I'm a fairly active person and some days my steps as counted by my iPhone's Health App can total twenty-five or thirty thousand. On these especially big days the app has the annoying habit of randomly reducing the number of steps counted.

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Level 1

33 points

I'm a fairly active person and some days my steps as counted by my iPhone's Health App can total twenty-five or thirty thousand. On these especially big days the app has the annoying habit of randomly reducing the number of steps counted.

It's not uncommon that I walk close to 10 miles in a day. On the especially big days, the iPhone Health app will often reduce the step count sometime in the evening. As an example, you'll open the app and see a steps total of 24,700, which seems about right... but in just a second or so, that number disappears and the new number might be 16,300. Why does it do this, and can it be stopped?

iPhone 6s

Posted on Nov 4, 2020 3:36 AM

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Answer 1

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Axel Foley

Level 10

148,728 points

Nov 4, 2020 1:21 PM in response to Jeff Rice

You know you mentioned that both of you use the same Apple ID (iCloud account). That is causing the overlap of data between the two of you. The health app is using data from one or the other and reporting to both iPhones (among other things). The ideal way of setting your iPhones up is to use two separate Apple ID accounts and use the ➔ Family Sharing feature to share information.

Axel F.

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Answer 2

Axel Foley

Level 10

148,728 points

Nov 4, 2020 3:44 AM in response to Jeff Rice

Are you using any third-party apps that counts your steps and is connected to the Health app as source for data? The reason I am asking is that if you have more than one apps taking count then, perhaps, at times, one app is taking precedence over the other and reporting the data to the Health app.

For optimum accuracy, I recommend that you purchase a wrist based device (Apple Watch, Fitbit etc) that keeps account of your activity and reports it accurately to the Health app of your iPhone.

Axel F.

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Answer 3

Jeff Rice Author

Level 1

33 points

Nov 4, 2020 5:39 AM in response to Axel Foley

I've been using only the Health app that came installed on the iPhone. Your line of reasoning leads me to wonder, however. My wife and I DO share an iCloud account and she's using a Fitbit and associated app. Hmmmm...

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Answer 4

Jeff Rice Author

Level 1

33 points

Nov 4, 2020 6:01 AM in response to Axel Foley

Okay... since she doesn't use the Health app, we're trying having her remove it from her phone. We looked back through our data history and found numerous examples of both of us having the exact same number of steps on the same day.

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