Support
We're happy to help. Send us an email and we'll get back to you as soon as possible, usually within one business day.
Getting help
The answers below are the same ones ErgSwap carries in the app, under Settings → Help. If yours isn't here, email us and we'll walk you through it. When reporting a problem, including your iPhone model and iOS version helps us track it down faster. We read every message.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does ErgSwap work?
Pick the machine your workout was written for, enter the amount, and ErgSwap shows the equal-effort equivalent on everything else your gym has. Tap a preset for the numbers you use most, distances or calories depending on how the amount reads, or use the minus and plus buttons to step it.
The share button beside the gear sends the whole answer as plain text, for the group chat or the whiteboard.
What do the symbols on the results card mean?
They are the headings CrossFit's own chart uses. ♀ is the women's column, the one with the cross below the circle. ♂ is the men's, the one with the arrow pointing up and to the right. CrossFit publishes the two separately because the gap is real: a 400 m run is 400 m of rowing on the women's column and 500 m on the men's.
The selector has three positions. ♀ shows the women's column, ♂ the men's, and the middle position, the two symbols joined, shows both at once paired with a slash: 400 / 500 m, women's first, the way the chart prints them. That's the view for a coach reading one screen to a mixed class. ErgSwap starts on both and remembers whatever you set, and the line at the foot of the converter always names what it's reading, in words.
Should I use Scaled or Flat ratios?
Scaled follows CrossFit's published chart, which compresses toward running over longer distances. It's the default. Flat uses one fixed ratio per machine, which is simpler to predict but overshoots past about a mile.
The two agree at 400 m and part company over longer pieces: for a 5 k run, Scaled says row 5,000 m and Flat says 6,250 m. Switch between them in Settings, under Conversion.
Why does each machine show a different unit?
Because that's what each console displays. Row, Ski, and BikeErg read in meters; Concept2's PM5 always shows distance that way, and its Units button cycles pace, watts, and calories rather than the distance. Echo and Assault bikes read in miles by default, or kilometres if you toggle them, and never meters.
Why do the air bike results lead with calories?
Because that's how air bikes are almost always programmed. "20 cal Echo" is the workout. The distance its console will show sits underneath, rounded, since it's a cross-reference rather than the target.
How do I change the equipment ErgSwap converts to?
Settings → Equipment lists all six machines; only the ones you keep switched on appear on the converter. Keep at least two, since there has to be something to convert to. The same screen is what onboarding asks you on first launch.
Can I change the quick-entry presets?
Yes. Settings → Quick-entry presets holds two lists, distances and calories, up to six each, and swiping removes one. The calorie list appears whenever the amount is entered in calories. Distances are stored in meters and shown in whichever unit is active, so one list works for every machine.
So what's an erg?
Erg is short for ergometer, from the Greek ergon (work) and metron (measure). Literally a work-measurer. An erg doesn't just simulate rowing or skiing, it measures how much work you actually did, in watts, which is why a 500 m split means the same thing on your rower as on one three time zones away.
Concept2 built the first Indoor Rower in 1981 and deliberately made it an ergometer so effort would be comparable between athletes. Rowers have called it "the erg" ever since, and the name carried over to the SkiErg and BikeErg. Air bikes measure work the same way, so they're ergs too in every sense but the naming, and that shared measure of work is what makes swapping one machine for another possible at all.
About the conversion numbers
ErgSwap's conversions come from the machine conversion charts published by CrossFit Affiliate Programming. They target equal effort and time domain, not equal calories burned and not equal distance, so treat them as a starting point for scaling a workout rather than a lab measurement. If a number looks wrong for your gym, tell us which machine and distance and we'll take a look.