Apple watch
How does my apple watch count my steps but it doesn't register that I am standing while doing them?
Apple Watch Series 4, watchOS 9
Question marked as
It counts the swinging of the are where the Apple Watch is located.
The Apple Watch does not know if you are standing, sitting, hanging upside down. It only knows that your Apple Watch arm is swinging.
As far as stand counts, the Apple Watch wants to see about 30-60 contiguous arm swings in a brief period of time (say within a minute or 2). If you swing you arm 10 time, and then hold you arm steady for a few minutes, then count of 10 will be ignored, and you will have to start over again to get your 30-60 contiguous arm swings.
People that sit and knit get tremendous stand counts, and step counts. Chefs in a kitchen working all day, get lousy stand counts and steps, because most of the time their Apple Watch arm is holding something, such as food being chopped, or a pan on the stove, or carrying something from work station to work station, while the other arm is doing all the moving.