> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ashenmarch.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Ways to March
> Every way a march reaches Ashenmarch — live in-app GPS, Strava, Apple Health and Health Connect, connected watches, and the glanceable widget.
A **march** doesn't have to be recorded one single way. However you already move — phone in hand, a favourite app, a watch on your wrist — Ashenmarch can turn that movement into conquest. This page walks through every path a march can take to reach the realm.
One rule holds across all of them: **the survey judges every march the same way.** Same [claiming](/en/conquering-land#claiming-territory), same [effort measured against your own baseline](/en/conquering-land#tiers-fortification-effort), same [fair-play checks](/en/conquering-land#why-didnt-my-march-count). A Strava loop, a watch run, and a live in-app march are equal citizens — the source is provenance, never privilege.
## Live in the Ashenmarch app
Recording **live in the app with GPS** is the primary way to march, and the fullest one. Your screen becomes a war table: your route burns across the land, the Herald calls out every border you cross, grip pips fill as you press into rival ground, and a ghost-close arc helps you seal a loop. Auto-pause handles red lights, the whole thing works phone-locked-and-pocketed, and a march is never lost even offline.
Everything the live screen does — the crossings, the haptics, the spoken herald, the day/night map — is covered in **[The March](/en/the-march)**.
If you want the full experience — live war-map, turn-by-turn on a saved [War Council](/en/war) route, the moment your loop closes — record in the Ashenmarch app. The other sources below are for the marches you record *somewhere else* and bring home.
## Strava
Connect **Strava** once and your activities flow in on their own. A run, ride, or walk you record anywhere Strava sees it is imported automatically (the moment Strava tells us about it) and matched to your ground — claiming, fortifying, and building walls exactly as a live march would.
Strava is a **data connection, not a sign-in**: you still log in with Apple, Google, or email, and connecting Strava only lets your activities import. You can also pull activities in by hand from the Strava page, and disconnect any time. The connection details and what stays private live in **[Your Account](/en/account#strava)**.
Many players record in the app they already love and let Ashenmarch quietly turn each activity into territory. A Strava-imported loop claims exactly like a live-recorded one.
## Apple Health & Health Connect
If your workouts are recorded by *another* app or device — a watch, a treadmill app, a third-party run tracker — they usually land in your phone's health store. Ashenmarch can import straight from there:
* **Android — Health Connect.** Connect Health Connect from **Profile → Connections** and your recorded workouts import as marches.
* **iOS — Apple Health.** The matching **Apple Health import** brings workouts from HealthKit in the same way.
Imported health workouts are **de-duplicated** against your Strava imports and your live in-app marches, so the same run recorded in two places only ever becomes **one** campaign — you're never double-credited or double-charged.
Apple Health import is **rolling out on iOS** to match the Health Connect import Android already has — it's a true parity feature, not a platform split. If you don't yet see it under Connections, it's on the way.
## Garmin & other watches
There's no separate file to juggle to get a **Garmin**, Coros, or similar watch run into Ashenmarch. Those watches sync their activities into **Strava** and into **Apple Health / Health Connect** already — so once you've connected either of those (above), your watch runs arrive through them automatically, matched to your ground like any other march.
A **direct Garmin Connect** connection — link Garmin once, skip the middle step — is **planned**, not live yet. For now, connect Strava or your phone's health store and your Garmin activities will still reach the realm.
You also don't need to export a route file to run a plan. A saved **[War Council](/en/war)** route is followed **live in the app** on your phone — Ashenmarch is the execution surface, so there's no GPX/TCX shuffle between your planner and your watch.
## Watch apps — march from the wrist
For players who run **without a phone**, dedicated watch apps are in the works. The watch is a **standalone capture device**, not a screen mirror: it records your march on its own and files the claim later, so you can leave the phone at home.
The **Apple Watch app is coming** (a Wear OS version follows — see below). The features described here are its design; check the app for current availability.
On the Apple Watch, a **phone-free march** is built to be run eyes-off:
* **A glanceable run face** — no map on the wrist (unreadable mid-stride and a battery drain). Just your time, distance, territories-claimed-so-far, and a single state word (MARCHING, FORTIFYING, CONTESTED) colour-coded to the ground you're on.
* **A haptic vocabulary** — distinct taps tell you, from feel alone, when you cross into contested ground, complete a wall, or close a claim. Learnable in a couple of runs, so you never have to look.
* **Claim pending, then filed** — the watch records offline and holds the march until a path to the server appears (its own connection, your phone later, or the next charge). It says *"a march awaits the herald,"* never "saved" or "error" — and fires a success buzz when the claim finally files. The full claim ceremony still happens on the phone.
A **Wear OS** version is a **gated port that follows the Apple Watch app** — it ships to a list of supported devices only, because some watches' aggressive battery managers can silently lose a phone-free run. It's coming after Apple Watch, on trusted hardware first.
## Glanceable — widget & complications
You don't have to open the app to know how your realm stands:
* **Home-screen widget** — a small heraldic banner showing your crest, rank, and holdings, with one calm-or-urgent line: *your ground is holding*, *"\[Territory] is contested — ride to hold it,"* or *"\[Territory] weakens — a run renews it."* Tap it to jump straight to the right place in the app.
* **Watch complications** — on a watch face, your active march (time and distance) or, when idle, your territory count and a short herald nudge. These arrive with the watch app.
Both are re-engagement glances, not dashboards — one feeling per look: *my ground is safe*, or *my ground needs me*.
## Same rules, whichever way you march
However a march is recorded — live in-app, Strava, health import, or watch — it runs through the **same survey**. The [minimum loop](/en/reference), the [effort curve measured against your own baseline](/en/conquering-land#tiers-fortification-effort), the [tier and decay rules](/en/conquering-land), and the honest-ground checks that decide [whether a march counts](/en/conquering-land#why-didnt-my-march-count) apply identically to all of them. A beginner's phone-recorded personal best counts exactly as much as an elite's watch run.
Once filed, every march wears a small **source ring** on your Campaign Record so you can tell at a glance where it came from — gold for a live app march, Strava orange for an import, slate for another connected source. It's a mark of provenance, nothing more.
***
The full live experience — the war-map HUD, the herald's crossings, and closing a loop.
Claims, tiers, effort, decay, and walls — the rules the survey applies to every march.
Connecting Strava, what stays private, and managing your data.
Sieges, defending your ground, and planning marches with the War Council.
*Device and platform availability in this guide reflects the current plan and rolls out over the beta — some watch features noted as "coming" are on their way, not yet live.*