Hand gestures counting as steps

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Level 1

45 points

Hand gestures counting as steps

Hello,

I bought an Apple Watch Series 5 three days ago and noticed it counts my hand gestures as steps. For 45 minutes i was sitting still and talking to my friends with lots of hand gestures thanks to my personality and Activity app says i had stepped over 1000 times! I applied all the instructions shown here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204516

Also my watch is up to date and i tried unpairing and pairing it again. But it still insist on counting my hand gestures. So I have some questions,

Is it for a temporary time, I mean will it change by adding more walking workouts to measure my steps more accurately?
Does wearing a gold and a bit unsteady bracelet next to the watch have an effect on these measurements?
Except from articular bone, is there any particular place to wear my watch on my wrist?

I hope this is not an issue with the hardware because it is the last thing i want to deal with right now...

Apple Watch Series 5, watchOS 6

Posted on Feb 21, 2020 12:49 PM

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Answer 1

BobHarris

Level 9

57,251 points

Feb 21, 2020 4:13 PM in response to hungrymeow

The Apple Watch does not know if you are walking. It just assumes that if you accelerate your arm, then decelerate your arm, such as you would do when you swing your arms while walking, that you ARE walking.

The Apple Watch cannot see your feet. It does not know if you are sitting, laying down, hanging from your feet on gym equipment, it just looks at the accelerometer in the Apple Watch and notices when it accelerates and decelerates.

Many times when I'm at home and my Apple Watch wants me to stand, I will stand, but I will not walk around, I will juggle 3 beanbags for about a minute, and the Apple Watch will be happy. I could juggle sitting down, the Apple Watch would be happy. I could just wave my arm around, the Apple Watch would be happy.

On the other hand, if while walking, you keep you watch arm from swinging, the Apple Watch will not count any steps. There are people that cannot wear their Apple Watch at work (either company policy, or they work with their hands in tight places, such as a car mechanic, and so they put the Apple Watch in their pocket. They may move around all day long, but the Apple Watch is not counting their steps, because their pocket does not do a lot of acceleration/deceleration during the day.

We have not caught up with Star Trek Tricorders yet.

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Answer 2

hungrymeow Author

Level 1

45 points

Feb 22, 2020 12:37 AM in response to BobHarris

Well i thought the GPS inside could help counting steps, no need for Star Trek Tricorders? :D that’s why i thought there could be a problem with my Apple Watch especially while there were other smart watches not counting hand gestures as steps. Well, thanks anyway.

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Answer 3

BobHarris

Level 9

57,251 points

Feb 22, 2020 6:57 AM in response to hungrymeow

GPS has about 4 meter (13'ish) feet accuracy. GPS also suffers from echo reflections on buildings which affect accuracy. Getting a GPS fix is not instantaneous (time to first fix is 30 sec to 2 minute; time to next fix is 5 to 20 seconds). Powering the GPS to take a fix is battery power. You do not have a big battery. So depending on GPS to count your steps is not the best idea.

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Hand gestures counting as steps

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