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Apple Watch fitness app doesn't track flights climbed

As a workout, I climb stairs. Conveniently, the Apple Watch fitness app includes stair climbing as an activity. But after I climb, it tracks time, calories, and heart rate, but not the number of flights climbed. And worse, it appears that when I use the fitness app, the health app doesn't include that data, either. The health app does track flights climbed when not using the fitness app, so it's not an obvious setting issue.


Any suggestions?

Posted on Jun 18, 2021 8:53 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 19, 2021 8:08 PM

Thanks, yes it makes a lot of sense. In that case I would try the unpair and re-pair sequence. That will effectively bring the watch back to factory settings, while keeping all your apps and data intact. You may start by following the steps from here:

Unpair and erase your Apple Watch - Apple Support


Hopefully that helps..



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4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 19, 2021 8:08 PM in response to dscott NBK

Thanks, yes it makes a lot of sense. In that case I would try the unpair and re-pair sequence. That will effectively bring the watch back to factory settings, while keeping all your apps and data intact. You may start by following the steps from here:

Unpair and erase your Apple Watch - Apple Support


Hopefully that helps..



Jun 19, 2021 11:16 AM in response to better_half

It's a Series 6, but it's not a hardware issue. The watch (and the health app) track stairs just fine in normal daily activity. It's only an issue when I use the Fitness app on the watch when I'm climbing stairs as exercise. The app tracks calories, time, and heart rate, but (weirdly) doesn't track number of flights climbed, considering that's the activity chosen. And when using the fitness app, the health app also doesn't track the flights. Does that make more sense?


Thanks

Jun 24, 2021 11:09 PM in response to better_half

I think this is a problem with the fitness app, maybe combined with a "feature" of the health app. Just to test, I made note of the number of flights I had climbed as counted by the heath app, then climbed three flights and verified the health app properly added three flights. Check. Then I started the Stairs workout on the fitness app and repeated. It tracked time and calories, but nowhere in the app does it show flights climbed. I stopped the Stairs workout and verified the health app flights counter hadn't changed.


I will find a friend with an Apple watch and see if they can repeat to make sure this isn't a problem solely with my app (which presumably anyone could try to replicate).


Another quirk... I noticed the Stairs workout also doesn't seem to chart my heart rate. I usually don't pay much attention, but the other workouts I often use (Elliptical and Outdoor Cycle) do chart heart rate. All three give a numerical Avg. Heart Rate, so even the Stairs workout is apparently tracking properly, it just doesn't show the graph. Very odd.

Apple Watch fitness app doesn't track flights climbed

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