Apple watch exercise not counting

Anyway, if I walk slower one day and my heart doesn't go as fast, but I walk 90 minutes, that should count.

Says who? Apple set a standard for the Green exercise ring that is in accordance with WHO and other organizations who's research shows that 30 cumulative minutes of brisk exercise has a positive affect on your health.

If you walked 90min and got only 10min of Green ring activity (exercise) then either your Watch is defective or you failed to meet the criteria of the Green ring because 90min of slow walking with a slow heart rate is not the same as 30min of brisk walking with a faster heart rate. If it was then 100min of sitting on the couch or window shopping would be the same as 30min of actual brisk exercise. So no, little to no credit just because you did 90min.

To help insure you get credit from a brisk walk, make sure you let your arms swing naturally. Keeping your hands in your pockets reduces the accuracy.

I found the following to work for me. I rest the calibration

Reset your calibration data. Here's how to reset your calibration data: On your iPhone, open the Apple Watch app. Tap the My Watch tab, then tap Privacy > Reset Fitness Calibration Data.

Then a hard reset of the watch. Then I had to start a manual outdoor walk, walked 20 minutes with phone and watch to recalibrate the watch and everything was fine after that [though you need to also recalibrate a 20 minute outdoor run as well]

I had my hands in my pockets because it was cold

That's part of the problem. Apple specially states you hands should swing normally and not to keep them in your pockets. Without that happening, the GPS could think you're on a bicycle or in a car.

The other part of the problem might be what so many of us are having— the rings aren't showing up when we think they should.

Apple is to blame on at least one count— they haven't explained exactly how exercise is measured and what is necessary to complete the Exercise ring. I'm guessing it's a combination of BPM, steps, and time. Is GPS a necessary metric? Would running in place with a high BPM count towards Exercise for an outdoor run? I don't know.

The Activity app does change the requirements for Move closure base on the previous week's average workouts. So as your state of fitness improves, the bar raises. This might explain why two people doing the same exercise for the same amount of time, etc., get two different readings. Certainly two, three, or four people don't necessarily burn calories at the same rate. (Calories are really only an estaminet at best. Our watches and phones can't accurately tell us how many we've burned; they can only give us consistent metrics, if we can believe them).

I think at least some of us may slow down and not meet the minimum requirements to close the Exercise ring during a workout. But without knowing exactly how our Exercise is measured, we can't even begin to figure out where the problem lies.

There are people having problems that probably require either resetting, recalibrating, both, or replacing the Watch.

But I think a big part of the problem is not knowing exactly how Apple calculates exercise minutes for any Activity, in this case Outdoor Walking.

The first thing to check is the basic accuracy of the Watch itself. Go for a walk over a known distance and known elapsed time. If these aren't correct on the Watch, nothing learned from it can be trusted.

Then do all the re-pairing, resetting, recalibrating. This should put you in the best possible place to judge its accuracy.

I think a big part of this problem is the general belief that any degree of activity should constitute exercise, and that believing so is flawed and misguided. Apple is trying to do two things— measure (and/or calculate) performance and drive improvements in performance. I don't know if other devices do the latter, but if so, likely aren't doing it the same as Apple.

While Apple follows the World Health Organization and others recommendation of a 30min 'brisk' (not slow or casual) walk as a productive exercise, it has some unknown standard that constitutes and generates an Exercise minute. That standard varies per individual based on their personal data and progress, in order to promote greater progress.

Apple recommends an average pace to achieve Exercise minutes, but I believe that is misleading. Apple has a hard baseline number, possibly different for each individual, that generates an Exercise minute. But does Apple use an average to calculate them. I'm not sure they do.

If they did, then a very long walk could easily work against the user. He/she starts out at a 'brisk' pace for 30min meeting or exceeding Apple's unknown standard and closes their exercise ring. But averaging results, as the walk progresses and the user tires, the pace and/or relevant metrics may drop which would lower the average and possibly affect the Exercise minutes. This is why I don't think averaging is used even though Apple recommends one.

It's my belief that they use a hard number calculated for a given user. Let's say that for a 30min walk, a user meets or exceeds that unknown standard for the entire 30min. Bingo, Exercise Ring closed. If the user exceeds that standard at any point, or for the entire 30min, nothing changes with regards to the Exercise Ring. Apple's Standard(s) met, Ring close. Boom. Their recommended 'average' pace is to keep them at or above that baseline without disclosing what that baseline is. That's my opinion anyway.

If at any point their standard isn't met, the user loses that minute or minutes, depending on how long they fall below the standard. As it's a matter of time, that minute or minutes can't made up by exercising harder over the remainder of the 30min period. They have to meet that standard by doing more time, more qualifying walking. So we have maybe 30min of Exercise over a 40min walk, and not 40min over 40min.

The longer the walk the harder it is to maintain that standard over the entire walk. At some point, the pace slows for most of us, and during that time we're not earning exercise points. There is the common belief that walking slower. longer is the same as walking faster over a shorter period. This is mistaken and probably the cause of a lot of confusion. In weight training, lifting more with fewer reps gives a different result (bulk) over lifting less with more reps (endurance), and that result varies with the individual. I believe that parallels walking fast vs walking slow. If that weren't true, walking long enough could make runners out of everyone.

I think Apple is pushing progressive aerobic development and that means no Exercise minutes just because you're moving or think you're moving 'fast enough'. Ergo, 30, 60, 90min of walking won't necessarily earn the same amount of exercise minutes. In aerobic development, all walking isn't exercise, only 'aerobic' walking is exercise.

All this is not to say there are no problems at Apple's end. There may indeed be hardware and software issues that need to be fixed. But with a perfect Watch and software, perfectly worn, some users may still be disappointed due to a possible lack of understanding Apple's implementation of Exercise vs Activity.

Thanks PodGui, I think in your last post and one a few back you hit on some really strong points. Here are a couple of observations from me. I wasn't able to get any consistency in my readings, so I had the Apple Store send my watch to The Depot for a complete reinstallation of software. They tested it and said everything was fine. I was a bit skeptical however since they turned it around in a day but thought "OK, I'll give it a try." They also said that I needed to give it 7-10 days to get used to me and my walking habits. I've kept a log, and the first 7 days it was so far off I wanted to scream. Days 8 and 9 I did something different...I walked faster. Not a lot, but for my usual route instead of completing in 33-34 mins, I did it in 28. Both days the watch was spot on. I haven't tested it against the workout app yet, I'm only testing it against clocked time, but theoretically it should match the workout app.

Here is what I'm thinking, which would line up with what PodGui said. When you first get your watch, you tell it your stats M/F, age, and if I remember correctly, current activity level. I had told it I was at a moderate level. Well maybe what I think is moderate, Apple would define as still somewhat sedentary and the target heart rate I was hitting wasn't high enough for someone whose baseline was moderate. When I walked faster, my heart rate went up a bit, hitting that higher limit, and started counting as exercise.

I'm going to try to redefine my current activity level down to sedentary, and then get back to my prior walking pace, which was actually a decent clip and got me an average heart rate at 116-121 BPM, and see if the exercise registers correctly then. I'll keep you all posted.

Unfortunately, there is no help for you other than to go make the choice to go back to FitBit or wear two devices, which you don't want to do.

Apple has made their choice. They chose not to give credit for mere walking. Instead they chose the somewhat arbitrary but near universal metric of a 'brisk walk' with the goal to help prevent heart disease. Slower walks don't seem help in that respect, at least according to the WHO and others. If your pace drops below what Apple internally defines as a brisk walk, you don't get credit for Exercise minutes for that period of time. The Watch shows your average speed as time/mile. Even if you don't stop, you slowed enough one or more times to not earn three Exercise minutes. Yet you picked up the pace enough somewhere to average 3mph (20min/mile). You were both slower and faster than 3mph. No credit for falling below, and no make up for going above the minimum speed to earn credit.

This is not a glitch or something that needs 'fixing'. It may be something you want changed, but it's working as intended by Apple. Apple does give you credit for being alive and upright with Stand and Move rings. But for exercise, they demand more of you to get Exercise minutes/credit, to potentially reduce the chance of a heart attack.

Aside from actual software or hardware problems, you and Apple have fundamental, philosophical, and medical differences as to the definition of Exercise. This would be similar to having a personal trainer who gives you 'credit' for doing 5min on the treadmill at 2mph or two sets of five curls with 1lbs weights when he/she knows you are easily capable of three sets of fifteen with 25lbs. Rather than give you credit for phoning in a workout, they might tell you to just take the day off. Well, except they do get paid for providing a 'training' session, so there's that.

Apple has committed to doing a heart study. To that end I don't see them changing their policy of giving Exercise credit to users who don't meet their criteria. There is also the motivation aspect of competition. Sharing workout performance with other users provides far less motivation and meaning for me and others when it's found they're getting the same credit for taking a casual stroll with their dog or walking to the refrigerator as I am when working to achieve 30 Exercise minutes in 30min. A 90min stroll apparently doesn't do the body good compared to a 30min brisk walk, and the latter is what Apple is going for. The pace could be increased from time to time during an extended walk to earn additional minutes, but that's not what you want.

Here's some Apple information on rings: Close Your Rings

So now it's up to you do decide what works best for you and how to achieve your goal.

As far as I know Apple failed to fix the issue of outdoor/indoor walking count ,apparently Apple does not consider walking as an exercise!!! Even if I walk 5-10 miles , their excuse is the average heart rate should be over 110-115 bpm , ridiculous , if I choose hiking or yoga it will count where the heart beat is 60-80 bpm , all other smart watches are fine with walking as an exercise, to me this is

a failure in part of Apple !

My solution for now , I added RunnerKeeper to the watch , I just open it in my iPhone for walking , at the end I have everything recorded on the watch !

How can it get the distance and steps reasonably correct but think you’ve not the exercise?

I don't know the answer but offer some possible explanations:

1) you're Watch is defective.

2) you're watchOS is corrupted

3) the watchOS is buggy

4) you're idea and Apple's idea of exercise differs.

Most people want to believe item 3, that Apple screwed up. Maybe. Maybe not. I think a lot of people don't understand item 4.

Apple, like all fitness device manufacturers, uses a proprietary algorithm to determine what level of activity is exercise. All these algorithms use a variety of metrics to determine that level, and likely none are the same. It's like have two, three, four, or more coaches, each telling you something different about how hard you have to work for exercise to be beneficial. One coach tells you the others are babying you and 'that's no workout!' Apple isn't telling.

These metrics are certainly heart rate, and almost certainly time and distance. Step? Personal physical data? Maybe. Temperature. Arm (with Watch) movement— absolutely. There may be more. Some or all of them need to reach a minimum level for Apple to call it 'exercise'. Failing to sustain the minimum for one or more of these metrics, means a loss of a minute of exercise.

User A averages 30min/mile while user B averages 15min/mile while. Each gets 60 exercise minutes for a 60mini walk. But if User B hangs with user A, even though the steps are the same, User B fails to earn a full 60 Exercise Minutes because he's below his typical level.

If, during your walk, you don't move fast enough to satisfy Apple's algorithm, you don't earn Exercise minutes. If you are moving fast enough, but slow down to smell the roses, you stop earning Exercise minutes.

At least that's how I think this works. My Outdoor Walks are definitely logged on my rings.

I missed this part of your earlier response:

If you would prefer to receive Exercise credit for workouts regardless of their intensity levels, track them via the Workout app using Other as the activity type. This will credit one minute of Exercise for each full minute of the workout. Active calories will be estimated at a rate equivalent to a brisk walk or based on data recorded by the heart rate sensor, whichever is higher.

My question now is— if the workout is not defined when using Other, what metrics to we observe to constitute an undefined workout? I'll give it a try to find out (maybe) what's what.

To me, that feels somewhat like cheating, but realize it's a personal decision. Ultimately, I only care about what's good for me and my heart and that helps me let go of the 'cheating' consideration.

Of course, Bpm is not pace , but in many and previous contacts with Apple , “ you need to have average heart beat ( Bpm ) of 110-115 in order for the outdoor walk to be recorded , and it’s true because in previous reply I mentioned walking with my 15 years old son , his Bpm was over 115 and recorded every minute of his walk , in mine I recorded 1 minute for every 15 minutes of walk !

Walking is a legitimate exercise, Apple should recognize that and fix this issue , thousands of people if not every one has this problem , in my house 1 out of 6 watches is ok !

Answering your question about signals and data connections, yes, I do to both, so that's not my issue, and I have good connections before and after as well. My husband has been walking at my side, and his is counting differently (and higher) than mine.

I have a new theory that I'm testing this morning, I'll come back to post results. I bought the stainless steel, and it seemed I had consistent results with the milanese loop. It seems that I only started to get wonky ones a few days in when I changed over to the woven nylon band with the buckle. On my wrist, I wonder if the hole I've used on the band is too loose for me, but the next one in is too tight so I can't use it either. I'm back to my milanese band today, which I can adjust to exactly the right tightness for my wrist size...and ensure the correct contacts with the back of the watch. So we'll see if that makes a difference today when he and I go walking.

I've been have occasional trouble with high pace walks and low Exercise Ring credit.

I hope everybody is also contacting Apple at Feedback - Apple Watch - Apple . If you CnP the link it should take you to the Watch bit. If you just click I think you'll get the general feedback page.

Anyway, the more people who give their detailed experiences to Apple, the more chance there is we'll see some improvement. It may be slow in coming but if they don't hear from us directly, it'll certainly be slower still.

Apple doesn't necessarily read these posts. They might peruse them from time to time, but it's best to assume they don't. So besides posting here, you should contact Apple at Feedback - Apple Watch - Apple .

MrsMike, thanks for your informative post. I was pretty sure that age, weight, and possibly gender were factors in calculating Exercise minutes but completely forgot about the three difficulty levels.

Unfortunately, I don't think it's currently possible to change your Activity setting. Maybe if you set the Watch up as new? But a lot of information is stored on the phone, and if it's possible to revisit the Health app and make that change, you might lose all your previous data generated by the Watch. Or not, that's new territory for me.

A couple of days ago, I started doing my Outdoor Walk workouts a different way— one in the morning and one later in the day, each about half as long as the original one daily Walk. My first walk gives me 30 Exercise minutes for 30min of elapsed Walk time. I continue on until my Exercise min are 10min behind my ET. Then I stop my workout and head home at a cool down pace. My second walk is much the same but head home after closing the Ring because I'm quite tired by then. Wholly arbitrary, but the takeaway for me is that my daily Exercise minutes are very close to my total daily Walk minutes, and I'm far less frustrated.

For my breaking up the one long walk into two bite-size chunks is the only way for me to meet my October Challenge. While I'll continue to do my daily walk workouts, I'll be passing on some of the Monthly Challenges as they seem to be asking more of me (and I think they very with individuals!) than the Holiday Challenges, and that's a lot for me to give.

Hang in there, MrsMike. Don't beat yourself up! 🙂 I feel better and sleep better (unfortunately, not longer) because of the Watch. I'm using the Feedback link a bit now, making what I hope are reasonable suggests and requests. Maybe Apple will see them in the same light!

You are correct, you can't change it. I did a bit of searching online and wasn't able to find out how. so tried impairing it and setting it up as a new watch. I knew it would pull the old data back in in terms of the prior walks, but I couldn't remember if it would let me set up new parameters for myself or not, and unfortunately it doesn't. I would have been ok losing that prior data, as I haven't had the watch that long, just to get it working correctly. On the other hand, it's also possible that all it needed was 7-10 days of consistency. I'll keep tracking my results for a while, and what variables I'm throwing at it, to see what I'm getting. Worst case I go back to the store and make them send me a replacement, in case the accelerometer is bad.