Apple Watch Step Counter Accuracy Whilst Driving

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Apple Watch Step Counter Accuracy Whilst Driving

Hello,

I am a bus driver.

During my duty, whilst sat in the cab, not standing or walking, only driving, my Apple Watch (both Series 6 and Ultra) count a significant number of steps (often several hundred over a typical 7-8 hour duty).

It seems to get worse when I follow the calibration steps set out by Apple.

As such, the step count accuracy is pretty useless, which makes the watch as a fitness tracker for me not worth having.

Despite counting all of these erroneous steps, both watches are not counting stand minutes or giving me any credit for standing in the fitness app during the same period.

Obviously, this means the watch knows I’m not standing up, so why is it counting steps while I’m driving at speeds of 10, 20, 30, 40 even 50 mph??? It makes zero sense.

Resetting calibration and fitness data and resetting the watch completely does nothing to change the situation.

How can I fix this? It’s doing my head in!

Apple Watch Series 6

Posted on Mar 17, 2024 4:05 AM

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Answer 1

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meMC83 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 18, 2024 5:03 PM in response to BobHarris

I’ve sent some Feedback to Apple using the link you sent to me. Thank you. In the meantime, I will have to get in the habit of turning fitness tracking off within the watch app. That stops all erroneous steps and presumably calories burned whilst I’m driving the bus. Don’t seem to have the same problem in the car.

So frustrating. Surely a tech company like Apple can get this right. There must be some sort of algorithm that can ignore erroneous steps that could be built into the watch software.

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Answer 2

BobHarris

Level 9

55,043 points

Mar 17, 2024 9:12 AM in response to meMC83

meMC83 wrote:

That seems really rubbish. The algorithm or whatever should take everything into account. That way it would be massively more accurate.

Obviously, the more ‘steps’ being recorded, the more calories I’m supposedly burning. Unless the active calories are calculated based on heart rate only.

My observations come from the first week I got my Apple Watch, trying to figure out how to get stand credit. This was 5 1/2 years ago.

Over the years, I’ve experimented laying down, sitting, walking, driving, etc…. While driving the fact that you are going 65MPH does seem to affect how many arm swings needed to get stand credit.

You can do your own experiments to see how your Apple Watch behaves.

Based on your experiments, you can send Apple your design ideas via

Feedback - Watch - Apple

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Answer 3

BobHarris

Level 9

55,043 points

Mar 17, 2024 5:28 AM in response to meMC83

The Apple Watch only sees your Apple Watch arm movements. It does not know the position of your body, nor what your feet are doing.

Knitters, sitting in a chair, can get huge step counts.

Chefs working in a kitchen on their feet all day, moving from station to station in the kitchen, get lousy step counts, because most of the time their Apple Watch arm is holding something and not swinging.

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Answer 4

Jun 10, 2024 6:06 PM in response to meMC83

I am also facing the same issue with my Apple Ultra 2. It is not only counting steps when I am driving my car but it also counts phantom steps when I am sitting at one place e.g. working at my desk. I have opened a support ticket with Apple. I will share an update if they are able to find a workaround.

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Answer 5

Mar 17, 2024 5:52 AM in response to meMC83

Hiya

Perhaps the speedo of the bus is interfering with your watch??

Just a quick ?, you have 2 watch’s you wear both at the same time, 1 for each wrist or both on the same wrist.

😎

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Answer 6

meMC83 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 17, 2024 6:41 AM in response to BobHarris

That seems really rubbish. The algorithm or whatever should take everything into account. That way it would be massively more accurate.

Obviously, the more ‘steps’ being recorded, the more calories I’m supposedly burning. Unless the active calories are calculated based on heart rate only.

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Answer 7

Jun 30, 2024 4:55 AM in response to meMC83

is the bus you drive manual gearbox or automatic? I recently hired a car with a manual gear box and noticed that my steps were increasing with every gear change/clutch action. Clutch, gearshift and watch were all “on the left”!

I simulated several gearshift/clutch actions whilst traveling on a train and confirmed that my watch had incremented my step count accordingly.

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Answer 8

meMC83 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 17, 2024 6:39 AM in response to ItaStallion

I only wear one watch at a time.

On my left wrist.

I’m not sure how the speedo on the bus would interfere with the watch?

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Apple Watch Step Counter Accuracy Whilst Driving

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