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Apple watch exercise not counting

I Went for a 20 minute outdoor walk today using the Workout app, with my phone GPS on And I didn't get credit for even one minute. I had my hands in my pockets because it was cold but given I was using gps, shouldn't it have given me credit in the exercise ring?

Posted on May 5, 2015 9:50 PM

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Posted on Jan 27, 2017 7:08 AM

I go to the gym for an hour in the mornings. Spend half my time on the treadmill and the other half on the strength and stretching machines. I noticed it hadn't been counting towards exercise. It was saying that I took so many steps and such speed for such distance, but still not exercise. I tried the workout ap which counted as a work out and did what it was supposed to but still did not count anything towards my exercise goal. This is very frustrating as I switched from the Fitbit to the Apple Watch hoping for more accuracy. Apple needs to find a real fix for this. User uploaded file

133 replies

Feb 1, 2017 6:27 PM in response to George Chapman

I turned on the write to Health from Human and sure enough the workouts are there but for me it duplicated everything so my workout minutes are doubled for the time I'm on Elliptical since I happen to keep my phone on me while exercising. Oh well I guess until they fix it I won't worry about the walk counting as exercise and continue to use the Other option which *****

Apr 8, 2017 7:13 PM in response to Zthulu

I would really love to know how to fix this issue. I have tried multiple workouts in the activity app and none of them register my full activity time. So frustrating as I have tried all of the suggestions and nothing is working. The workout is logged under my workouts but it won't update my ring/activity time. Not acceptable Apple since this is a big reason why people pay money for your watch.

Apr 18, 2017 8:07 AM in response to TahoeC

Just came back from a 2 week Mediterranean cruise. My watch stopped tracking any workout activity on day 2. Chatted with apple support which had me un-pair, re-pair, re-pair as new. Nothing worked. Went to Apple store in south of France, had me reset my iphone settings. worked for 15 minutes, then problem reappeared. Got back to US Saturday evening. On Sunday watch was working properly, tracking all workouts. Went to local Apple store yesterday. Nothing they can do since it is now working. To be clear, the activity training (concentric circles was working), specifics of workout (distance, calories, etc all showing as zero). There is clearly some sort of bug in their software. Location should have no impact.

Jul 25, 2017 9:43 AM in response to chuck_3rd

I think I've found a workaround, at least for series 2 watches: shut off bluetooth on your phone during the workout.


I've still been having this problem (on an original Apple Watch, a new Series 2, and three phones) -- recently I've started walking at a place where the walk involves steady climbs and keeps my heart rate high, and not even that would count (unless I choose indoor walk instead). Then I got a new bike and started using the cycling workout and it was even worse, it would say "GPS not available" and not record any distance or speed. In troubleshooting that problem I accidentally discovered that if the phone is off or just bluetooth is off, if the watch can't talk to the phone, the cycling workout started working. Yesterday I tried my usual strenuous walk with bluetooth off on the phone, as an outdoor walk, and every minute of it counted.

Aug 5, 2017 7:57 PM in response to Markarian421

I believe this bug is related to having both the watch and phone on the same workout and your turning off BT seems to support that theory.


If I do an outdoor walk, with no iPhone, I get the full credit. If I also take the iPhone I get about 10% of the credit - if I'm lucky. I tried re-ordering the data capture for all the sources in the health app, so Apple Watch was the primary input when multiple devices were present, but this did not cure the problem.


I am Series 2 and iPhone 6S all with the latest OS revision.


My take aware is leave the phone at home!

Sep 5, 2017 4:39 AM in response to francinette

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.

Sep 6, 2017 10:58 AM in response to dougp1122

Very interesting. I have just travelled from U.K. to India and on day 2 the Exercise mins stopped counting the actual walk mins. Did 51 min walk and it read only 26 mins out of 30 on the daily exercise for that day. The walk itself reads the full 51 mins in its recording. I hope is starts working again when I get back to the UK.


Out of interest when outside the USA did you use just wifi or actually roam on the foreign mobile signal?


I am wifi only in India.

Sep 21, 2017 12:34 PM in response to TahoeC

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 !

Sep 27, 2017 8:25 AM in response to TahoeC

How frustrating that two years have gone by and Apple still hasn't addressed. My husband and I went for a walk this morning. I logged into the workout app, made sure that the motion calibration was on, and started my outdoor walking. My husband didn't use his watch with the workout app but rather just let it count via the steps and get the credit with the rings. We finished with a 33 min walk, my ave BPM was 128, did 1.63 miles on my watch, and on his it was over 2 miles! His exercise ring shows 34 mins, 113%, mine shows 7 min and 23%. We have our goals set exactly the same. I shouldn't have to re-pair my watch, I've had it 4 days! So clearly Apple has dropped a turd on this, as I should have met my goal easily on this and completed the ring, same as hubby.

Sep 27, 2017 10:10 AM in response to MrsMike921

Apple keep hiding behind their finger, they just using excuses cont to fix this long existing issue , it’s over due they just don’t want to admit fault with outdoor walk , the same exact thing happened with me and my 15 years old son , his BPM average over 120 his watch records perfectl , I average 80-85 bpm I got 1 minute recorded for every 30 minutes of walk ! I’m using runner keeper app , on my iPhone , at the end of Walk it sinks every activity perfectly, if Apple don’t care to fix this issue I will give up their watch !!!!

Sep 27, 2017 10:55 AM in response to TahoeC

Continuing from my reply on 6th Sep. I tethered my phone to another phone and then roamed in India and the mins then counted fine, either tethered or roaming, although I think they were still a few mins short. I therefore conclude the phone needs to be connected to the web.


On returning to the UK mins could walks plus a few mins, probably from walking round the house and office.


As for Apple stating the heard rate needs to be more that 110-115 that doesn't seem right. Checking my walks i vary from 104 up and the all count as walks.


To those loosing mins do you all have good signal and actual data connections during your walks?


Also do your mins fall short on day 1 or day 2 of no connection? I think there's a buffer of 24 hrs in the fone following 'no signal' because if I walk in the UK with no signal it counts correctly but in those cases I did have good connection in the 24 hrs before the walk.

Sep 28, 2017 10:46 AM in response to TahoeC

Today like many many days before , 44 minutes outdoor walk and 2 miles distance , the exercise ring marked 5 minutes only!!! Bpm Average was 98, according to Apple 98 bpm is not enoug to record this activity !!! What are we suppose to do ? Go to Cardiologist and ask for some medication to increase your heart beat , then and only then Apple concider your outdoor walk is really a legitimate exercise!!!! Ridiculous !! At the same time I had my Runkeeper app open in my iPhone recording the out door walk the same 2 miles and 44 minutes were completely recorded on the watch , thank you Runkeeper . Apple keep finding excuses 😂

Sep 28, 2017 3:45 PM in response to Jonathan UK

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 !

Apple watch exercise not counting

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