Frequently asked questions

Alpha Compose combines a compatible activity video with supported activity data. It adds a heart-rate graph, time readouts, and a generated heartbeat soundtrack, lets you preview key moments, and creates a finished video.

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No. Alpha Compose grew from freediving, but it is not limited to freediving. You can use any compatible activity video and supported activity data that line up on a shared timeline.

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Saved videos can help you notice changes over time for yourself. Alpha Compose does not store sessions, analyze trends, or compare activities. Any comparison is one you make from the finished videos you keep.

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Preview uses cloud rendering capacity, so Alpha Compose reserves a bounded amount against its monthly admission budget before starting. Each Preview attempt reserves up to PLN 1.25. Preview plus one Submit reserves up to PLN 2.50. Reservations remain counted after success, failure, cancellation, or expiry. Retrying Preview makes a new reservation of up to PLN 1.25.

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Heart rate can show your physiological response during a memorable moment. Seeing that response alongside the action, and hearing its pace, can make reliving the activity feel more immediate.

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No. The heartbeat sound is generated from your recorded heart-rate data and paced from those samples. It is not a recording of your heart or other audio captured by a medical device.

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Yes. When you make a finished video, you can keep only the source audio, use only the generated heartbeat, or combine the source audio and heartbeat.

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Heart rate is the primary supported graph. Current heart-rate inputs are Polar CSV, Garmin FIT, and OxiWear heart-rate CSV. Each input must include timestamps so it can be synchronized with the video.

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Yes, as an optional addition. Compatible heart-rate renders can include optional OxiWear SpO2 activity data and display oxygen saturation alongside the primary heart-rate graph.

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For Garmin Connect, open the activity and choose Export Original. That usually gives you the device's original FIT file. For Polar Flow, open one session and export a CSV file. Alpha Compose reads one activity at a time, so prefer an individual session export over a bulk archive.

Strava's Export Original can work when the original uploaded file still contains compatible heart-rate data, but Alpha Compose cannot recover heart-rate samples from every Strava activity page or post-processed export.

Apple Health exports all data as XML, and Health Connect backups export a Health Connect.zip archive. Those are not supported activity-file inputs for Alpha Compose today.

• Garmin Connect Export Original
• Polar Flow individual session export
• Strava Export Original
• Apple Health XML export
• Health Connect backup and restore

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Other activity-data graphs are a possible future direction, but there are no announced data types, dates, or delivery promises.

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You choose a source video from Google Drive. Your browser reads the activity-data file you choose and sends the required data for your render. Alpha Compose does not search your device or the rest of your Drive.

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Choose the IANA timezone where the video was recorded, such as Europe/Warsaw. An embedded recording timestamp may contain only a UTC offset, which does not identify daylight-saving rules, so Alpha Compose asks you to confirm or select the timezone. A shared clock uses the confirmed video clock. With different clocks, timeline labels start as elapsed time and change to derived synced recording time after you match a source frame to activity data. Alpha Compose never treats the Google Drive upload time as the recording time.

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Before you record, identify every device whose timestamps matter. The activity-data recorder is usually a watch or phone. Include every camera that may be used for footage you want to compose. If a phone is used only to set a watch or camera clock, it matters too because it supplies that time.

For synchronization, trust the time in your activity data. Your watch or phone normally sets its clock automatically from a network, a paired phone, location services, or satellite signals. Camera clocks are easier to leave wrong and may drift.

When Alpha Compose says only time or current time, it means activity-device time. Exceptions are named explicitly as video time, video recording start, video timezone, or output clock.

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Start with the simple path. If the camera and activity device were synchronized before recording and still share one clock, choose Camera and activity devices used the same clock in Alpha Compose. You can skip the timeline synchronization point.

Checklist before recording

• Enable automatic date and time on the phone that records activity data or syncs your other devices.
• Sync a Garmin watch from its paired phone, or let a GPS-capable model acquire satellites according to Garmin's guidance.
• Connect a GoPro or DJI camera to its official phone app, or follow that model's clock or timecode instructions.
• Check the displayed clocks immediately before recording instead of assuming an earlier sync is still correct.
• Prefer the same timezone on every device because it reduces entry mistakes. Matching timezones alone does not synchronize clocks, and different timezones can still represent the same instant.

Examples: Garmin watch + DJI camera, or phone recording activity data + GoPro. Call this automatic time, not GPS time as a universal term. Depending on the device, time may come from the network, location services, a paired phone, or satellite signals.

Menus and capabilities vary by model and firmware. Use these official guides only if you need model-specific help:

• Android automatic date, time, and timezone
• iPhone automatic date, time, and timezone
• Garmin watch time troubleshooting and synchronization
• GoPro product manuals
• GoPro MAX2 manual, including Quik timecode synchronization for MAX2, HERO13 Black, and HERO12 Black
• DJI Osmo Action date and time
• DJI timecode introduction and synchronization

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The timeline synchronization point is optional. Use it only when the camera and activity device did not share one clock, or when their recorded timestamps need a known correction.

Immediately before the activity, film the activity device's clock with seconds visible. That filmed clock gives you a matching moment: one recognizable video frame and the activity-device time for that same instant.

If you later choose Camera and activity devices used different clocks, drag to that filmed frame and enter the activity-device time you saw. If your devices were synchronized before recording and still share one clock, you do not need this step.

If practical, film the clock again after a long recording. If the two shots reveal drift, Alpha Compose currently applies one fixed offset. Choose a matching moment close to the output section you are composing.

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The camera's system clock, recording timestamp, and production timecode are different things. The system clock is the date and time shown in menus. The recording timestamp is metadata saved with a clip. Production timecode is a separate counter some cameras expose for editing workflows.

Production timecode can diverge from ordinary clock time, including frame-rate-related behavior documented by DJI. Alpha Compose does not currently import, interpret, or correct camera timecode. Sync or verify the camera against the activity device immediately before recording.

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Correct synchronization places each heart-rate or SpO2 value at the right video moment. Choose Camera and activity devices used the same clock when the camera and activity device were synchronized before recording and their timestamps still share one clock. Alpha Compose then makes no synchronization adjustment and needs no timeline synchronization point. Choose Camera and activity devices used different clocks only when they differed, then identify one matching moment so Alpha Compose can correct one fixed clock offset.

For different clocks, a filmed clock shot is the easiest matching moment. Drag the marker on the full video timeline to the recognizable frame and enter the activity-device time for that same instant. You do not need to enter an absolute camera time. The marker can be before, inside, or after the selected output. Left or Right moves one 40 ms frame, Shift+Left or Shift+Right moves 10 frames, and Home or End moves to a source bound.

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With a source video, Alpha Compose creates a finished H.264 MP4 or ProRes 422 MOV. It can also create a transparent ProRes 4444 MOV overlay for a separate editing workflow. See the technical API documentation for file-format details.

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DaVinci Resolve is the recommended first choice for transparent overlays. It is the editor used in Alpha Compose's manual acceptance check for transparent ProRes 4444 exports.

If you already pay for another editor, current officially documented alternatives with alpha-capable ProRes workflows include Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro. Alpha Compose does not currently publish support claims for unpaid editors or community-only workflows.

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Completed H.264 MP4 outputs can open in the browser through Alpha Compose's private completed-output playback flow.

ProRes outputs remain download-first files for desktop editors. That includes transparent ProRes 4444 overlays and finished ProRes 422 videos.

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Yes, but the tools are different. Codex can help if you give it access to the relevant files and docs. Claude can use code execution and file creation inside a chat to generate or transform files. Claude Code is a separate terminal and IDE tool with its own plan and permission model. FFmpeg itself is just the command-line media tool, not an AI assistant.

Current plan availability and limits can change. Verify the current OpenAI or Anthropic plan pages before relying on a specific allowance, connector, or coding surface.

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Alpha Compose uses the restricted drive.file permission. It can access files you explicitly choose and files it creates for you. It cannot browse or read the rest of your Google Drive.

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The finished video is saved in your Alpha Compose folder in My Drive, including when the source video came from a Shared Drive or was shared with you. It remains in your Drive until you delete it.

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Project JSON is a separate browser workflow envelope, not the API request itself. The public API accepts only the nested renderRequest.

Alpha Compose creates or stores Project JSON only when you explicitly download, copy, upload, or paste it. It can include your private activity data and bounded embedded assets, but it excludes credentials, CSRF values, signed URLs, preview images, playback state, and job results.

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No source-video copy is retained: the source video is streamed from Google Drive into the renderer and is never persisted by Alpha Compose. Activity data may be held in encrypted temporary request objects while the render is processed; those objects are deleted after 24 hours. The service does not log activity-data values. Read the complete privacy policy for retention details.

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No. Alpha Compose output is not medical advice or training advice. Do not use it to diagnose a condition, decide whether an activity is safe, or replace qualified professional guidance.

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The output reflects the sensor data you supply and the synchronization you choose. It does not infer emotions, health, or training readiness, and it does not validate the sensor. Check the source data and timing before relying on a displayed value.

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