Inconsistant Results: Workout/Activity/Exercise

I have the same problem mountain biking. My watch is calibrated because runs - either indoor or outdoor- are accurate. Outdoor bike rides seem accurate. However, mountain biking is ridiculously low. If I use other I record a calorie burn 2-10 times higher than outdoor cycle. It seems the algorithm used to calculate cycling calories is incorrect.

Greetings hockeymom3,

It seems you are concerned about the workout results after using your Apple Watch. The articles below may help you calibrate your Apple Watch for better results:

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

Get the best measurement

Your Apple Watch will estimate your measurements during workouts based on the information that you entered during setup, but you can further improve its accuracy using these tips:

• Wearing your Apple Watch regularly can improve the accuracy of the Activity and Workout apps.
• Choose the Workout that best matches what you’re doing. For example, if you're running on a treadmill, choose Indoor Run.
• For GPS accuracy when you walk, run, or cycle outdoors, select the appropriate Workout and bring your iPhone. This will also help calibrate the accelerometer in Apple Watch for times when you don’t have GPS, such as during treadmill workouts or when you're running outside without your phone.
• To get the most accurate heart rate measurement when you use Workout, make sure your Apple Watch fits snugly on top of your wrist. The heart rate sensor should stay close to your skin.
• You can also use another heart rate monitoring device, such as a chest strap. To pair an external heart rate monitor with your Apple Watch, tap the Settings app on the Home screen, then tap Bluetooth and select it under Health Devices. Learn more about the Apple Watch heart rate sensor, its accuracy, and its limitations.

Use the Workout app on Apple Watch - Apple Support

Thank you for contributing to Apple Support Communities.

Best,

Bobby_D

My wife purchased the Apple Watch for all the neat things it does but mostly for it's activity app. She has been very disappointed with the performance of the Activity / Exercise apps. She uses the Digifit app with a Polar heart rate strap to measure her exercise calories while rowing, spinning, HIIT (high intensity interval training), and weight lifting. All these activities are recorded via her heart rate. Her average time spent doing these exercises is 1 hour 15 minutes daily and she averages 700 to 1,000 calories depending on time and intensity for each day.

She has been wearing the Apple Watch, tightly on her wrist concurrently with the Digifit and Polar strap (Polar strap not connected to Watch). Exercise app set to Indoor Cycling for the duration of her exercise period. The average activity calories for the past week per day (as shown on the dashboard) is 394 (all daily activity). Generally Digifit registers an average heart rate of 150 BPM during the exercise period while the Apple Watch also registers 150 BPM. Since all of her exercises do not involve distance calculations it seems unneccessary to be concerned about calibrating with a GPS app.

All this being said, how can she get the Apple Watch to accurately reflect calories burned during her workouts? It is currently only showing about 1/3 of the total for the workout period. All her personal data (height, weight, age) are the same in both the Apple Watch iPhone app and the Digifit app. Additionally, the Kaiser bike digital readouts show 500 calories just for the indoor cycle ride (no personal data on bike). Thanks

Now for the inconsistency: The Polar Watch told me I had burned 830 calories with an average heart rate of 124. The Apple Watch told me I burned a TOTAL of 559 ( Active 371 Resting 188) with an avg heart rate of 124. Why the calorie calculation difference? Any biking calorie calculator (adjusted for weight and biking speed) will also show that your burn a minimum 500 calories/hr, although they don't take into consideration heart rate. How can the Apple Watch calculation be so much lower?

Finally, the Activity App said at the end of the day, I only had "Exercise" of 65 minutes, but the Workout shows 130 minutes? why wouldn't the Exercise be at least the same as the Workout, if not higher given other activities (like walking the dog) throughout the day?

Sorry I think your expectations for calorie burn are a little optimistic. The cycle I did over the weekend was more or less the same average speed as yours, I'm a little older than you but weight 224 lbs so would expect to burn more calories than you. My average is below the 500 calories per hour that you seem to be expecting, I use Strava which is generally well respected.

Which reading is correct I'm not sure because of the exercise credit you have reported, I don't know if it's relevant but I guess it could be. Exercise credit isn't given unless you are moving (or using 'Other'), I had thought that movement would be determined by GPS if outdoors and not just wrist movement, which is the case if you are indoors (if you use a treadmill your hands don't move, so you need to use 'other' rather than 'indoor walk'). I haven't had any time lost from outdoor cycles, but I might try a few experiments to try to find out what is going wrong for other people.

I am having similar problems: inaccurate calorie counts and HR as compared with my chest-strap HRM. I don't have any solutions, but I was wondering if you have freckled arms? I am starting to wonder if my freckles are interfering with the HR.

Also, my "active" calories seem low, the total "resting" calories at the end of the day are INCREDIBLY high- often my totals are over 3,500 for non-workout days. If I ate 3,500 calories a day I'd gain 5 pounds a month!

Spinning doesn't cause your wrist to move a lot, you can use other, it will give you a count based on a brisk walk.

Why use "Other" when there is an exercise activity for "Indoor Cycle"?

Data from wife's exercise today, Indoor cycling (spinning). Digifit app and Apple Watch started simultaneously prior to exercise activity.

Apple Watch set to "Indoor Cycle"

Digifit Results:

Exercise Time: 1:06:05

BPM Avg: 147

BPM Max: 162

Calories: 670

Apple Watch Results:

Total Calories (8:00 am to 6:30 pm): 378 (no way, she had 670 during the 1:06:05 of exercise)

Exercise Time: 43 minutes

Exercise Calories: 239

Dashboard Min Heart Rate: 41 BPM (not likely)

Dashboard Max Heart Rate: 234 BPM (not likely)

1. Why does the Apple Watch register 23 minutes less exercise?

2. Why does the Apple Watch register 431 less calories for the exercise activity?

3. Need a readout that shows BPM Avg and BPM Max for exercise period.

4. Why doesn't Apple acknowledge there is an issue with the Activity / Exercise app and at least say they are addressing the issue?

All this despite carrying her iPhone, despite wearing the watch tightly, despite choosing the correct workout type, despite wearing the watch regularly.

Why use "Other" when there is an exercise activity for "Indoor Cycle"?

I'm treating indoor cycle as if it were on a track, i.e. not spinning or not using a cycle machine. I'm a bit perplexed at why people keep posting their disbelief at what I'm saying, other than 'other' if your wrist doesn't move nothing is credited in the 'Activity app' (please note the 'Activity app' is not the 'Workout app') I've done numerous experiments and my results are the same on all 3 of our watches, every single time.

I now use other for the treadmill and the cycle machine (no wrist movement you see, although if I set indoor walk and swing my arm on the treadmill I get credit, but won't because it's dangerous) and use rowing, orbital, outdoor walk and outdoor cycle for those events and it works just perfectly.

Thanks for your response:

1. I understand that there is a very distinct difference between the activity app and the exercise app.

2. Calories should and could be calculated based on heart rate, arm movement should not have to factor into the equation for stationery activities such as spinning. Most other exercise apps do not need arm movement and reliable calories burned are obtained.

3. Yes, all her personal information information has been entered into the iPhone app.

4. Still need an explanation why the exercise time and calorie count are so different from Digifit.

Will have her try "other" tomorrow for her entire workout. Seems counterintuitive when "indoor cycling" should calculate calories burned from the heart rate.

jim49golf wrote:

1. I understand that there is a very distinct difference between the activity app and the exercise app.

OK

2. Calories should and could be calculated based on heart rate, arm movement should not have to factor into the equation for stationery activities such as spinning.

But you seem to be mis-understanding the difference already, calories are not part of the 'Activity app', I didn't suggest that arm movement was what determined calories burned in the 'Workout app'

3. Yes, all her personal information information has been entered into the iPhone app.

I'm not sure why you mention that, unless it's a reference to calibration (that's not calibration, have a look at the users guide for how to calibrate)

4. Still need an explanation why the exercise time and calorie count are so different from Digifit.

I have already explained how exercise time is credited, any difference in calories could be because you haven't calibrated, are using the wrong activity in workout or simply because your other app doesn't report 'Active' calories.

I serious doubt Apple meant on a track for indoor cycling. I called Apple and they said the app uses target heart rate for calculations and no one would be swinging their arms while bicycling. I upped my game a bit and sure enough I was credited for more minutes.

Winston Churchill wrote:

2. Calories should and could be calculated based on heart rate, arm movement should not have to factor into the equation for stationery activities such as spinning.

But you seem to be mis-understanding the difference already, calories are not part of the 'Activity app', I didn't suggest that arm movement was what determined calories burned in the 'Workout app'3. Yes, all her personal information information has been entered into the iPhone app.

This is not entirely true, Winston Churchill. Calories are part of the "Activity app." At the end of the day, when I look on my phone it tells me how many calories- active and resting- I have burned under the "Move" red ring portion. I am a woman in my mid-30s and it tells me I am burning a total of 3200+ cal/day on sedentary days, which is laughably high. The breakdown tends to be ~2800 cal of "Resting" and ~400-500 "active" on a sedentary day. My BMR can't be much higher than 1500 cal/day, which hypothetically should be the equivalent of "Resting" calories. That's a huge difference.

I am finding that my workouts done in the "workout" app of the watch are incredibly low calorie / heart rate... and the overall "Activity app" is counting much higher calories burned than makes realistic sense.

I agree with Jim- I wish Apple would acknowledge these issues instead of pretending their HRM / calorie algorithm is the new standard of accuracy. It's not.