I had a sudden drop in my VO2Max, as calculated by my Apple Watch 3, of 10 points, overnight! Picked up this question thread from early 2020 when similar occurred to others, but this has now gone silent. Have all those who flagged the issue found a permanent fix? If so can you share this please? Thanks
I went back and checked. Found that I had been switched from a 1956 birthday to an '84. No idea how it happened. Some other info in my profile was also screwy. Adjusted it and went back to normal/previous reads. Dropped from 44-45 V02 to barely 30, now back up to 48-49.
I went back and checked. Found that I had been switched from a 1956 birthday to an '84. No idea how it happened. Some other info in my profile was also screwy. Adjusted it and went back to normal/previous reads. Dropped from 44-45 V02 to barely 30, now back up to 48-49.
Hi Anthony,
Thanks for contacting the Apple Support Communities!
We understand that you're seeing unexpected results in your VO2 max with your Apple Watch. To start, we want to be sure that Cardio Fitness settings are correct as outlined here: Set up Cardio Fitness Levels
If everything looks good there, we also want to be sure that your watchOS and the iOS on your companion iPhone are up to date.
Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
We also want to be sure that Power Saving mode has been disabled: Use the Workout app on your Apple Watch
We hope this helps.
Cheers!
I experienced a drop in May, my birthday is in March.
on the Apple website I see that they released a patch for WatchOS May 3rd, and I probably installed it days later.
My vo2 drop happened between May 6th (46,7) and May 11th (36,3). I believe I did the watchOS update between those dates.
I did daily runs for the next seven days and it was up to 42.9 on May 17th.
May 28th it was up to 45,8 and August 9th it’s at 47,3.
I’m a nervous wreck whenever there’s a new patch, but the recent patches went well. Haven’t experienced a drop again.
I have the same issue! Just when I was patting myself on the back for the 'High' average level for my age, my Cardio Fitness went from an average of 40 to 28 in a matter of days (despite NO change to my fitness schedule - brisk walk of 10km/6.25 miles in 95-100 minutes). And the funny thing is that it is still dropping! Can we have Apple Support address this issue, please! It has to be some software issue. Here are a couple of screen shots:
I have experienced this issue since Dec 2020/Jan 2021. I have a Series 3 watch , owned since July 2019, and the new iPhone SE which I’ve had since September 2020. I’m a 21 yr old female who walks at least 3 miles everyday and does at least an hour of HIIT/cardio/etc as well as a uni student. In Dec 2020 I recorded an average of 38.8 VO2. Suddenly in Jan 2021 it dropped to 35.4. Didn’t think much of it as I had changed my routine slightly to cope with uni work. It then dropped again and now sits at around 30.1 VO2 despite an increase in walking distance, occasional run and my routine picking up again. This is very disappointing to someone like me who has struggled a lot with their view toward their body image and workout routine, often having to reminded not to overtrain and such.
You are right, this sort of feedback from a fitness app is massively unhelpful and disincentivizing if not darn right depressing. Particularly if your activity level hasn’t decreased sufficiently to justify the drop. But it is KEY to remember that this is just a tool and the real truth is in how you feel. Walking is great and if maintained will help maintain your health. If you enjoy, keep doing it. Increasing the intensity will increase the health benefits. Steadily speed up you pace over time. Walk the same distance in a shorter time. Introduce a hill or two into your walk. Extend your walk, but at a quicker pace. The more you raise your heart rate during exercise, steadily and within limits, the greater the health benefits. Don’t be discourage by a faulty and defective health monitoring tool! Your health is far too important. Good luck.
Apple needs to resolve this issue!
Go to the Watch App -> Health -> Health Details. Then uncheck the Medications That Affect Heart Rate.
How do you feel? Could the drop be due to otherwise non-symptomatic COVID? This does reduce lung function and can remain for some time, even without other symptoms.
My drop has been even more dramatic, from 45 one day to 31 the next. I was one the range of 40+ for the first three months after purchase and set up) and from 30.5 to 31.5 since. I have done all the updates, checked all the settings. Nothing. My resting heart rate has stayed in the mid-40s and my workouts are no different now than they were previously. It's a glitch--I don't know if I bought a lemon or if it's product-wide.
From the responses I have had from Apple, it appears that we have both bought lemons! There must be more out there. With a resting heart rate of mid 40s your true Co2MAX should be much higher. Mine is around 50 and my Co2MAX has risen to around 36, but way down on where it was and still cycling 60+ miles a week at a reasonably high intensity. I have just decided that if it really is a glitch, but a consistent one, I will monitor the trajectory and patten rather than the actual number.
I'm glad to know I'm not alone with this weird random overnight drop in VO2 max. If Apple can't figure this out, they should drop the feature until they do. None of the fixes suggested work. The instructions at "Set Up Cardio Fitness" do not work on the iPhone 12 mini (see my post from March 26), and no one from Apple has responded with updated instructions. Not that I think that's likely to help.
I wonder if it's part of planned obsolescence for this generation of watches. Has anyone with this problem upgraded to a newer watch recently? I can't afford to chuck a perfectly good one (in most ways) just to solve the VO2 max glitch.
I got the same problem… I see that my problems started to appear on may 11th. On may 10th I contacted Apple support because my Apple watch doesn’t suggest new move goals on Mondays. I unpaired the watch and was told to set it up as a new device. Which I did. This is when the vo2max problem started. I’ve done four runs these days, and I did the latest one today, may 14th. Today’s run was a very slow run with low and steady heart rate, not unlike the one I did when I first calibrated it when I bought it. I really don’t want to unpair and set it up again.. it’s tedious having to set up everything yet again….
i used an iPhone eight max. just switched to a 12 mini. My VO2 was running about 22 for three months but in February it dropped to 15 or sometimes below. (An approximation for VO2Max is your max divided by your average times 15. A score less than 15 mins my max must be less than my average so this sounds quite wrong.). Apple does not give its formula. I am 80 years old and I suspected they made a different Adjustment for age, which would explain a sudden drop that is persistent. But I am assuming all the rest of you who are doing this are younger. So anyway it would be a problem occurred with an 8 max and persists with a 12 mini.
My extreme VO2 drop happened when I upgraded to the Version 6 watch. Totally not correct!! It had been healthy before with no issues.
Did you have a birthday the month that it changed? I think the algorithm that calculates VO2 max reduces your VO2 max as you get older.
Sudden drop in VO2Max recorded on Apple Watch
