Activity GPS issues after watchOS 7 and iOS 14 updates

Hi

In a previous post a user said that they got all their workouts maps back.

I said I only got the ones to 5th October back, ones before that didn't have the routes and many had no map whatsoever.

I have advised anyone on 13.7 stay on it until users report they have got ALL route maps back.

Im glad I went back to MapMyWalk app which always have the maps NOT in Fitness but in its own app. It syncs all details apart from route maps to Fitness though. É.g distance, heart rate etc

Sorry for any confusion 👍

Yesterday, I started thinking about how to test the upgrade from 13.7 to 14.2 and realized that my wife (iPhone 11+WS2) really does not care about old routes or health data. So, I reviewed what workouts she did have (none in the past year) from 2019 and earlier and then did the upgrade to 14.2. I reviewed after the upgrade. Everything looked the same. The route maps were there. The workouts were there. I took her watch for a short < 10 minute walk around the neighborhood this morning and found that the GPS route was shown correctly. As others have said, be careful about upgrading from 13.7 to 14.2, and it is hard to extrapolate my experience with her data, but everything looked good. I looked at the graph of heart data, and I see data from before as well. At the moment, I’m doing the 6.2.9 upgrade on the watch. I’m probably going to wait just a couple of more days to see if anyone else upgrades from 13.7 to 14.2. I could probably do the same thing with my daughter’s (iPhone 6S+WS2 - my hand me down watch) to see if everything looks good there, but I did want to report at least some positive news for those of us who stayed on 13.7 until 14.2 came out.

Hi TGWMO

How long does your wife's workout go back for? Which were the earliest?

My GPS restored workout maps only go back to 5th October 1 month from the update yesterday. Workouts done previous to that are missing or only had a map with the start of the workout flagged.

Strange. I did both updates as well yesterday but still no maps are showing up. I did not try a new walk yet. Should I do anything else to let them appear again? The last few weeks I used Strava for my walks/runs and thankfully the maps are there. But not in my HealthFit app. They have all disappeared and don’t come back even after updates 14.2 and 7.1.

I wish I had advice but I didn’t do anything different. I installed 14.2 then used Apple’s workout app and walked around my house, and that worked and I could see the map in HealthFit. Then I went on a run using WorkOutDoors and the mapping showed up in HealthFit, as well, and imported to Strava with map data, too.

Upgraded iPhone 11 and Apple Watch 3 last night and at last... back to normal. Route data has been catching up during the day but I had a bit of trouble getting HRM data back into Strava, it's all working again.

I'm so glad I ignored Apples advice to wipe devices etc etc.

I still can't believe it took two months to fix. I've lost a lot of faith in Apple.

Thankful for Strava and glad I don't have to keep carrying my phone while running... at least for now :-)

It's fixed!!!! Finally!!! I ran today and my mile time was back down to where it should be. I didn't even update the watch software or the iphone software yet. I wasn't expecting anything, but I got back from my run, looked at Strava, and my distance for the route was back to the proper distance (longer) rather than what it has been registering lately (too short), and since I've been running the same speed this whole time, my minutes per mile was back where it should have been all along. It's strange that it's working before I even update to 14.2 or 7.1 ... but it is!!

14.2 solved the mapping problem. The walks and bike rides show the map now with new workouts. Old maps are gone in the Fitness app. But, all my workout data is in Rubitrack so that is OK for me.

if you really care about workout data you need to sync/export the workouts to Rubitrack, Strava, Garmin Connect etc to really be aure. These other apps allow for tagging, location filter, analysis etc plus you can export the routes as gpx files to share with people. Anyway, apple’s Activity/Fitness apps have always been lame in this regard...you can’t do anything with the data.

it sucks Apple has been so careless with the fitness data, though. Data loss is never acceptable.

I´m also dissapointed...but this is not really the best place to get rid of your anger with apple - here in this discussion-forum are almost just Apple-users not Apple-officials.

Anyone who is disappointed with Apple should call / write to Apple directly to let them know your anger and the more effort that produces there, the sooner the problem and anger will be flushed up. 

Even if it may not help now, but maybe in the future they will be more careful.

The problem is back. Last night I updated my iPhone software to iOS 14.2 and guess what, the fitness rings will not work AGAIN on the iPhone. I really struggle with the fact Apple had this same issue when they released iOS14, got it working again, and now have the same problem with the next release.

I guess we will have to wait for ANOTHER software update as happened last time.

For me, I'm getting a Garmin - I've had enough

Couldn't agree more with you, I've been using Apple gear for nearly twenty years. Last few years been a sea change, releasing buggy software taking nearly 1 year to sort out the bugs then release a new bug ridden version and the merry go around starts all over again.

Took them 2 years to half fig this bug, I've lost all my pre 14 update route maps.

I went back to using Under Armour apps which had all my pre iPhone workouts which was great.

I also came across an app called Rungap which I backed up all my workouts to. Won't be caught out by Apple again.

I've lost faith in Apple which was not easy as I love their products, their "it just works" slogan rings very hollow lately

As I mentioned before, I had been staying on 13.7 on iPhone 11 and had upgraded my wife from 13.7 to 14.2 with everything looking correct. I finally did my own iPhone 11 this morning, and all of my previous workouts there, and I went for a 3.9 mile walk this afternoon, and my route and all data is there. The only thing that I noticed was that my watch (WS3 still on 6.2.8) did not alert me to completing my 30 minute exercise, my red ring, and doing a full week of them. They do show that I was awarded them in the Fitness app. I just rebooted both devices and will see if I receive notification on the watch of the other awards once I get my 12th hour of standing.

My HR data has been spotty for a long time. On my morning walk yesterday I got no HR chart at all. I don't use any Bluetooth device while walking so I don't think that is the problem. I have had some luck by positioning my watch very carefully on my wrist and making sure the band is good and tight. I agree this is tiresome.

Has anyone got workout maps pre 6th October?

I thought they might have came back over time but no luck.

It's a pain, looks like mine are gone forever.

Using MapMyWalk which syncs with Fitness and has much more data than the native Apple app, I suppose they are holding back some features for their upcoming Fitness + which will cost $29.99 per month with their ONE monthly subscription recently launched. Fitness + only available on the most expensive plan and not on the 9.99 or 19.99 plan.

Greedy Apple 👿

You keep talking about Fitness+ (which is guided workout videos, nothing to do with personal workouts) as being $29.99. It seems it is $9.99 per month. It will have no effect on the apple watch and fitness apps current functionality, from what I’ve read.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/apple-one-subscription-bundle-heres-everything-included-how-to-sign-up-today/

Do you have a link which explains this $29.99 option as being the only one?