The latest Zwift update is now available on PC, Mac, and Android. It will appear for iOS and AppleTV soon.
Not sure if your Zwift install is up-to-date? Here’s how to check >
This update doesn’t include any new Drop Shop items or roads, but it’s got some feature improvements, a little something for KICKR Bike owners, and… afros! Let’s dig into the details…
Large Event Improvements
On the heels of last week’s emergency bug patch, Zwift has included additional changes in today’s update which should improve our experience in very large events.
Potato owners, rejoice! Zwift says, “These changes will be most noticeable on lower end devices.”
The fixes are centered on how Zwift handles the rendering of nearby riders. In extremely large events (think 2000k + riders) it’s not hard to imagine that a fair amount of processing power and data bandwidth is needed in order to compute rider positions, determine which riders to render, and actually render those riders. Zwift’s update notes say, “Some users may notice differences in the number of bikes/riders they see around them in large events.”
Steering Updates: Wahoo KICKR Bike + More
Zwift’s FutureWorks Steering is no longer restricted to the Elite Sterzo Smart owners – Wahoo KICKR Bike riders can steer using the bike’s steering buttons! This is big news, and hopefully means other smartbikes with steering buttons will be supported soon.
How does steering work with buttons? A single click of a steering button moves you over one “lane”, while holding down the button will slide you across multiple lanes. Sort of like SRAM’s eTAP shifting!
Wahoo KICKR Bikes cannot yet steer on Repack Ridge, but Zwift says that will be available in a future update.
Zwift also made two overall improvements to FutureWorks Steering. First, they’ve modified the default camera angle (camera 1) while steering, to “minimize camera movement while making significant changes in steering angle.” Secondly, they’ve made steering more responsive at high speeds.
Pace Partner Tweaks
Zwift continues to refine the Pace Partner experience, making changes in this update to help people stay close to the Pace Partner and keep multiplying those Drops.
If you’ve been riding with the Pace Partner for more than a few seconds, and the Drops multiplier progress bar has started to fill up, the game will now alert you with a new message if you get just out of range of the Pace Partner:
You can ride as long as you’d like with these “Catch Up” messages displaying – but the progress bar won’t advance. If you move even further away from the Pace Partner, the message will disappear, and then you have about 30 seconds before your progress bar goes away and you have to start the Drops Multiplier game all over again.
So today’s change makes it easier to stay “in” the Drops Multiplier game, since it gives you a little grace before ending your game as you get too far from the Pace Partner.
New Black Hairstyles
Three new “afro” hair styles have been added – and they even look good with a helmet! We can’t wait to see what Shane Miller’s avatar looks like now…
Bug Fixes/Improvements
This release also includes a pile of minor fixes… here’s the list, with a few comments where appropriate:
- Numerous cycling and running assets (kits, shirts) have been added or updated. Word on the street is this includes a new bike frame for an upcoming event. But that’s all we can say!
- Fixed a bug that would auto-select gender during account creation.
- Implemented a 10% grade limit for Computrainer devices to resolve issues with sustained climbs above 10%
- Improvements to Bluetooth pairing to reduce the chances of users getting “No Signal” when pairing a device.
- Fixed a bug that would cause the Pace Partner survey to overlap other UI when ending a session.
- Fixed a bug that caused the Zwift Academy event filter to remain after Zwift Academy ended.
- Fixed a bug that would cause mobile users to see a notification icon on the Zwift App after closing the game.
See/discuss release notes on Zwift’s forum >
If you spotted any other changes in today’s update, please comment below!
Pace partner is a little difficult to get used to in my humble opinion. They should have the pace at the top of the category w/kg but it not benefit from drafting then all other cyclists could draft behind it bringing the required effort more down to mid category. Obviously apart from hills which would be a nice mix anyway
Disagree. I think it works well for people to learn how to draft in groups. Creating a draftless bubble takes benefits away.
I think the poster meant to have the “bot” not draft (put it on a TT bike). Everyone else drafts. Have noticed some surges without the bot changing wattage due to blob influences on drafting, but that’s part of learning how to ride groups.
I send newer racers on our team to go ride with the pace partners to practice pacing groups. It is a great way to learn how to move around, draft and anticipate changes.
One of the best new features IMO.
I think the proposed would just shift the target and people would complain too. I have learned in development that you can never make everyone happy.
Agree, the pace partners are invaluable to learn the draft. Not only for you, but to learn the signs the pack pace is about to pick up! So don’t get caught in the split.
My wife is still upset there are no ponytails or long hair options for the women.
Weird. I’ve seen avatars with pony tails.
Yep, pretty sure my wife has one in game.
You need to change the hair. I think that there is even a pony tail option for men.
Not long long ones. I think Bill means down to waist long.
Yeah, they’re all really short — none of them are more than a little tuft — no shoulder-length ponys or bra-strap-length, let alone anything for those of us with longer. A braid might be easier to render as it doesn’t move as much, but I’d rather a janky-rendered option and be able to look remotely like myself. My avatar is a completely different body shape, cannot have salt-and-pepper hair (solid grey is also not availble for women, just blonde), and my hair’s in the small bun option so it at least kind of looks like it “could be” longer. However,… Read more »
Someone from Zwift actually commented on this on their Forum. It sounds like the issue with longer hair is the overlap between the head area and the jersey area, as they seem to be two distinctly rendered areas. So, basically, having a long ponytail option would then require creating the ponytail on every jersey option, also. It sounds like they are trying to find a fix for this, but my guess is this is a part of the ‘technical debt’ they have incurred over the years, and the fix will require an entirely new UI.
Seriously! They have user request at the top of the log for year and hair length is a discussion point for them? Oh my how sad.
So another thing that cannot be done in their engine? Seriously, they should code the whole thing from scratch again using a modern third party engine!
Looks like ponytails were added this update? At least, I can see them in the game files
the same old short ponytails on male avatars
Nice to know of these improvements but one thing that is very frustrating is Zwifts insistence on using white text on the position tabs on the right hand side of the screen. White text on transparent light blue or green backgrounds make it very difficult to read time gaps between you and others in front or behind in a race even on a 10″ tablet (not all of us have 40″ screens in the ‘pain cave’ aka the garage!). A change to black txt would be a welcome improvement👍
I totally concur, I struggled often to read the white writing, although when on meetup the white is easier to read within the green boxes
The Colnago is rumored to come out right? I didn’t see it in today’s update. Any update on when it will be released into the game?
They’re coming with the Haute Route event in early Feb. They’ve mentioned it in an email.
Zwift updates really bug me – not that they occur, but how. It seems that I always find that an update is required when I start to set up to ride – often a scheduled group ride. I almost missed the TdZ 5 PM ride today because of the Zwift update. It would be nice if they’d give us the choice to update then or later – so we could do the ride that we’re about to do. By the way, I started my set-up about 20-min before the scheduled start.
The update took about 60 seconds to download and install here, how long did it take for you?
It took 10s on my computer
It took about 60 seconds to download, but the “small rotating screens” – before the full blue-background on a PC that precedes pairing – took about 20 minutes!
3 minutes on this latest one
Having people on multiple versions can cause issues with some updates. I have yet to have an update take more than 2-3 minutes.
You need to look at your end if updates are taking that long.
https://youtu.be/5YYlz8A6Drs
Good reminder about updating the launcher. So much faster to update.
I just updated the launcher (even though I just installed Zwift on this computer a couple of weeks ago). I’ll see if that makes a difference.
Updates usually take me 10 seconds. This one has been ongoing for 10 minutes now and is only at 10% 😑
Taking back my comment above. After a quick reboot of my pc, the update installed within seconds.
Love to see there is progress on Zwift! I really hope that one fine day the pace partners are available on other routes as well or maybe a an option to ride with a personal pace partner who accompanies during workouts, etc. Cheers to zwiftinsider for all the news and valuable information, it really makes Zwift more intense and fun! Ride on
Does this contain the unlock Jersey for the Bo Bikes ride which was held yesterday? Many people did the ride but didn’t get the jersey….maybe it’s in this update?
If you didn’t get it after today’s update, perhaps you will get it after the actual event. I think the recent event was just a ‘training ride’ in preparation for the actual event. I didn’t see the event notice, though, so I’m truly not sure if there was supposed to be a #jerseyunlock for it.
Awesome news about the hairstyles, something I’ve wanted for awhile. Representation matters! Nice work, Zwift
Still waiting for a single female avatar in all the options. I agree that representation matters! I can imagine that the male Zwift Users assume that when female Zwift users are selecting their options they are seeing female avatars sporting female hairstyles. Untrue. We select from the same male options that the men do. Cant wait for them to add some long hair:)
After I updated my software, I lost display of sprint results in my meetup – a new glitch?
Meetups don’t seem to work at all after this update. App crashes instantly after reaching finish line in meetups.
Wow, 2000k! So that’s 2,000,000, new peak zwift?
Good spot
This is the 2nd update in a row where after installing, when I click “Let’s Go” nothing happens. Last time it wouldn’t work until the next day. I have been fiddling with it for two hours now, so hope tomorrow things will get better.
Same for me for some updates already, what I do now is update and then restart the computer and all is good after that
wouldn’t it be nice if the di2 buttons on top of the hoods could also be assigned to steering….
Downloaded update…And now Zwift does not recognize my Bluetooth!!! I have reset, reinstalled, disconnected EVERYTHING!!! Setup…IPad, Wahoo Kickr. Have NEVER HAD ISSUES BEFORE. Please help!! I have done everything!!! And yes my wahoo kickr still is recognized but the wahoo app…
If you need help with that, I recommend asking in the Zwift forums, not here.
The same has happened to me on my iPad Pro (2017) with Tacx Neo. It sometimes gets the connection and then loses it before I get into Watopia. Also tried restarting everything. This has never happened before.
Just curious how long it takes for other peoples Zwift to update. MIne usually take 10-15min. and this is with a hardwired (cat5) connection.
Usually a minute for me
Depending on size but in general everything used to take long on my high spec machine with cat5 on fibre. Got no support help beyond it is you not us. But I managed to fix it, I cancelled my subscription 😉
I just did the update and it took exactly 25 seconds from “preparing to update” until the Welcome screen appeared.
Download speed was between 7.8 – 8.5 mb/s (according to the screen) if that helps. MacBook Pro, WLAN.
Mine takes well under a minute over Wi-fi, *BUT* my PC has SSD. When I used an older laptop with HDD it took much longer to update, and took FOREVER to start up. SSD makes a huge difference. I used to allow 20 minutes before an important event to make sure my laptop was running, no Windows updates required, start Zwift and update, change into kit and grab fuel/hydration, and if Windows update was required I would STILL be late. Now it takes me longer to grab a bottle from the fridge (in the pain cave) and put on my… Read more »
I am having issues after the update on desktop. I keep having drop outs every few seconds. Tested on 2 internet connections and its the same.
Quite frustrating.
Will try a full delete and new install.
Hello, if you start a ride by mistake is there a way to go back to Menu instead of ending it and being out of Zwift and app closed? Reentering takes time again. Thanks.
Nope. But there are lots of requests for this on the Zwift Forum. You should search for one of them and vote up the request.
I just want to know when Zwift will implement graphics performance upgrades. I get that there is a ‘base Zwift’ that needs to work across devices, but performance on my 1050ti is pitiful compared to what optimised Games achieve in terms of frame drops and visual quality
Would be pretty cool if you could change lanes without any special equipment too. Just use arrow keys on a pc for that or whatever. I am tired of getting stuck behind other people, mostly on climbs.
More run levels please! I think they’ve been promised for a while now.
PS I’m not just a whinging runner, I’m also a Level 42 cyclist, a long standing Zwifter.
When they add options – their own clubs. Organizing group rides in meetings is very difficult and tiring. On rouvy, you just need to enter the link and password to drive.
I don’t have a ‘steering’ setup myself, but I’m curious: Does the steering functionality in Zwift basically allow you (if you so choose) to:
1) Try and break someone’s draft of you by swerving aside from being in front of them etc
2) Allow you to pass upcoming riders without the potential issue of ‘sticky draft’ (and how it often slows you down several kph) by ensuring you come past them on the other side of the road?
1) Yes
2) I guess so, but I haven’t seen this directly demonstrated
I’ve had the sterzo for a while now. And the stickyness is way less with steering, I guess because you can only stickydraft if you are exactly in the same “lane”, so if you are just a bit of, your rider will ride around the rider before you.
Don’t call it “black” hairstyles pls
LOL… Wondered how long it would take!
Pace Partner update tells you if you are in front of or behind them. This is a great upgrade.
Unfortunately I’m still a noob and I got caught up in the draft out front and slowed down too much for D Diesel to catch up and got dropped.
Still seeing riders shoot off road and head up hills or into trees. Yesterday there were 2 riders doing circles over the water near the Italian village, Funniest darn thing I’ve seen on Zwift
Seeing some of our club experience in-game relentless automatic U-Turns since updating and steering pair to be always-on in opening screens. This caused some of our riders to spend over 30 minutes, having to fresh install Zwift and entering and leaving rides many times until the bug disappeared. Advice is to make sure you check after update for bugs before trying to enter a race event.
Not as smooth an update as we are accustomed to apparently.
Hey Eric, do you have any info/update on when Zwift are likely to issue a repair/patch for the broken Bluetooth connection that many iOS users are now experiencing with this latest update? Looking at various Facebook sources and the Zwift forum, it appears to be a widespread problem with many users now unable to get Zwift to their hardware. The usual remedies like uninstall and reinstalling the app and checking BT connection aren’t curing the problem.
Not sure if it had anything to do with the update, but I randomly got the 1100 and 1200 watt badges today while doing 250 watts in ERG mode during a workout.
None of the onscreen displays changed and my speed stayed the same. Just showed me the “achievement unlocked” screens out of the blue.
Not quite the same but for some reason My power has dropped from 3.4 W/Kg on rides to 2.5 W/Kg, I used to be able to coast with B.Brevet but I struggle to hang on now. Riding Zwift since October managed to get onto a B racing Team but now not a chance I’d last in a B Race more than 5Km before being blown out the back door.
2000k+ riders. Sounds a bit much 😉.
Nice that there are more diverse hairstyles but how about a single female hairstyle? It would be nice not to have to chose the male avatar hair that most closely resembles ones own. Cmon Zwift you can do it!
Tour de Zwift 5 was terrible today, lots of people moaning about losing positions, 500 or so at a time. Riders kept disappearing and screen freezing as before the upgrade. Finished the ride but no data recorded. The update hasn’t solved all the issues.
The new steering capability for Kickr Bike is nice. Using it to find the shortest ways through narrow curves made me finish The Mega Pretzel after 106,6 km instead of 107 km.
So what’s with yesterday’s (1/26) update???
I think these where just fixes for bugs that came with the last update to some iOS user.
Since the last update, my Wattbike gears don’t work.
anyone know a fix please?
It’s driving me nuts!
Hi, I am using Apple TV and since the last update on group rides I cannot see all group messages, nor some of the riders I follow. Tried everything…this is very frustrating
Does this mean that AdZ is now easier?
?
Late question on this post but can anyone fill me in on how to “reset” zwift after an update so my trainer is able to connect again? After the last two updates my trainer will not connect. I know it is specifically a zwift issue as my trainer has connected fine to RGT. The only way I was able to fix the issue is to delete EVERY zwift file on my computer (which is alot) and reinstall.
Updates take forever! Is there anyway I can understand how long an update will take? I am generally very limited on time to ride and to log in and realize there is an update drives me crazy because it eats into my limited ride time. What’s worse is that the system doesn’t tell me how long the update will take or at least a meter to tell me how much longer the update has to complete. These updates absolutely drive me crazy! I have no idea why these updates take sooo long. I have now been waiting for over 15… Read more »