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Level 1

61 points

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

I have owned an Apple Watch (first series 5 and now series 6) since November of 2019. I frequently run or walk outdoors for much more than 20 minutes at a time and I always use the Apple Watch Workout app, selecting either Outdoor Walk or Outdoor Run, accordingly. In 14 months of this outdoor activity (hundreds of runs and walks by now), I have only had Cardio Fitness data recorded ONCE (December 5th, 2019, and called VO2Max then). Before and since that random single entry, NO DATA has been recorded for VO2Max or Cardio Fitness. I compared the other workout parameters (exercise time, heart rate information, active calories) for that single workout that recorded a VO2Max entry with the data from my hundreds of other workouts but I don’t see any significant differences, other than the fact that VO2Max data was NOT RECORDED. When I traded my series 5 watch for a series 6 this past November 2020 I had hoped that this feature would start working, but nothing has changed (NO DATA for Cardio Fitness, aka VO2Max). I don’t normally take my phone with me with I exercise outdoors, but even when I do, NO DATA is recorded for this parameter. I have reset my Fitness Calibration Data several times in an effort to get this feature to work, but still NO DATA is ever recorded. What really has me confused is that it did work ONCE, but has not worked before or since that one day and I didn’t do anything different on that one day. Any ideas? Is this a know bug?

Posted on Dec 29, 2020 6:24 PM

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150 replies

Osugrad85 Author

Level 1

61 points

Jan 5, 2021 5:42 PM in response to swapnil303

Hi swapnil303. Thanks for the info, but this did not work for me. Since my Apple Watch is NOT listed as a data source for Cardio Fitness, I can’t make it a priority. I did go through ALL of the other Health App data parameters and made sure that my Apple Watch was the top listed data source, but Cardio Fitness is still not working for me. I had three lengthy phone calls with Apple Support today, but still no solution. They captured a lot of diagnostic info from both my watch and phone and say that they will get back to me, hopefully with a solution. If I do get a solution, I will post it here.

cnatalia

Level 1

112 points

Jan 5, 2021 6:14 PM in response to Osugrad85

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.

Jan 5, 2021 9:19 PM in response to Osugrad85

Hello Osugrad85, Thanks for update. I hope it will work soon. Just curious , do you get heart rate map in your workout details? In activity? In other words does it track heart rate continuously or sporadically?

Osugrad85 Author

Level 1

61 points

Jan 5, 2021 9:48 PM in response to swapnil303

Swapnil303, yes, I do get a heart rate map in my workout details. Occasionally it has some data dropouts, but usually it is a complete map.

cnatilia, the Apple Support person I am working with believes (like me) that I am satisfying the requirements needed to generate Cardio Fitness data, it just isn’t being generated for some unknown reason. Hopefully they will come up with a solution. Thanks for sharing your experience. Hope it continues to work for you.

Osugrad85 Author

Level 1

61 points

Jan 13, 2021 2:48 PM in response to Ana girlie

Hi All. Long story short ... no answers from Apple yet, but they are working on it and I will post here when I hear something.

If you want the long story, here it is:

I have been working with Apple Support to find a solution to this problem since Wednesday last week. First they reviewed my watch and phone settings and agreed that all were set properly and we discussed my workout history and they agreed that I SHOULD be seeing VO2Max/Cardio Fitness data.

Next they performed a remote diagnostic on both my Series 6 watch and my iPhone 11 and said that everything appeared to be working properly. So, they had me load some diagnostic profiles onto both my watch and phone and then asked me to perform two outdoor workouts of at least 20 minutes (I did an outdoor walk for 22 minutes, rested for 3 minutes, then did a separate outdoor run for 22 minutes). They then remotely downloaded the diagnostic reports and I provided them with some screenshots of the individual exercises from the Activity app (along with some additional screenshots of other similar exercises).

They contacted me on Friday and said that the engineers wanted more data. So, we again loaded more diagnostic profiles on my phone and watch and over the course of this past weekend I logged a total of six more workouts for them (outdoor walks and outdoor runs, each in excess of 20 minutes). On Monday they accessed the diagnostic data and I provided them with screenshots of each of those six workouts. I was told to expect an answer by today.

But, I just got off the phone with my Apple Support agent who stated that he had NOT yet heard back from the engineers. He is hopeful that he will hear from them within the next two days and will call me when he has news. Hopefully they find a cause and solution for this problem.

Jan 21, 2021 12:57 PM in response to Osugrad85

I have this problem with my Apple Watch Series 5 and iphone 11pro. My iphone fitness app stopped recording cardio fitness (VO2 max) on 10/1/2020. All my products are up to date with the latest OS. I read on another blog that it seemed to be around the time there was an upgrade for the iOS systems (in October of 2020) for the watches and phones. Really frustrating to see that this has not been resolved. I have been sharing with my running and fitness friends how cool the health app was about recording VO2 max up until 10/1/2020.

Jan 25, 2021 3:59 AM in response to Osugrad85

I spent 2 months going thru same process and never got engineers to resolve the issue and finally gave up. Company like Apple should have a senior member of leadership spend some time understanding the user’s pain and hire someone who can resolve this issue. This became more problematic when Watch OS 7 was released. Looking forward to resolution soon (no high hopes considering this has been problem for over 4 months now)

km1117

Level 1

4 points

Jan 25, 2021 3:39 PM in response to Osugrad85

Hi Osugrad85,

Any updates? I was on a call today trying to figure this out. The only thing I haven’t tried: I am going to recalibrate and do two 20 minute work outs outside.

Hope you got some answers!

Osugrad85 Author

Level 1

61 points

Jan 25, 2021 4:20 PM in response to km1117

Hi Km1117. No update this week. I’ll call them on Wednesday if I haven’t heard from them first. BTW, recalibration got and doing two 20 minute outdoor workouts (walks or runs or both) did not work for me. 15 months of lots of the proper types of exercises and still NO Cardio Fitness data reported by my watch.

Jan 31, 2021 11:23 AM in response to km1117

I had Covid in December and since then have been intensely tracking my heart health and exercise. I educated myself on HRV, VO2Max, etc. when I realized that the last VO2 reading my Watch took was on October 24th. I had to reset it around that time and the "new" Watch is not listed as a Data Source for this. I just reset the fitness calibration data and unpaired/re-paired the Watch so I'll update if I get a reading within my next few outdoor walks or runs. This is a pretty terrible time to have major flaws like this, especially since I need this data.

Feb 1, 2021 3:03 PM in response to Osugrad85

I too have this problem so please keep providing updates Osugrad85 or anyone else who has previously tried everything and hopefully has found a solution. I have the IPhone 11 and just upgraded to the Apple Watch 6, partially in the hope that the cardio fitness issue would be resolved. It hasn't been. My Apple Watch 3 did a fine job until June 2020 and then for no apparent reason, stopped recording cardio fitness info. Apple needs to get on this and provide a software update. It really seems like an issue on their end. It's infuriating.

JE35

Level 1

4 points

Feb 1, 2021 3:27 PM in response to Osugrad85

Same issue. Tried everything in this thread multiple times. Watch not showing up as data source. Had the watch for a month with a workout outside almost every day. zero VO2 measurements. Waiting for Apple's response.

Osugrad85 Author

Level 1

61 points

Feb 3, 2021 6:51 PM in response to ravindra2

Hi. Just a reminder, I’m the OP. No updates from Apple Support for two weeks now. I tried contacting them today, but got an email in response saying that they had tried to call me but were unable to reach me. I doubt they tried very hard because my phone was right next to me as I waited for their call. I reached out to them again, but did not receive any response. Also, I have logged lots more outdoor runs and walks since updating to WatchOS 7.3 and iPhone IOS 14.4 but still no Cardio Fitness data. And, I play golf every day, walking the course, and yet no Cardio Fitness data (supposedly the newest version of the IOS does not require actual walk and run workouts to record Cardio Fitness ... see their press release from mid-December). I have seen others elsewhere saying it works for them, but there are plenty of us for whom it is not working. And, since the Apple Support person I spoke with said that the engineers are aware of the issue, there clearly IS an issue. I just hope that they are working on a solution (but it wasn’t in the latest IOS updates).

ohill4

Level 1

4 points

Feb 4, 2021 6:30 AM in response to Osugrad85

Hi! After calling apple support and they had me install profiles on my phone and watch for them to get data from me based on my workouts i was doing, they then told me to go on a 20 minute walk outside right after they installed these profiles... Then I went on the walk and they called me back that same night and was going to get the data from the profiles and have me send them screenshots of my summaries of my workouts, when I went to do this, I realized at this moment that cardio fitness recorded for that walk I just did! So now it is working. They still had me send the data and the workouts to them so I am still not sure why it wasn’t working before. But I had the same issue where it wasn’t recording it and did not even have my watch as a data source listed. I had several qualifying workouts too so it was strange that all of a sudden, it worked after I called them.

Best of luck to the rest of you!

joepla03

Level 1

4 points

Feb 4, 2021 1:56 PM in response to ohill4

I've been following this thread since I purchased my Series 6 watch in mid January. On January 31, my watch finally appeared as a data source for cardio fitness and started recording data. Very, very strange. I didn't do anything special and I had numerous workouts that should have been recorded prior to January 31. So I can't really say if it was a result of anything I did.

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