I have been trying to find an app that works with a standard Bluetooth chest strap HRM that just reports heartrate and what zone I'm in (Android).
Any suggestions? I have been looking - no luck.
Thanks.

May I ask your goal ?
1. Do you know what your zones are, or are you trying to find them?
2. Are you looking for this to be displayed while riding?

Barry

You issue is that you only want a tailor made app for only what you wish to see. It's too easy to do more in the apps with the data they get, so they do.


The screens on both the apps and the actual GPS devices can usually be configured to show only what you want to see.

Does the Strava App or RideWithGPS app not connect to your strap? A long time ago, I use to use OruxMaps on my smartphone. It did everything. Including connecting to HR sensors. So you probably wouldn't like it gives you more than you want.

Although with any, you usually don't have to use the stuff you don't want.

I'd only use the Apps from the bigger and better known players. Too many apps won't work unless you give them permission to virtually everything on your phone. So you need to trust that they aren't aggregating data from you and others to sell. Particularly when it's a free app. Which puts most people in the position to want to give away all those permissions for free.

If you already have a readout on your heart rate from a GPS or phone or watch, but for some reason want zone too, do some math and tape a little table on your stem that lists heart rates for each zone for your age.

Well, I know what my zones are. I was using Wahoo with a POWR Labs strap, but the strap stopped working. I liked it because after a ride it would tell me how much time I spent in each zone.
I don't need real time access- after the ride would be great.

Also, I am not aware of any issues.
I have a Cateye Padrone Digital - not a GPS unit.

The app should come with your hardware...

I stopped buying straps because they didn't last much, I'm happy with an electronic watch that does all these kind of things and more, I'm trying to record my activities, then I can look at all these stats, HR zones, etc, but mostly average and max HR.

Some watches connect to bike computers too, so you can monitor HR in real time!

On a different note, remember that if you go above zone 2, it takes 20-30 minutes for your metabolism to come back to fat burning, so even detailed HR/power stats won't tell the whole story...

That's not true. The body burns fat during all exercise and even just sitting in your chair. It just can't burn it fast enough above a certain level of effort. So the energy needed is supplemented by glycogen and serum glucose.

Read my post again while keeping in mind that one of the definitions of zone 2 is that you are burning MORE fats than sugars... which is not true anymore above zone 2. My post remains true during the 20-30 minutes adaptation time you are still burning more sugar than fats despite a lower HR and power.

So the point is that if you'd do 10 minutes HIT then 20 minutes "zone 2", then repeat this pattern, you would never be in zone 2, despite the fact that most apps would tell you 2/3 zone 2, 1/3 higher zones.

Maybe not what you meant, but that's how I read it and how I still read it.

Ones metabolism is still getting energy from fat during any effort level. Maybe not a majority of energy from fat. So there isn't anything for the metabolism to come back to. It never stopped burning fat.

How long above zone 2? 5 minutes, 1, 1 second? I go above Zone 2 for 1/10th of a second and it takes 20 minutes for metabolism to recover?

Hmmm. I believe the claim is that if you go 1 beat over Z2 for 1/10 of a second, you won't burn fat for 20-30 minutes.

It's not measured in time, but level of effort that requires an adaptation from your metabolism to burn more sugar than fat (again, that's by definition zones above Z 2, and why would you do 1 second high intensity anyway that doesn't make sense at all)

Read my previous post again, if you do high intensity efforts, you enter zone 3, zone 4 or more, then you are off zone 2 for a while!

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00421-025-06006-7
" Conclusion
A 3MAOT performed during an endurance-based training session did not alter metabolism or perceived exertion, nor did it affect delayed exercise capacity beyond the effect of the 3-h prolonged exercise itself. There appears to be no physiological basis for the strict exclusion of short, high-intensity bursts during endurance training."

(Also: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40623686/)

To answer OP’s question, I use Cyclemeter on iOS. It is also available for Android. You can make custom screens as simple or complicated as your heart desires.

First shot is what I see when riding. I can swipe over to the next screen for more detail.

You can also easily set up a heart rate specific display. I usually know where I’d like to be for my own zones when training. But, I do like the nice summary at the end of the ride showing the duration and percentage of the ride spent in each zone.

Looking over the app I’m not sure you can get it to display your current zone with its numerical designation though.

Might be worth dropping a line to the developer and seeing if they could integrate such a feature?

Alternatively, you could mess around with an AI for coding assistance and make your own very simple app if you’re at all inclined in such a way.

But reading your source, "short high-intensity bursts" are defined as:

"micro-intervals" of less than 15 seconds...

I take this as a confirmation for what I was saying, i.e. don't do high intensity training before zone 2 unless you want to enter a higher zone for 20-30 minutes, although a few seconds at higher intensity won't trigger the metabolism into burning more sugar than fats.

Back to the OP... I'm not sure what hardware he is using to monitor his HR, but probably that hardware would come with its own app?

That was the second link. You ignored the first. The first was about inserting a 3-minute all-out test in the middle of an endurance ride. I pointed out the second article because 15-second sprints are enough to go above Z2 and you claimed, "remember that if you go above zone 2, it takes 20-30 minutes for your metabolism to come back to fat burning." So neither a single 3 minute all-out test nor repeated micro-intervals seem to affect metabolism the way you've claimed. Hmmm.

Excellent! So, NONE of the articles you are linking are in contradiction with what I said.

In all my posts, I said that if your metabolism starts burning more fat than glucose - the definition of zones higher than 2 - it takes 20-30 minutes to get back into zone 2.
I never said that 15 secs or even 1 single 3 min. effort would trigger zone 3 and higher! only laps of time I mentioned was 10 minutes.

When people don't use evidence to make decisions, pointing to the evidence won't get them to change their minds.

About the link stating that 3 minutes all out effort won't disturb zone 2, that study is probably totally invalid for the majority of the population.

That study was specifically done with "trained athletes", for the rest of us, i.e. 99% of the population, the main effect of a 3 minutes long "all out effort" could just be an heart attack. Would they remain in zone 2 in this case...

You can't ignore that high-power and high-endurance athletes exhibit a distinct metabolic profile that reflects unusual steroid biosynthesis, fatty acid metabolism, oxidative stress, etc... the Reason for their performances, not just their training.

So... just a word of caution to those who prefer to use their brain than parroting anything they find on the internet!

You might need to re-phrase that. Or are you really implying that any of us non trained non athletes risk a heart attack if we go over zone two. None of my cardiologist say there is anything wrong with me staying in the upper zones for as long as I care to or am able to.

Might not be good training strategy. But it's not risking a heart attack for anyone that is otherwise healthy.

Nope, it's perfectly phrased like that... "all out effort" is quite clear. Something like zone 5, nothing like just "go over zone 2".

So what gave you the idea that if I do a 3 minute effort at zone 5 level I'd probably have a heart attack?

So what gave you the idea that I was talking to/about you. Maybe read this post again...

It's a bit hard to follow the thread maybe..?

;-)