Open GoPro Spotlight: How to Control Your GoPro Using a COROS Watch

In the world of adventure-seeking, GoPro has long been a leader in capturing and sharing incredible experiences. And with help from Open GoPro, an initiative that allows other companies and creators to integrate GoPro with their products, performance sports technology company COROS has joined the fray.

COROS is a wearables company designed by athletes, for athletes. Its mission, with a range of watches, is to allow athletes to track their body’s performance while doing anything from working out to daily activities and adventures.

And as COROS has grown in the performance sports industry, it’s also heard from customers that they often use their watches alongside GoPro cameras to capture unique experiences while they’re outdoors.

With the help of Open GoPro technology, COROS crafted an integration that allowed its users to pair their COROS watches with their GoPro to control the camera. Users can now mount their GoPro nearby, but not necessarily in reach, and from their COROS watch, they could easily snap photos or record video without ever needing to touch the shutter button.

This was a game-changer for COROS and their customers. And looking ahead, there’s plenty more that COROS hopes to achieve with its Open GoPro integration.

Read on for more about COROS and how it implements Open GoPro in our exclusive interview with COROS CEO Lewis Wu.

1. Please tell us a bit about COROS, why you founded the company, what makes it unique, and where it's headed in the future?

COROS is a performance sports technology company that helps athletes train to be their best. The company was founded to help goal-oriented athletes improve performance and give them a tool to further enjoy an active outdoor lifestyle. All of our products have been designed, tested, and perfected for the athlete, by the athlete. COROS is not the company that will force you to want the latest piece of technology—we create durable and reliable products meant to go the distance. This means, we will always push new firmware updates to existing hardware for as long as the product can support it.

2. What about Open GoPro appealed to you before deciding to use it?

More and more athletes and adventurers are creating content while out in the wild. We knew that a lot of our existing users, athletes and ambassadors were using GoPro to record and share their experiences outdoors. We felt we could help these athletes and creators amplify their content by providing this integration and making it easier to capture content from various angles through COROS GoPro controls.

3. How does this integration benefit users?

With the help of the GoPro remote control on their wrist, athletes and adventurers can place their GoPro in more creative places, allowing them to free their hands and body for more intense footage and adventures! Additionally, the solution to integrate with GoPro created an easy-to-use experience for the consumer while showing GoPro and COROS as both innovative companies.

4. How easy was it to use Open GoPro and enhance your products? Can you walk us through the process?

We created a tool in our easy-access ToolBox (accessed by holding the bottom button on your COROS watch) that allows our users to quickly add GoPro as an accessory and control their GoPro from their wrist. 

If you’re looking to pair your COROS and GoPro, follow these steps: 

• On the GoPro, enter GoPro Quik App pairing mode

• On the COROS watch, long press Back button to enter ToolBox
• Choose Camera Control 
• Search for GoPro then add GoPro as an accessory

How to use GoPro with your COROS watch: 

• Turn on GoPro

• Enter Camera Control function on COROS watch
• Paired devices will automatically connect
• Scroll digital dial to switch mode, photo and video
• Press digital dial to start/stop video recording or take photo

5. What feedback have you seen from users about the COROS and GoPro integration?

Our customers are using the integration in situations where they are unable to easily reach the camera to start recording, like when they’re kayaking with a helmet-mounted GoPro. This allows our users to create great video, control everything from their watch, and stay focused on the activity at hand. We’ve also seen it used with trail runners on trekking pole mounted GoPros. Athletes can set up the camera and film what they need while being out of reach from the device.

Our users have been very excited for the integration between COROS and GoPro. As we grow our community, we expect the overlap between our user bases to grow even larger to benefit more people.

8. Looking ahead, how do you plan to utilize Open GoPro in other COROS products?

We would like to keep supporting GoPro control functions on all of our current and future products. In order to provide our mutual users with more engaging and creative ways to make great content, we would like to be able to transfer unique data from COROS watches like real-time pace, distance, GPS track, power, etc. while users are using GoPro for live broadcasts. This would also allow users to combine great video with top notch accurate data. By doing this, it will help our users be able to tell their adventure stories with superior visuals the coordinating data.

Learn more about Open GoPro here. If you’re interested in scoring your own COROS watch, go to COROS.com and use the promo code GOPRO for a free extra band with watch purchase (simply add the band to your cart first).