Activity GPS issues after watchOS 7 and iOS 14 updates

I'm having the same issue as everyone else, and I refuse to the restore "fix" that requires me to spend money to upgrade my iCloud service.

The Strava App works fine on Apple Watch - records location, routes, etc. Usually I record using Apple's built in app, but now I've switched to the Strava app, no phone, just the watch.

Also, I've begun to wear my Garmin again for activities that are important to me because I have lost a lot of faith in Apple watch. Even before this event, it would occasionally not sync, or lose runs/rides, etc. My Garmin never fails me.

I bought the Apple watch for the convenience of having all the features I wanted in one device and not needing to carry my phone on exercises - music, Audible, podcasts, AND RECORDING THE RUN/RIDE. Now I'm back to wearing two devices again.

I really like my Apple products when they work. Unfortunately they are getting less and less reliable over the years even with upgraded hardware. Disappointing.

DO NOT Follow the instructions in Apple's support note HT211865. I did, and it made the problem worse.

Like many of you, workouts recorded after WatchOS7/iOS14 showed not GPS data, but my old workouts did. I followed the support note (unpair watch, backup phone, reset phone, restore phone, re-pair watch.)

The process did restore the ability to record GPS tracks with new workouts.

But it also lost all previously recorded GPS tracks. All older workouts (many years worth) that were recorded prior to WatchOS7/iOS14 are now missing their GPS data.

I have been working with senior advisors at Apple support for over a week. They agree I followed the procedures correctly, but have yet to be able to help me restore several years worth of workout routes.

If you have not tried the steps in the support note, I encourage you to skip it and wait for an OS update to solve the problem.

In addition to making the situation worse, it has led to a very time consuming path with support calls, downloading debugging profiles, doing tests, recording logs, sending them to Apple, etc.

Wait for a fix, don't let apple support turn you into a beta tester.

There is a potential bug with watchOS 7.0.3 and the iOS 14.1 update (along with iOS 14.0.1).

Pairing can be eliminated between the Watch and iPhone. If you have GPS + Cellular, this bug will turn off Shared Lines, and the watch will function as if it's another cell phone.

A couple of things you can do to resolve the issue:

1. Reset Pairing
2. Call AppleCare and report this issue. Apple can then check device information and repair the devices. Apple (not your cellular carrier) connects your Apple Watch to your iPhone. Your cellular provider, simply provides the telephone number used by your watch.

Click Here to view Apple Support for Unpairing your Apple Watch

Click Here to view Apple Support for Set Up and Pairing you Apple Watch

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I have had the same problem and it was fixed with Apple Watch update 7.xx.

however it was fixed for outdoor running and walking. Now, today, i did a hiking workout and again the problem with missing gps data/ only starting point in map...

Sorry - my fault - I was not specific enough. No import into the Apple Health database works properly - GPS is the biggest issue but there are others from peoples checks.

The watch, in Apple and other Apps, does store the data - it just always fails when loading into the Health app database.

Apple makes all data go through there from their own watch app, it is why imports etc to Strava are broken. Watch. Fine. Watch to phone health database. Broken. Health to other app (Strava, Garmin). Missing data.

What I did while awaiting my Garmin was just use the watch Strava app. The import from watch to Strava (to Strava) works fine, has all GPS data and route data. As Strava is my place to store all my workouts it was fine for me - my main issue is the Strava app on the watch is garbage.

The Fenix 6 is perfect for me - you just have to remember it is not a smart watch, it is a sports watch that has some notifications.

I run and cycle daily though so having customisable large screens works perfectly for me. Podcasts was a pain but cracked it in the end. The data now goes into Garmin first from the watch and then auto transferred into Strava. It does also go into Health as well, but as far as I can see, without GPS data.

Had it not been for this issue for nigh on 2 months now I would have likely been sporting a Titanium 6 and using that, but all hail the Garmin. And it's 16 day battery.

Luckily I’ve always used a third party app for storing my rides/run tracks (Rubitrack). There is 10 years worth of data (tracked routes) and it all stored locally on the iMac. Unfortunately, Rubitrack doesn’t have a watch app so I had been using Apple Workout and then syncing that to Rubitrack. But once this problem hit with iOS 14 I’ve discovered WorkOutDoors app which is a super workout tracker for the apple watch. It can import/export gpx/tcx files and it shows a nice map along with stats during rides and runs. It is fully configurable also. I wish I would have known about WorkOutDoora years ago, it is awesome. I still use Rubitrack on the iMac as the final destination for all workout data. It is a great app for analysis etc.

A question to those who use Apple Activity for all workout data: what can you with those old maps etc? The app always was very limited and it wasn’t possible to do any kind of analysis at all. I fear I may have lost the lost several years of tracked routes in Activity (maybe they’ll show up in 14.2?) but I don’t think I’ll miss it since I couldn’t do anything with that data anyway.

I just heard back from an Apple Senior Advisor who had escalated my information to the Health engineers. They told me the data is not recoverable. You will not be getting any old data back that was lost during the upgrade to iOS 14. He also didn’t sound confident that they’ve addressed the problem yet, so I would absolutely not upgrade from 13.x until you see a fix announced in future release notes.

The only thing that worked for me was restoring my whole phone and watch from the latest back up that seemed to sort mine though I did do before the latest update as I was too impatient to wait and I’m running everyday so needed the maps! I did try just resetting my watch but I needed to do the phone too. Hope that helps.

Actually it is fixed. The run that didn’t track was my fault, I accidentally did an Indoor Run, so that explains why didn’t track gps. Everything is working good now with the IOS 14.2. The only thing I did after the IOS update was unpair/pair the apple watch.

I’ve had this same issue now, twice. It appears my activity app recorded all 12.5km of the actual data of my walk (heart rate, splits, pace, etc) but th map only recorded 6.36km and only did so from starting midway through my walk!

The only correlation I can make that would maybe have affected the gps activation, is that the start point (where IT decided to start collecting data) was where I used the camera app on my iPhone to snap a couple of photos.

The watch (S3, Watch OS7.2) has been often only recording the start point for other activities I’ve wanted to track the gps data for, as denoted throughout mid his Apple help topic.

I have had to soft-reset my watch by holding both buttons in until the Apple logo appears and it seemed to resolve it, temporarily. 😣

Sorry to hear everyone still having issues.

The unpair and pairing again worked for me (restored from last backup).

Even seemed to fix the high battery drain I was seeing after initial upgrade.

I have restored my phone to factory settings and restored from back up...

all problems resolved ...

For now the only way that works well is erase all content and settings and restore from icloud backup. That seems to be the only that has a high success rate that gets GPS tracking back on track.

It appears that only people who are able to upload the next beta version 14.2 and 7.2 have been able to solve the problem.

Get the betas for both your phone and watch. That’s what worked for me. The only annoying thing is a bug that creates a pop-up every time you wake your phone, telling you to update it.