The FiTness Machine Service protocol, better known as FTMS, is the latest Bluetooth standard used to control fitness equipment including treadmills, training bikes, and rowing machines.

What does FTMS mean in the real world?

FTMS enables third party apps can communicate with any FTMS enabled device. Some popular apps that use FTMS are Zwift and Runna.

The use of FTMS enables great features but the functionality depends on whether the equipment and apps use all the available features. The NoblePro Elite Series treadmills are fully FTMS compatible which means if the app supports the FTMS feature it will connect to our treadmills.

What FTMS features are supported by NoblePro?

We have enabled all the required FTMS functions to facilitate some amazing functionality with NoblePro treadmills. To make things easier, we have provided a list of data that the treadmill provides, as well as the control functions that are enabled:

Control & send receive status of the treadmill:

• Speed (current speed, control target speed)
• Incline (current incline, control target incline)
• Start (start the treadmill)
• Stop (stop the treadmill)

Send status only of the treadmill:

• Time (current total session time)
• Distance (current total session distance)
• Heart rate (current heart rate)
• Calories (current total session calories)

More details on NoblePro FTMS capabilities here.

Why am I not able to use all the functions?

The use of FTMS is great but both the equipment and app need to follow the same standards. If you are not receiving or able to control some of the items listed above it is most likely that the app is not fully FTMS compliant or missing the functions within the app. If this is the case please contact the app developer to confirm any issues or limitations.

What about cadence?

This is a very popular parameter to use for training optimisation. Cadence is not measured as such but rather calculated using distance (instant) and step count. Some apps have this function built-in already however some apps lack consistent use of step count communication which means cadence cannot be calculated e.g. Kinni. 

Connecting multiple devices via FTMS?

As FTMS enables control of a physical device there can only be one “master” to avoid safety issues. This means that you will not be able to connect multiple devices directly to the treadmill using FTMS. If the treadmill does not appear in an app’s (e.g. Zwift – details here) device list it generally means the treadmill is still connected to another app or device.