Hammerhead has announced an on-device App Store, except…well…just don’t call it the App Store. Instead, it’s officially called the “Native Extension Library”, or, in some places, also called the “Native App Library”. Either way, it allows you to tap and select to install 3rd party apps directly onto your Karoo 2 or Karoo 3, without needing to side-load apps (which on the Karoo has historically ranged from heavily geeky-cumbersome, to mildly cumbersome). This is a big deal, especially in comparison to what competitors Wahoo and COROS have (or rather, don’t have). However, it’s clearly still in its infancy. More on this in a second.
The next bit is that Hammerhead has made it easier to adjust data fields on the fly, as well as given you more control over the layout of those data fields. This too is pretty cool, and puts them more in line with what Garmin offers in terms of on-device data field customization.
I’ve been poking at both changes, and have a few thoughts. Starting with one of the most notable ones: I think this will be seen as a turning point in the Hammerhead vs Wahoo battle. Note, I say Hammerhead vs Wahoo, and not Hammerhead vs Garmin. In many ways, these two companies are competing for second place. But more on that later.
But first, let’s talk tech.
The Native Extension Library:
I thought about titling this section “The App Store”, but, I’m going to go on a slight rant/tangent here and make a point about titling it with the silliness it’s named, the “Native Extension Library”. At times, I feel like Hammerhead goes out of its way to reduce interest in its products. Said differently, if there was an award for “anti-marketing”, Hammerhead would win it. Be it the “New Karoo” naming fiasco, or not calling this an “App Store” (or other examples along the way), these moves only serve to flat-line interest in otherwise cool features and products.
As GPLAMA correctly noted in his video on this topic, Hammerhead content consistently performs exceptionally poorly (in terms of views and interest, be it on YouTube or the written site). This is outright bizarre in my mind, because as a product and features Hammerhead blows away many of their competitors. The Karoo 3 (or, ‘new Karoo’) is factually exceptionally good. A contributor to this, is for whatever reason, Hammerhead seems to try and find ways to make their cool and sexy things as dull, boring, and unmarketable as possible. I fail to understand it. In an ever-increasing world of heavy influencer marketing that many of their competitors engage in, Hammerhead has to be vocally proud of the things they create, and do it in a way that makes consumers excited to read/watch/etc a story about it. Else, they won’t meaningfully increase market share. Plenty of past failed bike GPS companies can attest to this reality.
Anyways, rant over.
Let’s get into it. First up, is updating your unit. As always, when you’re on WiFi, it’ll automatically connect and grab the latest update, which it shows in that purple box:
A few minutes later, the update is applied, and we’re in business. At first glance, you won’t notice anything (again, another reminder of burying the good stuff). Though, they do briefly cover the new data field bits, which are pretty cool.
In any event, if you tap the four little dots in the lower left to open up the dashboard, then you’ll see the new ‘Extensions’ folder:
This app extension library is what holds 3rd party apps, be it ones Hammerhead serves up (basically officially approved apps), or 3rd party apps you manually install via so-called ‘side-loading’. Of course, since the Karoo is running atop Android, this can mean everything from simple data fields you can use within the Karoo while riding, but also full on Android apps like Spotify or…umm…Instagram.
However, this is more than just a place to stash side-loaded apps. This is really the beginning of an App Store, and this launch now puts 7 apps into that bucket, ready for you to tap ‘install’. Previously, this required all sorts of cumbersome geekery. Now it’s a simple tap to install these apps. You can see this first round of apps:
If I tap on the Epic Ride Weather one, then I can click install:
From there I can work to get it all set up. Some of these apps require additional steps outside the Karoo, and others just work as-is. In my case, I continued on, and installed myWindsock, so I could see the wind details live on my unit:
From here, I went out riding. I’ve been riding the last few days in Morocco, and the remainder of the week as well. Thus far, it’s been reasonably windy each day (ranging from breezy pleasant to Netherlands FML).
Having the little wind data field has consistently been more useful (and frankly correct) than the Wahoo ACE built-in wind sensor (which I’m also running):
These are the sorts of little apps that are awesome, and a core example of how Garmin has historically expanded its empire. While I don’t think Connect IQ is the main reason people choose a Garmin device, I think it does contribute to why people might stay in the Garmin ecosystem, if they’ve found specific integrations they don’t want to lose. Thus, it’s apps like these that Hammerhead needs to do everything possible to court.
Meanwhile, back in the Hammerhead App Store, notably absent here is the Ki2 app, which adds Shimano Di2 compatibility to the Hammerhead Karoo, after Shimano acted like a 2-year-old “without adults in the room” (actual quote from someone at *Shimano* in the know) and yanked access to Di2 integration for reasons that still remain unclear years later. The reason it’s not listed as an official app is because that would put Hammerhead in the position of ‘approving’ something that basically contains the propriety ‘key’ from Shimano. That key was reverse-engineered, which would put SRAM in a precarious legal position.
But fear not, you can still simply download the Ki2 app and side load it. It’s just not showing in the extensions library all easy-peasy to select.
Going Forward:
This is a good start to the App Store (and seriously, Hammerhead, just call it an App Store, embrace it). I’m sure at some point they’ll have categories and such, but with a literal handful of apps in it right now, that’s unnecessary. The next step will be to encourage developers to actually develop for it. And the best way to do that is to ensure that it’s easy for developers, especially hobbyist developers, to make small apps and publish them.
That’s exactly what Garmin did just over a decade ago, when they announced the Garmin Connect IQ App Store. More apps drives more interest (consumers, developers, and bigger companies), and limiting apps at this stage does little to encourage development. The easier Hammerhead can make it for developers to jump in (with lower barriers to entry now), the better it is long term.
Which brings us full circle back to Wahoo. At some point, Wahoo has to start offering an App Store. We’ve seen in recent years Wahoo has struggled to keep up with new features, especially with the transition to the Wahoo ACE (which is a new codebase for future Wahoo bike computers, removing numerous long-held Wahoo features that Wahoo has been trying to add back in). Hammerhead easily passes Wahoo in monthly/quarterly/annual new features, and not just throwaway stuff, but legit super-useful things. It’s very hard for anyone to objectively say that Wahoo’s units, on the whole, are better than Hammerhead’s right now. I’d struggle to see anyone try and mount that case, especially with the new Wahoo ACE-based codebase assumption.
For perspective, many times over the last 15 years a company will ask me “Do you think we need X feature?” to compete, where usually it’s a big-ticket feature, and one that’s gonna take a lot of dev time. For example, on watches, that could be music, or ECG, or NFC payments. My response is always the same: “Can you envision a scenario in 3-5 years where if you don’t have that feature, you can actually compete in this category?” In 100% of the cases, the company responds back with, “Ugh, you’re right…now to figure out how to get there.”
In this case, Hammerhead has put in the ‘ugh’ time, and certainly has plenty more ‘ugh’ developer time remaining. But this is a big milestone for them. Likewise, Wahoo has to be thinking about how to get themselves there. In that same vein, so does COROS, but arguably, a few years further than Wahoo. COROS isn’t yet competing with the higher-end units from Wahoo/Garmin/Hammerhead. But eventually, they will. In which case, they should ask themselves the above question. It’s really as simple as that.
With that, thanks for reading!
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I gave away my K2 because the battery just wasn’t holding up on my end and went with a Garmin instead of the K3. SRAM/Hammerhead just didn’t meet my needs from a fitness / data perspective anymore, especially since I also have a Garmin watch.
However, the thought crosses my mind though that as they start to add apps like this, it’s more disappointing that the K3 doesn’t have the SIM slot of the K2. If you have a SIM slot and can get a music streaming app like Spotify in there, a podcast app, and something that can send emergency messages and it would actually be possible to go out without the phone.
Maybe that would have been a niche use but at least it’d be something to actually drive interest to the K3 instead of it just seeming to be the device that people are trying once and then immediately selling off once they get the new SRAM Red.
Yeah, I think the SIM card debate is a tough one.
In the K2 realm, they were talking very low single-digit percentages of all users, actually used it. That’s a tough thing to justify. With K3, and leveraging your phone for the data connection (as I did here for the live weather data), that solves it even more, since K1/K2 didn’t have the phone internet tunnel (BT connection/app). Thus, I suspect that low-single-digit % would have gone down even more.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some people that ride without there phone, but I suspect that’s an even lower number than low-single-digit %, since I suspect most of those people still had their phone on them.
I have a K2 with the SIM slot. The only time I actually used a SIM in the K2 was when I was in China and Hammerhead’s map base was stored on Amazon AWS which is not normally accessible in China. I had to use a non-Chinese SIM to download the China map base. Other than that one use case, I have never installed a SIM in my K2.
I had a K2 with SIM and had Spotify sideloaded. Bought the K3 also sideloaded Spotify, and now I just download the music (using the Spotify app) I like onto the device, same on Audible. I never carry my phone and have my Pixel Watch 3 on wrist in case I need to call someone. My Garmin radar beeps in my ears when it senses a vehicle while the music is playing. I have had most computers and Hammerhead, for me, is an easy winner. Would it be nice to have a SIM and possibly send tracking details, sure. But I’ll be honest, in regard to Spotify, Audible, it makes zero difference once you download your library (or selection of music) to the device.
I also gave up on the k2 when battery wasn’t holding and ended up with Garmin. For me Karoo took too long to deliver on basic things.
SIM card – I was one of the single digits who used it. It was useless.
* Trying to generate a navigate to on the fly with k2 was horrible.it was faster to open Strava, create route, then sync to device. At that point might as well use phone hotspot.
* It was useful for live tracking, except it drained battery and it was the first thing they told me to turn off whenever I had issues. It was also not the best implementation of live tracking
* it created issues with map updates. It would start map update on sim data, then didn’t show any map until update was complete. Since it used an old radio chip it was slow
* upload at the end of a ride – that was just useful because they didn’t have a functioning companion app
* For real value of riding with no phone they should have provide some messaging option through the sim. There was none and side loading android messages didn’t work well.
Only reason I kept the sim in there is that I had a free line that I wasn’t using. I would never have paid subscription for the limited functionality.
As for App Store, that should have been done a long time ago. Up until the K3 their api documentations were horrible and they didn’t not provide any support. Maybe if they had that and the companion app for the k2 I would have given the k3 a chance.
Ray, will you be doing a separate piece on the data field changes? Thanks.
I had sorta planned to have it part of this piece, and then the rabbit hole of the app store got longer than I envisioned. So, skipped it for the moment. The link to GPLAMA does a pretty good job explaining it. It’s good stuff though!
Yup, checked out Shane’s video, thanks.
I recently switched to a Karoo 3 from a Garmin 1040 after it kept changing battery / screen settings whenever it decided to. After it died halfway through a 100 mile gravel race, I bought the Karoo. So far, I’m very happy with the change. It seems they had already improved on a number of the issues from launch. The companion app is fine now – it’s no Garmin Connect, but it’s fine. I actually prefer workouts on the Karoo, and I the navigation is phenomenal. This update fixes a few of the issues I had, especially with page layout and on the move data field adjustments. The color coded fields for power and heartrate are great.
I’ve held onto my 1040, but I can’t see myself going back.
I think one of the things that is most notable is that this is being rolled out both for the New Karoo and also for the Karoo2.
Yes, the battery life isn’t mindblowing on the K2 (it’s good enough in my book), but the fact that it’s still being properly supported and updated still is a great reason to recommend Hammerhead as an ecosystem.
I’m curious how long you had the K2 for. In my experience it was just barely enough when I first bought it (the spring after it launched) but between battery degradation and additional features adding to the battery drain, it just stopped holding out long enough for my metric century and longer rides. Maybe I was just unlucky with the degradation but I don’t know. Admittedly, I ride solo and a bit slowly at times as I work to get out of the city.
But I gave it away to someone who never rides more than 30 miles, works for them. Though the simpler interface compared to Garmin is probably a benefit there as well.
Your experience sounds terrible! And probably should have been covered by warranty.
I’ve had my Karoo 2 for 3 years and it will still last through 8 hours of riding if it’s not too cold out, with full navigation, decent screen brightness, etc. With the newer battery saver features I’m sure it would go beyond that (or if I wasn’t using always-on screen with navi + lots of sensors).
Battery life is definitely the weakest point of the unit, don’t get me wrong, but it’s still the best head unit I’ve owned or used for my needs (primarily navigation).
I went from Garmin to Karoo last year. Fed up with crappy software of Garmin crashing all the time. Was with Garmin from the Edge 705 untill the 1030. Don’t get me started over years of crappy bluetooth connections.
But now Karoo, best choice ever. It’s incredible. 0 issues, 0!
It just keep getting better. And the continues flow of updates and new stuff. Great.
Same for me. Ditched my edges 1030 and 1040 for a K3. So much better. The main (only) feature I absolutely need is to be kept on a GPX track, mainly for brevets. Karoo does that so much better than Garmin, much more readable maps and navigation, immediate reaction when I miss a turn and smart dynamic reroute. Garmin reacted always too late, and overlapped my position with a warning.
I love my Karoo, definitely not going back to Garmin.
I am very tempted to switch to the K3. Been on Wahoo forever. Not sure I can wait for the Ace to finally work as intended (and really don’t like how big and heavy it is).
Are there ever any good deals on the K3?
I suppose it would depend on your definition of “good”. Then it depends on your location. In EU I’ve seen it 100.00 American dollars off. In the US I have seen 10-15% off on advertised one day flash sales on various common sites like Bike tires direct (don’t quote me on percentage there) and similar.
If you want to roll the warranty dice there are always big savings on Ebay and FB marketplace on people’s units that came with their sram red bike (as well as the people who want ALL the money for their unneeded unsupported device)
I did reach out to HH and ask if I could purchase a limited warranty to cover a resold device and was told absolutely not.
Thanks! That is super helpful.
That’s interesting about your query about warranty on a resold device since I have had the exact opposite experience in Australia: I have purchased 2 used K2s and in both cases Hammerhead transferred the warranty from the first owner to me (and to my wife for the one I bought for her) with a simple three way email between the seller, HH and me.
Lordgun has it for $317 or 30 percent off. I sold it for less than that because elevation never worked which appears to be a common issue looking at the forums.
Does this finally mean Trailforks can be loaded? Is it ready for primetime (ie can be loaded currently)? Switched from K2 to Garmin for this specific reason.
> Hammerhead content consistently performs exceptionally poorly (in terms of views and interest, be it on YouTube or the written site)
That sucks. But thank you (and GPLama) for posting all those Karoo videos and posts – this is the reason I’ve finally purchased K3, and I’m ABSOLUTELY happy about it.
A few random Karoo comments:
About the name ‘App Store’, I think that might be an Apple trademark. Google’s is called ‘Play Store’ although I think most people still say ‘App Store’ in conversation. I have a de-Googled phone, a Fairphone with Murena (it runs Android but without all the Google spyware), and they use the name ‘App Lounge’, Huawei phones have ‘App Gallery’.
A slightly less intimidating way of sideloading apps is to use ADB AppControl from a Windows computer via a USB cable. You still have to enable developer options on the Karoo but after that it is quite easy. There are easy to follow tutorials out there on how to do this with a phone, de-Googled or not. The Karoo is basically a de-Googled Android phone so it will work the same way.
I used a SIM card for a while just because I thought it was cool, it was a data-only SIM for about £2/month. I sideloaded an SMS app and Telegram (I couldn’t get past Signal’s ‘are you a robot’) and was able to message people. I found that I always took my phone anyway so eventually cancelled the SIM.
As someone else mentioned, if you use Spotify or a podcast app, you can download what you want to listen to, but this will drain the battery even more and battery life is not one of Karoo’s strong points.
Speaking of strong points, the re-routing is insanely fast. I started the unit and got a route ready while still on a train, I hadn’t started started the ride but it kept re-calculating the route from where I was every couple of seconds from roads that the train passed over or under.
Battery life is deteriorating for me like for many others. I cycled to work and back the other day, 2 hours each way, (I don’t do that every day) and it went from full to 40%. And 40 doesn’t mean 40, it will go from 20 to 0 much more quickly than from 100 to 80. The other frustrations are the device mistaking raindrops for touches, how difficult it is to disable the touchscreen once it starts raining (you should be able to do this with buttons since the reason you want it is that the device is impossible to use in the rain), it doesn’t work well with gloves, if you go from a well-lit road at night to a dark path the screen blinds you and it is a long process to turn the brightness down if you are wearing gloves.
Some of these things are improved on the K3 but not enough so I think I will be trying something else.
Just press both upper buttons to bring down the menu, then it’s two more button pressed to enable rain lock…
I sold my Karoo 3 at a loss because elevation never worked except on the steepest of hills. My Garmin 840 works perfectly with elevation. Plus the Karoo has very little integration with other apps and notable it does not integrate with Apple health.
Used Hammerhead for a long time. It is a great product and worthy of praise, but until they get native DI2 support it is DOA. As wonderful as the owner of Ki2 is and as responsive to users as he has been, it is still a side loaded cat-and-mouse game to keep it working and is a giant pain in the neck. I finally said “Enought is enough” and moved to the Garmin Edge 840 when it came out. As much as I love the 840 there are still things about the Hammerhead I miss.
I totally agree Shimano is acting childish.
Die hard Karooer. First had a second hand very cheap massive K1 and could already see the potential. What went bust in a crash so bought a K2 near release and been using it ever since. K3 didnt impress me at all – I thought we’d get near edge to edge OLED and much better SoC, so didn’t upgrade. But the slow ass SoC on the K3 should be to our advantage still on K2.
Latest updates feels like it’s all finally coming together. Took a lot longer than I expected but feels good man.
I got the Karoo 3 and i would like an app for wandrer dot earth on it. Does anyone know how to do that? The instructions seem to be for Karoo 1 or 2 only.