Cardio Fitness not working on my Apple Watch Series 6 (or on my previous Series 5)

Hello, i had a same issue, no data source etc. so i did the following, 1. Made My current watch as priority source 2. Recalibrated my watch 3. ( standard setting on watch) i had by default power saving mode on, which resulted into no continuous heartbeat tracking but sporadic( which is used to calculate VO2max) i switched it off in Watch app dock> Settings> workout> power saving mode 4. Then 2 outdoor walking workouts of approx 40 min each and today after 2nd workout vo2 max appeared and data source got updated.

hope it will help!

I had the same issue since buying my S6 watch back in December last year. Today I adjusted a few settings, did 3 quick 15 minutes walks and VO2 Max results came up straight away....

On iPhone. Settings>Privacy>Motion & Fitness - turn on Fitness Tracking.

On iPhone. Settings>Privacy>Location Services - turn on Location Services

On iPhone. Settings>Privacy>Location Services>System Services - turn on Compass Calibration and Motion Calibration & Distance.

Follow the same process to check that your watch has similar settings. Do this through the watch and not the watch app on your phone.

Hopefully this trick might work for you.

Whetts post on the settings update did the trick for me! The main setting I had off that I turned back on was Motion Calibration and Fitness!

After following this, I restarted my watch and phone, I completed yesterday 18/Feb an outdoor walk using Apple Watches “Outdoor walk” workout. This morning 19/Feb I did a run using RunKeeper app on the watch as a “Running” activity...

Didn’t think much of it but just checked and found out VO2MAX had recorded!

For those that are still struggling to get this up and running, I can’t guarantee this will work, but main things to keep in mind once you’ve got the settings setup are:

1) your workouts need to be more than 20mins at a steady pace with no pause

2) pace during your workout (according to the apple support person) must be faster than 11min/km

3) there needs to be more than one workout after settings are updated for the results to show.

Anyway I hope this helps those that are still struggling. I was really annoyed that Apple Support themselves were unable to resolve this, and it took me reviewing the support cases to FINALLY find an answer that worked!

thankyou Whetts!

Finally! yes, Thanks Whetts and Matt_SG

After days of trying I got my first successful Cardio Fitness / VO2 Max reading today and now my Apple Watch SE is showing as a data source.

Not sure which things I tried exactly sorted it. Here’s what I adjusted that I can remember.

I couldn’t figure out how to reset data sync so I didn’t try that.

I tried the steps suggested for resetting calibration but that didn’t seem to work.

I ensured that Location Services were on for 1) Apple Watch Workouts & 2) Apple Maps and that Privacy > Fitness Tracking was enabled on the iPhone and Watch

Also ensured that 1) Compass Calibration and 2) Motion Calibration & Distance were both enabled on the Watch in Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services

The one I noticed wasn’t on that I turned on was Location Services > Compass.

Settings > Privacy > Location Services > Compass

I turned off/powered down both the iPhone and Watch and turned them both on.

checked the various settings suggested in this thread / by Whetts.

and did three just over 20 min “Outdoor Walks” in quick succession.

For the second and third (which were basically playing soccer with my son), I opened Apple Maps on my iPhone which I kept with me. I had to give some permissions when I opened it (I typically use other apps for maps) so, seems like it might not have been tracking even though my previous Outdoor Walks showed map data for the previous routes.

I also ensured I kept a higher heart rate than my typical leisurely walk. First avg heart rate 102 bpm, then 120 bpm, then 122 bmp.

Opened the Health App after I got home following the third walk and there were two new data points in Cardio Fitness & my Apple Watch is listed in data sources. Whew.

Now on to seeing if it continues recording and if I can improve my VO2 Max, one of the main reasons I got this Watch in the first place.

Firstly - thanks to the OP for the info and leg work with support.

I have this issue - and also able to replicate one of the 'workarounds'

History: Switched over from a Series 4 (working fine) to a Series 6 couple of weeks back. No cardio health/Vo2 at all with new watch.

What I tried but did not work (did a run after all these):

1. Restart watch/phone
2. Reset Fitness Calibration
3. Manual entry into Cardio Health/Vo2
4. Unpair/Pair watch
5. Confirmed all applicable settings correct
6. Toggles Airplane/BT on/off before a run (note not during a run)

Nothing worked.

What did work:

• Turn on Airplane Mode
• Disable BT for Watch (on phone)
• Went for run - 30mins
• After run turned off Airplane Mode
• Turn BT back on
• And result logged!!

One thing I noticed during this run - and not sure I had seen it before. At some point during run the heart rate metric display changed font colour from White to Bold-Red. Apparently this doesnt mean anything except the crown maybe moved to focus on it? Color of heart rate in workout mode - Apple Community

Not sure I have ever seen that before.

Anyway the missing data is definitely a bug and hopefully Apple working on fix. Its a pain but I can get by for now turning AP mode and BT mode etc

What was a happy surprise was all this testing and running - my score had improved!

Ok I have managed to replicate and further refine the work-around.

Also I have contacted Apple support (UK) and they have confirmed this is a known issue and is on the current backlog to be fixed. Before people moan - this is standard practice and common with software design from any tech company. Bugs happen to everyone - no single company is immune. (Source: I have worked for tech for 20+ years)

Recap - I had previously moved from an iPhone 11 + Series 4 to an iPhone 11 + series 6. Which is when Vo2/Cardio broke for me.

The work-around I had thought was confirmed - after trying the numerous suggestions in this thread was to turn Airplane mode on during the run - and once turned off post run Vo2 populated.

This time I have now moved to an iphone 12 - still with Series 6 watch and the issue came back.

Though oddly at first the workaround didn't work. I tried Airplane mode straight away before anything else - but it didn't log.

I went back and tried the other steps

1. Validated all location settings - didn't work
2. Repaired - didn't work
3. Reset fitness calibration - then run with airplane mode - didn't work
4. Added manual entry into Vo2 - then run with airplane - worked!

So it appears - at least for me - confirmed on all new hardware - that a combination of first adding a manual entry into Vo2/Cardio and then running in Airplane mode seems to work.

Hope this helps others until we get the fix with a feature update release.

I have had this issue, and the two things that i believe are important to resolve this issue are

1) Make sure that power saving mode is OFF

2) There is a calibration step that needs to be done, which activates the watch as a data source for the V02 measure.

• • You need to do two walks of at least 20 minutes and this needs to be done
    • in the Outdoor walk mode
    • on a reasonably flat surface
    • briskly (faster than 11m KMs)
    • and you need to ensure that the hear rate sensor is working all the time during the walk.
  • I found that when i initially started to walk, the hear rate was greyed out and didn't come on for several minutes. I tighten the watch strap and continued walking until the heart rate showed, and timed my twenty minutes from that point, making sure that i didnt lose the heart rate.

And yes, touch wood, i resolved it after many attempts

Cheers

Bill

I posted a couple months ago about having the same problem. Cardio Fitness stopped working on my Watch 3 a year ago, I replaced it with the Watch 6 in January but still no cardio fitness data. I shared my data with Apple but no resolution. Here’s the weird thing though. I unpaired the 3 from my phone three weeks ago and then Cardio Fitness promptly started recording on the 6 after that. The reading was oddly high at first (I’m normally at 35 or 36) and it was reading at around 44.) Then it stopped recording altogether for a couple days and now for a week it is back to recording it and with what I believe to be accuracy (in the 35-36 range).

So in conclusion, it seems that unpairing the old unused 3 (and if it matters, I restored that watch to its factory settings before giving it to a friend) triggered the Cardio Fitness setting to work on my Watch 6. If you’ve still got an old, unused Apple watch paired on your phone, unpair it and see what happens.

My apple watch 6 is my first ever apple watch, bought it on Nov. V02max never worked since the beginning even though I’ve followed the 20 minute outdoor rule. This morning I tried a bit more intensely: Outdoor walking for 23 minutes average heart rate 150bpm with max 194bpm. And Cardio Fitnees data finally shows up. My usual workout is 30 minutes outdoor walk avergae heart rate 110bpm. Will see tomorrow if any data will show up if I go back to my usual routine. I think you must reach certain heartrate for it to begin collecting data. Hope it works for you.

PS I recaliberated my watch before I started my workout this morning.

finally i got my apple watch 6 to provide cardio fitness. not sure how, but i followed some random steps I've seen here and there among the swearing:

• went out
• reset calibration
• activated maps in the background
• did an 'outdoor walk' for 30 minutes. a 'brisk' one, to be precise.

went home and still nothing. I also noticed that my activities themselves hadnt synced for 2 days.

I tried to then fix the synch issue. Opened the Apple watch app on the iphone and clicked: General>Reset>Reset Sync Data

Magically Activities were synced, also VO2 appeared and in the Cardio fitness data source I could finally see the Apple watch.

Now, It's impossible to say that what I did solved the problem, and I'm still shocked that these basic features seem so obscure and when they dont work it is even impossible to understand why (and the Apple watch itself doesnt report a synch error... i mean, activity synch doesnt work for 2 days and apple watch deems this to be OK??? ).

cannot imagine what the apple watch 1 was, if this is the quality reached at the 6th attempt.

good luck!

dp, an owner of apple watch 6 that wont ever buy the 7

Had the same issue as many without Cardio Fitness measurements from my Apple Watch.

What got a steady stream of Cardio Fitness data started for me was to start workouts from the workout App on my Apple watch. Used the “Outside Walk” activity. “Outside Run” should work as well. I always go for 40 minutes or more.

And here are two important bits:

1. Start and end the activity when you are actually outside, so not in your home or in an elevator or parking garage.
2. Close the wristband one hole tighter than normal as Cardio Fitness needs uninterrupted heart rate measurements.

Looking thru your settings, i cant fault them.

My last thought ( and apologies if you already know this)

on your apple watch there is an activity App ( looks like a target with red yellow and blue circles.

When you open this, does it show your daily workout summaries?

so if you click on 'todays workout' you should see time, distance, calories, altitude gain, heart rate, pace, splits , a graph of your heart rate and recovery during the activity, and a map of the activity.

If thats there, then your tracking and heart rate data are being sent from your watch to your iphone - ie its working as it should be.

So the only thing then that isn't working is the V02 measurement. And that needs to be activated by the 2x Outdoor walks.

One of the things that i have found is that the heart rate doesn't always work continuously - i have been part way thru a walk and noticed its not showing. In trying to remedy that, i have noticed that if i turn the watch to the inside of my wrist, and make sure the strap is reasonable tight, then it seems to work much better.

I think it would be worth while just trying a couple of 20+ minute walks etc making sure that the heart rate is recording continuously throughout the full 20 minutes.

Hope it works out for you as it must be terribly frustrating.

Cheers

Bill

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204516

copied from above post for Markylux

Also ensured that 1) Compass Calibration and 2) Motion Calibration & Distance were both enabled on the Watch in Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services

The one I noticed wasn’t on that I turned on was Location Services > Compass.

Settings > Privacy > Location Services > Compass

I turned off/powered down both the iPhone and Watch and turned them both on.

checked the various settings suggested in this thread / by Whetts.