforts? Zwifters hope it’s soon, and not zoon. Some Zwifters doubt that the restructuring will actually move the needle when it comes to Zwift’s ability to improve Zwift.
As I thought about it over the weekend, I decided if I was in charge at Zwift, I would want to make some quick, easy improvements to show the community we’re listening and have the ability to roll out useful updates quickly.
With that theme in mind, here is my list of 10 easy upgrades Zwift could implement to help meet the goal of “making the platform more accessible” and “increasing the development of the core Zwift game experience”. Some of these upgrades are so easy they could go live by simply changing a line or two of code or an entry in a database. Others may take a programmer or designer a few hours of work. Some have already been developed internally, but never released. But they are all easy wins for Zwift which the community would love to see. So without further ado…
#1: 4th Challenge
We’ve written about this in the past, more than once. Zwift has had the same three Challenges since early days, with an image that seems to show a 4th Challenge can be unlocked.
How is that Challenge unlocked? By Zwift’s team getting around to creating a 4th Challenge and putting it into the game.
The ideation has already been done – by Zwift (internal sources tell me additional Challenges have been conceived and even partially designed), but also by the Zwift community itself, which has come up with a pile of Challenge ideas (including this lovely bit of artwork).
There should always be a Challenge for every Zwifter to be working toward, even if it’s a crazy one like riding to the Moon (238,900 miles).
If you agree, upvote the feature request >
#2: Level 51+
Zwift added levels 26-50 back in December 2018, but hasn’t added additional levels since. Many of Zwift’s most dedicated long-term users have been stuck at level 50 for years. Myself included.
Sure, level 50 Zwifters represent a small slice of the overall community. But they’re the super users. The evangelists. Zwift should want to keep them engaged and excited.
Adding a new set of levels is one easy way to do it. And it would take so little on Zwift’s part. Can I let you in on a little secret? Level 50 Zwifters don’t really care about unlocking new socks at the next level. We’ve got plenty of socks. But we do enjoy working toward new levels.
Zwift could add the new levels with nothing unlocked at each level and Zwift veterans would rejoice. Then Zwift could come in and back-fill those new levels with some simple unlocks (socks, hats, new glasses, etc) in the coming months. Easy peasy.
If you agree, upvote the feature request >
#3: Group Ride Ons in Events
Right now you can tap your location arrow in the Companion app during a free ride/run and give a Ride On to the 5 closest Zwifters. But you can’t do that in an event. (I’ve written about this more here.)
It used to be possible, so we know the functionality already exists. But it was disabled in events for unknown reasons after being in game for several months.
Bring it back, Zwift, and let us be more encouraging and social with our friends!
If you agree, upvote the feature request >
#4: Remove Clubs Signup Limits
Currently, Zwifters are allowed to sign up to a maximum of three Clubs, and that includes Clubs they own. Additionally, Clubs are limited to just 100 members.
This is just silly, and it has hamstrung the rollout of Clubs. Consider this:
- We have a Zwift Insider Club (join it here), but I haven’t shared it because I know we’ll hit the 100-member limit within hours.
- My team (DIRT) has a Club that existed before today’s Clubs tools. It is capped at 500 members, which again is silly given that our team has several thousand members.
- I personally know of several IRL Clubs who haven’t started using Zwift’s Clubs tools because their Club has a few hundred members.
A partial Club is no Club at all. If you’re using Zwift’s Clubs tool to unify a group that already exists, and you can’t get all your members into the Club, the Club is useless. If Zwift should have learned anything in the past 5 years, it’s to stop playing gatekeeper and let Zwifters make their own choices.
There’s good news here, though: according to this forum post, Zwift is actively working on letting us have more than 100 Club members, and join more than 3 Clubs.
#5: More Missions
Missions are those short-term events (usually a month long) challenging Zwifters to ride 250 km, climb 20,000 feet, burn 10,000 calories, etc within a given timeframe. While we didn’t see many Missions in 2021, Zwift has hosted Missions in January and April so far for 2022, so that’s a good sign.
I would love to see monthly Missions become a standard on Zwift. It shouldn’t be tough to come up with compelling ideas as there’s an abundance of Mission fodder floating around between partner product launches, new Zwift features (ride all the former Rebel Routes, perhaps?), and personal challenges.
#6: Saved Logins/Pairings
Many Zwifters share their Zwift computer/device with others (the family that Zwifts together stays together, right?) Zwift should be able to optionally remember recent account logins so starting up Zwift under the correct account is quick and easy. (It can already do this on AppleTV and iPad, but not on PC, Mac, Android, or iPhone.)
Additionally, paired devices should be remembered based on account, so when I’m signed in as a particular user my devices automatically and quickly pair up. (Currently paired devices are remembered for all accounts which have used that computer, which gets confusing when multiple users have different bikes, heart rate monitors, even trainers!) When we all basically use the same equipment for each session, pairing should be automatic and fast, unless a problem occurs.
#7: Show Routes for Events
I love that Zwift’s new homescreen UI places more emphasis on events, and lets you see the event description and other details more easily than the old UI.
But I have one big complaint, as a route guy: where is the route name?
The Companion app shows the route name and a map. But it’s missing in the new homescreen UI and also missing on the Zwift.com events calendar (zwift.com/events).
I never sign up for an event without knowing which world/map it’s on. Zwift, tell us the world and route so we know what we’re signing up for, please. Bonus points if you can link that world/route name to a simple popup window showing the route’s animated map and an elevation profile!
#8: Annual Plan
A longtime request, Zwifters want Zwift to do what’s become the standard in the industry: give us a discount if we pay for 12 months. Wahoo’s recent acquisition of RGT focused in on this pain point, with Wahoo offering a $50 discount for annual memberships.
I think many Zwifters would be happy with 2 months free, and this would probably convince a lot of riders to just pay for a full year instead of pausing their accounts in the summer.
If you agree, upvote the feature request >
#9: Power Curve Improvements/Fixes
I love checking out my critical power curve on Strava after hard races, to see if I set any recent power bests. Zwift’s power curve on the Ride Report screen offers a taste of the same capabilities, but it’s a very rudimentary and buggy version of what’s become standard in the industry.
If Zwift could let me change which time window the power curve represents (past 6 weeks, all of 2022, all time, etc) and fix the bug that sometimes makes the two lines appear very separated even though they should overlap, the power curve window would become much more useful.
#10: Clean Up My Garage
A common request from racers, it would be nice if we could delete items in our garage. Heck, if it’s too much hassle then we won’t even ask for some of our Drops back when “returning” items. Just let us delete the stuff we’ll never use, so we can more quickly find the bikes we want!
Your Thoughts
What do you think of my list? Do you have an easy change you would add to it? Share your thoughts below!
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