Auto-detection of outdoor walk workout

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Level 1

27 points

Auto-detection of outdoor walk workout

I've had a Watch 5 for a couple of months now. For the first few weeks it used to have no problem determining that I was going on an outdoor walk. Although I would manually start it if I remembered!

It seems recently that this feature has become pretty much hopeless. I can walk for 45 minutes without the watch even waking up to the fact that if I'm moving around at 4mph for this length of time, it's reasonably safe to assume I might actually be walking. I am fairly sure this coincided with the 6.2.8 WatchOS update.

I've had a read around and tried unpairing and re-adding the watch back in. No difference

I've reset the Fitness Calibration Data and initially signs were good - it detected the next couple of walks without any problem and I honestly thought I'd solved it.

But here I am, 5 days since resetting calibration data, and the last 3 walks have all been unnoticed again.

Any ideas? I have read people saying this is meant to be a "backup" to starting the workout manually, but as detection was so good for me in the past, this is such a change for the worse I'm wondering if others have noticed or have solutions?

The other thing that's slightly irritating about it is that if I haven't triggered the Workout, the Activity band doesn't update accurately - I realise that the activity band requires elevated heart rate etc... to record a minute of activity, but if the workout is running, this band will easily complete the 30 minute target in a 45 minute walk. If the workout isn't running, the band will only maybe hit 15 minutes. So obviously the monitoring of heart rate isn't accurate if the workout hasn't been detected.

If I go on a walk and remember 10 minutes in that I haven't started it, I have 2 options. 1 is waiting and hoping that auto-detect kicks in, so the activity gets recorded from the beginning, the 2nd option is to start it from 'now' losing me the start of the walk... neither option is great.

Apple Watch

Posted on Aug 13, 2020 5:39 AM

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Answer 1

Jemster Author

Level 1

27 points

Aug 26, 2020 6:22 AM in response to Todd0213

I'm not sure why you state the way it's supposed to work, which I have already indicated I'm well aware of, and in no way answer the query as to whether anybody else notices a change in the latest WatchOS in terms of reliability.

It's frustrating that this facility doesn't appear to work any more, and it's a little worrying that, although I believed the watch was tracking my calories / heart rate / usage, it can't do so with even reasonable accuracy unless I manually tell it what I'm doing.

Whenever 'auto detect' is running, is it using the GPS on the watch, or the GPS on the phone to help it detect the movement? Wondering as perhaps there's a link to the iOS version as well as, or instead of, the WatchOS version.

I have just noticed of interest that I have a few Diagnostics Logs on the watch starting....

"Power assertion timeout for \"RTLocationAwarenessManager\". Simply releasing it now.\nBacktrace for power assertion: pid 41 (0x22765ca0 0x397d2e9c 0x398db184 0x398db3e4 0x1e88fc1c 0x1e890fc0 0x1e897128 0x1e897b40 0x1e8a101c 0x1eac7704 0x1eacd808)"

If I put 2 and 2 together, that would say to me that there's a problem with Real Time Location Awareness, which may well have an effect on whether or not the watch knows I'm moving around. Just a wild guess, I know, but a possibility perhaps

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Answer 2

Todd0213

Community Specialist

Aug 14, 2020 1:09 PM in response to Jemster

Hello Jemster,

We know how important it is for your activity to be tracked properly, and you've walked through some great troubleshooting by unpairing and recalibrating your Apple Watch. You are correct that certain criteria does have to be met for workouts to be calculated correctly, and the criteria does vary based on the workout you initiate, versus regular activity. We do recommend manually choosing a workout through the Workout app as it will not track a workout any other way. You can turn on 'Automatic Workout Detection' which will send a notification to your Apple Watch if it believes you're working out, and you will be able to tap on 'Record Outdoor Workout', or the workout type it detects. You can find more information about this feature in the section titled 'Get reminders to start a workout' in the article 'Work out with your Apple Watch'

If you don't initiate a workout your activity and exercise rings may still progress, but will require different parameters to be met to do so.

Have a great weekend!

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Answer 3

mario49

Community Specialist

Aug 28, 2020 9:26 AM in response to Jemster

Hello Jemster,

We apologize for any confusion. The parameters that are needed for the Apple Watch to detect a workout can vary based on the type of workout that's currently in progress. For example if you're running outdoors, or even doing an indoor workout, but haven't started on the Apple Watch. Conditions such as heart rate, pace based off of wrist movement, and other physical parameters are used to detect if a workout is in progress. If you're not getting a notification to start a workout can you let us know what you're attempting to do? For example are you walking outside, running, or something else such as riding a bike?

In reference to the Move ring tracking your details, and your heart rate is your Apple watch fitting snug against your wrist? Do you have a tattoo that the watch may be covering when worn? The reason we ask is this can cause information to not record correctly due to how he Apple Watch measures your heart rate. Take a look at the following article as it can also provide additional tips for ensuring your information is accurately recorded.

Get the most accurate measurements using your Apple Watch

If you continue to have issues with measurements, and Automatic Workout Detection please reach out to us through our Get Support website.

Take care!

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Auto-detection of outdoor walk workout

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