Apple Watch not fully tracking exercise minutes

I found, especially during the Outdoor workouts, the watch will stop adding exercise minutes if your pace slows down and/or your heart rate drops near your resting heart rate, but the overall time for the workout will not be paused automatically. And the watch will ask you if you want to stop the exercise for those reasons.

To recored exercise minutes, the watch needs an elevated heart rate and speed for Outdoor Walk, Outdoor Run or Outdoor Hiking.

Since you are starting your recovery after the surgery, try to calibrate the watch again to adapt the the values to your current fitness level.

Calibrate your Apple Watch for improved Workout and Activity accuracy - Apple Support

Did you start a workout on your watch, which could then be seen under "Sessions" in the Fitness App?

Only then will the time be added according to the duration of your workout.

I just tested this today:

And, your watch counts the steps by using the movement of the watch arm. If you do not move your arm freely during a walk, the watch will count less steps.

Did you pause the Outdoor walk manually and tap to resume it after that?

You can also add your missing workout data manually:

How to manually add a workout in the Health app - Apple Support

@dalefrommason

Does the map show a loss of the GPS signal during the hike?

The classification of your training effort is made by you, or in case you did a similar workout before, the watch will suggest a value, which you can correct if wrong.

Adding data manually within 24hours after the workout, will also update your rings.

Yes, the exercise tracking is definitely broken, at least in iOS 11.2. I'd tell you how it works in 11.3, but my watch keep telling me there was an error installing 11.3. But that's another big bug for another thread.

I hiked in Sedona, AZ for 4.3 miles over 2 hours and 45 minutes, but got credit for 14 minutes. The watch classified my effort as "all out." The 750 feet of elevation gain was marked as 11 feet.

My wife's $50 smart watch is a lot smarter than my $500+ series 10.

@Ingo2711

None of that matters. The watch itself thought that I hiked 4.3 miles and that is was over 2 hours and 45 minutes. Because it knows that, it is a blatant software error that I got credit for 14 minutes of workout. The software is just broken.

And no, it shows a perfectly nice map of the hike that matches my Garmin GPS that correctly recorded the altitude gain, unlike the watch.

I am very unimpressed with the software quality compared to my wife's $50 smart watch. And hers also does blood oxygen.

I will add that during the hiking workout, the watch asked my several times if I wanted to end the workout. Very annoying at 4700 feet navigating a rock scramble. This watch software was not ready for release.

Full disclosure, I used to be an app developer for iOS.

@geminigirl789

Your problem is shared because it is a software problem. It doesn't matter if you are taking breaks or anything you are doing. It is super frustrating when you spend this much on a "smart" watch.

@geminigirl789 I forgot to wish you good luck with your rehab! The watch is supposed to be a tool to aid that, not a distraction. I have just resigned myself to using it as a secondary method of keeping track of progress. But I hope you can concentrate on improving, and not on the watch being a hindrance.