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Level 2

421 points

What counts as "exercise" for the green ring??

Does anyone know what counts as "exercise"? i.e. what does it take to advance the green ring?? All the apple watch info I've seen says "brisk walk". I went for an "outside walk" using the workout app today. I walked for 56 minutes, and did 3.18 miles, with an average heart rate of 128. Yet it only counted as 17 minutes towards my green exercise ring!! What gives? We can't all be Christy Turlington training for a marathon! I'm an out-of-shape working mom with a baby! That's about as good "exercise" as I get these days.

My resting heart rate is pretty low, usually 55-65, so 128 is a pretty decent burn! I think that was a brisk walk! Maybe other people walk faster, but I was pushing a stroller and there were some decent hills.

So does anyone know what the criteria are? Does your heart rate have to be above a certain threshold?

One other thought I had- I was pushing the stroller so my left arm wasn't swinging at my side- could that affect how it measures my motion?

And, would it have made a difference if I had called it "outside run" instead of "outside walk"? I know people that jog a 17" mile...

If the point of this app is to get people to get out and moving around more, it's discouraging for the 'goals' to be so hard to reach. And there are lots of articles these days that say walking may be better exercise than running. For walking to not be "good enough" is pretty deflating.

iPhone 5, iOS 8.3

Posted on Apr 27, 2015 9:42 AM

Best reply

Alexroet Author

Level 2

421 points

Posted on Apr 28, 2015 3:51 AM

Well I went for another walk last night. 31minutes, 1.67m. Avg heart rate 126.

But this time I called it "outdoor run" instead of outdoor walk. And it says I burned 145cal (vs 196 for my 3.2m walk in the morning) and most importantly- it gave me 31 min of exercise on my green ring. Even though i walked slower, for less time, less distance, and had a lower heart rate- I got 2x as much "credit" for this walk vs the one in the morning (that was twice as long).

So bottom line- calling it run vs walk makes a big difference

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96 replies

Jun 5, 2015 9:42 AM in response to Julia Siporin

Julia Siporin wrote:

My 65 year old husband has a VERY low resting heart rate which hovers around 48-53 bpm. When we go out for a brisk walk, his heart rate gets up into the 70's or 80's which is plenty high for him, yet he gets zero minutes credited towards the green exercise ring. I wonder if it's calibrated to a person who's resting heart rate is around 72 and is young enough to need to get above 140 bpm to be considered "brisk". Polar has an app where it measures your resting heart rate so you get a more accurate picture of what 70% of Max HR. Apple, tell me you don't have a "one size fits all" code in your Watch.

This is a big problem. Because Apple has been vague, and moved the goalposts with 1.0.1, issued a slew of new Technical Notes, and because - frankly - Activity now seems to be broken, we are all trying to guess how the Watch works. People swinging their arms on treadmills ⚠ pushing strollers uphill with one hand, and trying to guess what "brisk" means... it's ridiculous.

There is no reason on Earth why our Watches should not know who we are, individually. The Health app knows your Height, Weight, Sex and Age. You can either input that data there or it will pick it up from Health, and probably elsewhere.

The bottom line for me is this is not about Calibration, Brisk, Arm Movement or anything else. The Watch simply doesn't provide repeatable Activity metrics any more. Whether that is because Heart Rate Monitoring is now random, or for some other reason, I don't know.

Something is wrong.

Jun 5, 2015 9:45 AM in response to nick101

Nick... that is pretty much my understanding too.

I don't think it's you that's not being clear!

Tony0330

Level 1

3 points

Jun 5, 2015 10:05 AM in response to nick101

Everything you say is correct. However, you can get the information that you want by using the Runkeeper app, which works on the watch.

You shouldn't have to use that workaround ... the watch's native apps should work as intended, and should not be as messed up as they are ... but at least there are alternatives.

Tony0330

Level 1

3 points

Jun 5, 2015 10:12 AM in response to Rob Cumberland

You're absolutely right.

As I said above, there are workarounds. There shouldn't have to be workarounds, but at least there are workarounds.

For example, to monitor HR continuously, just turn on the Workout app and pull up a HR screen in that app. You don't really need to use Workout for any other purpose. And then use Runkeeper to monitor things like distance and time.

It's inelegant, but at least it's functional.

The one that irritates me the most is the opaque Activity app. But I didn't buy the watch for its apps, so I just have to learn to ignore that app.

arsook

Level 1

8 points

Jun 5, 2015 10:19 AM in response to Tony0330

Please go to https://www.apple.com/feedback/watch.html and report the problem. Hopefully it will be addressed in the next software update.

Tony0330

Level 1

3 points

Jun 5, 2015 10:21 AM in response to Tony0330

Oh, and the stair counter is terrible, too. The Fitbit Surge was almost exactly right, consistently. The Apple Watch? Not so much.

Tony0330

Level 1

3 points

Jun 5, 2015 10:23 AM in response to arsook

Given Apple's response rate to software issues in the past, what would you rate the odds?

Apple has a disturbing tendency to hear about a bug and call it a feature.

Nevertheless, I have attempted to communicate the problems, and will do so again.

Jun 5, 2015 10:59 AM in response to Tony0330

Tony0330 wrote:

Oh, and the stair counter is terrible, too. The Fitbit Surge was almost exactly right, consistently. The Apple Watch? Not so much.

As I understand it the Stairs data is only available from the sensors in the iPhone. I may be wrong but that certainly seems to agree with my use of both Watch and Phone.

Jun 5, 2015 11:05 AM in response to arsook

arsook wrote:

Please go to https://www.apple.com/feedback/watch.html and report the problem. Hopefully it will be addressed in the next software update.

I have reported my issues. I'll be waiting to see what we hear from WWDC next week, if there's nothing I'll probably be returning my Watch.

What's the point wearing it if you have no idea what it's doing? Visual feedback is a great principle but not when you get conflicting results trying to react to that feedback.

Jun 7, 2015 2:37 PM in response to Alexroet

My exercise ring has gone crazy recording minutes where there was no activity. I took a nap after a brisk walk and it says I have been exercising for 303 minutes today?!?!

Alexroet Author

Level 2

421 points

Jun 8, 2015 11:57 AM in response to Tony0330

what stair counter? I haven't seen stairs anywhere in apple watch

Alexroet Author

Level 2

421 points

Jun 8, 2015 12:09 PM in response to Alexroet

I think I may have figured this out.... at least part of it.

They say the green exercise ring measures "any activity at or above the level of a brisk walk". So the question is, what is a brisk walk?? Somewhere in these forums someone said a brisk walk is defined as a pace of 16min/mile, and/or a HR greater than 120.

I think that's what it all comes down to. I thought the problem was when my arm wasn't swinging because I was pushing the stroller. But then I did a long walk when I wasn't pushing the stroller and still didn't get credit. Then I did another "outdoor walk" WITH the stroller, and I boosted my pace up, and I DID get credit- even with my arm not swinging. So I think the key is just that there is some magic threshold of pace and/or HR and only activity above that level gets counted. Like this morning I got 26min credit for my 30min walk/job- probably because it took me 4m to get warmed up.

Of course this does not help with bicycling.

I guess it makes sense- they want 30m of real exercise, not just a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood. Nonetheless I think a HR of 120 and a 16min/mile is a pretty high bar.

Then the other piece of the story- I read that "other" activity is counted as a brisk walk. Apparently that's regardless of what you're doing. I've done an "other" workout while sitting on the couch watching tv, and it gave me minute-for-minute credit. I guess that's why. Other counts as "brisk walk", which is what the green ring measures.

So it seems that, for me at least, maybe it actually IS working as intended?

I hope this gets tweaked in the next update. Or I wish Apple would at least explain it better.

arsook

Level 1

8 points

Jun 9, 2015 10:07 AM in response to Charles Sholdt

Hi Everyone,

Here is my answer from AppleCare iOS Senior Advisor about all the problems with resting calories and active calories:

"You asked at the perfect time. Apple had a conference yesterday announcing that iOS 9 and the Apple Watch OS will be released in the fall. It’s going to be an exciting time for all of us. Prior to that the rumor is iOS 8.4 is going to be released before then, so keep an eye on your iPhone."

Based on this I told my husband to return his watch and if they repair this function then he can re-buy in the fall!

Keep reporting your problems to Apple and on this forum because that is the only way they will acknowledge and fix these problems.

Jun 9, 2015 10:44 AM in response to arsook

I guess I'm a little mystified about why you would want to return your watch and then go back a by the exact same one again. The fix will be a simple software update through your iPhone.

arsook

Level 1

8 points

Jun 9, 2015 10:57 AM in response to Charles Sholdt

My husband and I bought the watch to replace a Fitbit HR. The fitbit has a great tracker, shares with other apps, and counts calories reliably. It also will tell you how many calories and how many steps, etc. with graphs you did in the last month in addition to many other functions. Apples tracker is poorly designed in comparison. Therefore, we are very disappointed. It is a fun device and since we both have the iphone 6 plus and do not like to carry it around at our facility it is useful to have the Apple watch notifications and phone calls. However, that does not overcome the main purpose we bought the watch for which is the fitness tracking.

Additionally, having been an early adaptor on many Apple devices my personal opinion is that the tracker will not be fixed in September. I suggested to my husband that he simply go back to the Fitbit and repurchase when Apple watch gets their act together. I waited too long and cannot return it.

What counts as "exercise" for the green ring??