On some Apple Mac computers, the OS does not automatically prompt you to give permission for TrainingPeaks Virtual to use the built-in Bluetooth connection.
This is due to Apple’s default security settings. If you start TrainingPeaks Virtual and cannot connect to any BLE trainer, cadence sensor, heart rate monitor or powermeter, then it is likely that you will need to manually grant permission for TrainingPeaks Virtual to use Bluetooth on your computer. You can do this as follows:
1) Open the Apple Menu / System Settings
2) Select “Privacy & Security”
3) Select “Bluetooth”
There should now be a list of applications that are allowed to use Bluetooth on your computer. Presumably TrainingPeaks Virtual isn’t one of them, so you’ll need to add it manually.
4) Click on the “+” icon to add. Note that if TrainingPeaks Virtual already appears in this list, highlight it and press “-” first to remove it, and then “+” to re-add it.
5) Enter your password if prompted.
6) In the file selector that pops up, navigate to the “/Users/<you>/TPVirtual/InstallData” folder (where “<you>” is your account name on your computer). Note that this folder will only exist after you have run TrainingPeaks Virtual at least once.
7) Select the “TPVirtual” file within that folder, then click “open”.
This should grant the necessary permissions for TrainingPeaks Virtual to use Bluetooth on your computer and the next time you start TrainingPeaks Virtual, then you should be able to connect to your devices.
Note 1: This process only works after you have run TrainingPeaks Virtual for the first time – you cannot set these permissions if you have only installed it, and not running it. As noted in step (6) above, the folder that you need to grant permissions in will only exist after you have run TrainingPeaks Virtual at least once.
Note 2: Sometimes updates to TrainingPeaks Virtual and/or the MacOS mean that you will need to repeat this process and re-grant permission for TrainingPeaks Virtual to use the Mac BLE connection. If you notice that you can no longer pair your devices, and the Bluetooth icon on the pairing screen is red, then just repeat these instructions, paying particular attention to step (4) where you need to remove permissions first, and then re-add them.