Activity GPS issues after watchOS 7 and iOS 14 updates

It also seemed to me, as if turning wifi off on the phone and watch helped. My theory is that the phone doesnt use GPS on an active workout and thus falls back to locating me via nearby wifi SSIDs. This would also explain the extreme rubberbanding of the position indicated in Apple or Google Maps on the phone while a workout is running on the Watch. But some time ago I was pretty sure that I turned Wifi off and still got really low quality of location tracking on a workout....

I think there is something wrong with the phones location API that doesnt want to go into "full power" GPS tracking during a Watch workout so the watch just receives garbage location data...

The only real 100% working workaround is turning on Airplane Mode on the Watch before workouts so it has to use its internal GPS. This has always lead to perfect tracking for me.

Update post:

Completed both software updates for the iPhone-8+ and watch-6 then went for a walk - same issues.

Finally caved and factory reset both watch and phone. Everything is back to normal. GPS is missing for workouts done since update but all old GPS data has been restored.

Just did a quick test 1 mile walk GPS data synced perfectly.

I also had MANY other issues before which included; sporadic stand bars, missing minutes from my workouts & heart rate data, lack of credit for runs/walks, issues with them not syncing to phone.

Will update tomorrow if things turn south again .....

I finally got it to work with the help of Apple support. Everything now works as it should, but I’m still disappointed this happened in the first place, and tHat it took almost hAlf a day to get everything set up back the way I like it.

here were the steps that worked for me:

1. unpair apple watch
2. make an iCloud backup of the phone
3. go to the health app, click on your profile (top right) and look at the bottom when the data was last backed up - it should be the same time as thE Back up above.
4. erase all Contents and settings of your iPhone.
5. set up your iPhone by restoring it from your last backup
6. finally pair your watch again.

then wait until everything is restored, it will take a while until all apps are downloaded again, also until all health data is fully restored. I thought for a while that I lost most of my data, but it might take 24 hours until all data is back.

it will not correct any missing map data from past runs. But today’s run shows the course I took.

last gripe: I was on a steak of 811 days of making my move target. But because the prior days calorie data was the last to be restored, it appeared like I didn’t make my target yesterday, and the streak ended. Although by now all the data is back, it looks like the count is starting over.

Anyone who has reset and restored from backup and is still having issues, like me, the final solution was to erase all content and settings and set up as a new phone.

when you restore from your backup you are just putting the bug right back on again potentially.

long and not ideal (lost all my downloaded music), but had most of my important Info stored in my iCloud so didn’t lose notes, texts, etc. And a lot of it is stored in your Apple ID as well.

but if you want everything truly fixed, reset to factory and do not restore (set up as new phone), also need to rest watch and re pair it.

I too had this same issue.

I've been working with Apple Support and engineering to fix this, well my problem at least.

I'm happy to say that all is fixed for me, my maps, awards, move streaks are all there and showing.

To start, make sure your data is really there. Look in your health app on the phone.

go to Workouts then scroll all the way down to Show all workout Routes

Tap that and see if the data is really there.

If it is here are the steps that Apple gave me to follow and it worked.

This involves wiping the watch and the phone.

You must use the iCloud back up

1. Make sure that under iCloud, you have toggle on Health Settings>your name>iCloud>Health>make sure this is toggle on
2. UnPair your watch from the phone (Watch>All Watches>Your watch tap the !> then tap unpair Apple Watch
3. Perform an iCloud backup Settings>your name>iCloud>Backup>Tap back up now
4. In the health app, tap your picture bubble on the top right, scroll down to the very bottom and make sure that the data has been back up. If this does not show the correct date, do nothing else as it will fail and your data will not be correct.
5. iPhone>Settings>General>Rest>Erase all contents and settings
6. Restore iPhone from iCloud backup
7. Repair your watch to the iPhone
8. Restore Watch from iCloud back up

This is what I was told to do and it worked.

Proceed at your own risk.

For those who have not seen this, Apple is now acknowledging the issue and recommending pretty much what everybody in this thread has been doing:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211865

So, here I go now, backing up, unpairing, erasing, restoring etc.

This is what I call "The Vietnam Solution" - destroying the village in order to save it.

Wish me luck,

--PS

I followed the instructions in https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211865 exactly after not receiving GPS data from the watch and missing data from previous workouts. Also having significant battery drain. I did this from information in this forum, before the support article was posted. It fixed the issue where GPS wasn't being transferred for current activities but old data is only partially fixed - I still am only seeing a starting point for all old outdoor activities. Heart rate data appears to be fixed however. The jury is still out on battery life, but it also appears better. I have had 2 Genius Bar appointments for this and other issues and neither tech was aware of this problem. For those with old pre iOS 14 backups, I would save your old backup before backing up again. In my case, I have all this data on Strava and elsewhere as I also use a Garmin watch.

This IS the official Apple answer. Worked with my AW2 still on watchOS 6. The title is wrong, it should say If you're missing Workout GPS routes or Health data after updating to iOS 14.

Total screwup by Apple, no excuses from me. If you have already done this, and it did not work, please reply.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211865

I followed the instructions from Apple: unpair watch, backup phone, erase phone, reconstitute phone from backup, pair watch from backup. The workout map issue is solved, but as many have noted that’s a hassle that eats lots of time. My watch is a brand new 6 and my phone an XR running 14.1.

So on Sunday I tired a watch only restore. This made things worse and the walk I completed on Sunday (No map) would not transfer over to the phone.

Another walk Monday has the same issue to I went for the full restore from icloud for both watch and phone.

This corrected the problem though I did lose some activity data for Monday for some reason (Some calories an hours standing data seem corrupted missing some historical hours and not updating new hours)

The two walks after the watch only update have been lost so it was a good call to do the full double restore so I would not lose every activity I completed.

Went for a walk last night to test the watch and a map of the walk appeared. No maps on things since the update problem or historical maps. Hours standing also seems to be OK this morning.

Indeed! The watchOS 7.0.2 update did fix the issue for me (and for now)!!!

I went running this evening and the GPS route map is shown again in the workout registered in the Fitness app!

I’m using my iPhone X iOS14.0.1 and my Apple Watch Series 4 watchOS 7.0.2.

The workouts I tracked during these past 4 weeks still only show their starting point in the GPS route map but all the rest of my workouts since 2017 are all fine (with their map and all the info).

Tip: I didn’t try any of the ****** unpair+pair or reset+backup workarounds.

Gook luck!!!

Spent 49 mins on hold before getting to a senior engineer and they said unpair watch then reset my phone to factory and restore. I refused and said when will the bug be fixed. Apparently this is the only solution. Said not a solution and thanked them for there no help. I unpaired my watch , removed all the watch apps and activity app. Started afresh and set up my watch as a new wat h rather than restore from backup. 30 mins later it’s all working. Issue is obviously Ona upgrade compatibility issue.

I spoke to apple support about issue. I was hoping that they would have an IOS update but this didn’t seem to be in the cards.

They said solution was to unpair watch and then re-pair using backup. This alone didn’t do anything to solve problem. Next step was to reset phone erasing all content and restore from backup.

Entire process took many hours to fully restore both but in the end it was worth it as this solved the Workout problem

In spite of my hesitation to delete and restore everything the process was pretty seamless and all data was completely restored.

iOS 14.1 (18A8395)

Watch OS 7.0.2 (18R402)

I too was missing map routes for exercises after updating my iPhone to iOS 14.0 and updating watch OS to 7.0.0

Further updating to iOS 14.1 and watch OS 7.0.2 did not resolve the issue.

Then I followed Apple’s recommendation to unpair watch, which creates a backup. Then backing up my phone to iCloud. This did not work either.

Then I turned off and then on, location services for Apple Workout, Apple Watch faces, health, System Services/Motion Calibration & Distance, networking & wireless.

then the map routes started working for exercises again!

NOTE: all of my previous exercises, prior to the iOS 14 update are still missing. At least now the new exercises are displaying all data including map routes.

Here is a workaround for the GPS issue: Don’t start your workout in the app until your Apple watch is not on wifi. I did this today after I was a few hundred feet away from my house, and sure enough the app tracked the entire workout.

So, I think the cause of the underlying problem is the Apple Activity app is failing to switch from wifi to cellular during a workout session, so with the app started, as soon as you go out of range from your wifi, it loses the gps tracking. You’re welcome, Apple.