Q: Apple Watch Heart Rate sensor not giving proper readings during intense exercises like P90x3 and Insanity

I am having the same problems as described in this post with my watch, but it has only been happening since I updated to watchOS 2.0.1 a couple of weeks ago.(prior to that I had remained on watch os1.0.2) It would occasionally happen in the other OS but not enough to bother me. Since updating, the result is that all total my calories burned when I'm doing a workout involving high intensity interval type training (like Jillian Michaels Body Crunch, or Insanity etc.) are lower. I've noticed during the workout, that the more I sweat and the higher my heart rate gets, the more this happens. Like others have posted here, it seems to divide my heart rate in half. It seems to be the worst as I get above 170 bpm. Perhaps I need to recalibrate? It is winter time here in the US and I haven't been outdoors as much, nor have I done an outdoor workout since I updated. I will say, with the other OS, all my activity app accuracy seemed to get better the more I walked and ran with my phone. In fact, it was so accurate, that when I didn't have service last summer in remote parts of Colorado, it was still dead on in the distances I had hiked, without even having my phone on me. (Couldn't count for elevation of course, but that's another story) The thing is, I lost 15 lbs after getting the watch and using the Lose It app, along with my watch. By following what the app predicted I would lose each week by netting so many calories each day (getting the readings from the watch and doing the math on what I was burning and logging etc) all the data was dead on correct and that is EXACTLY how much I lost each week. I feel that this is a pretty good indicator that the readings I was getting before the OS update were pretty accurate. To me, this means it probably is a software issue and that hopefully they can fix it. It's pretty frustrating to be working out at a high intensity and have your heart rate be 78 bpm, when the your hear rate was previously measured at 144 or something a minute before. I AM going to recalibrate with my phone and see if this improves the readings.

Where they get you here is with the weasel words- most accurate WRIST ONLY heart rate monitor. Otherwise known as "best we can do without a chest strap and still probably pretty inaccurate".

Apple, is there ansolution of this Problem comming?

I have the same Problem when using the Apple Watch to Track my crosstrainer Workouts with the native Workouts App. Max HeartRate is shown with about 80 bpm, but I should have 170 bpm or more.

NOTE: when using the runtastic pro App the watch Shows the heartrate correctly. I don't understand, why the native App doesn't work right but a third party app does.

Same issues as starwarschick. It used to be pretty good most of the time but it has become so regular and prolonged of late to the point of being useless.

Even more frustrating, there isn't an easy way of getting rid of multiple erroneous readings. All my runs and health app are now littered with false info.

I agree, this is disappointing. I do P90 workouts and the cardio seems to be fairly accurate but the weight workouts are all over the place. Accurate for a bit, at 150bpm for example, then down to 56bpm a second later. The workout summary will show an average HR of 87bpm, which is completely inaccurate. I'm not sure why it's this way with the weight workouts, my arms are all over the place with the cardio and less so with the weights, although I am flexing my wrists with the weights and doing pushups.

My guess is this cannot be fixed with software and I can hear the Apple Watch 2 keynote now. "With Apple Watch 2 we've added the most advanced HRM in the world for almost 100% accurate readings."

The built-in heart rate sensor is likely to give better results for workouts that involve rhythmic (eg running) rather than irregular (eg boxing) movements. Other issues that can impact sensor performance include skin perfusion and wrist tattoos.

If your workouts involve flexing your wrists (such as when lifting weights, for example), it may help to move your watch a little higher up your arm, away from the flexing joint.

Apple advises that, if you experience inconsistent readings, you consider connecting your watch wirelessly to an external heart rate monitor (eg a Bluetooth chest strap) during workouts.

More information:

Your heart rate. What it means, and where on Apple Watch you’ll find it. - Apple Support

Use the Workout app on your Apple Watch - Apple Support

I kind of figured it was the sensor but you are making me think it's more of a software issue - the native app is pretty minimal, or extremely disappointing if you will. I tried my sons polar strap with blue tooth vs the watch and I found the watch consistently had oddball low readings, but very few insanely hi readings, whereas the polar seemed to give me few low readings but quite a few way too hi readings. But I only used the native watch app and the polar beat app. I did try a motifit trial and it looked promising but my trial ran out before I got to use all features. I dont run so wasn't sure runtsastic would be good for more general cardio.

Just wondering if you tried the runtastic app with different types of workouts?  Does it allow for setting hi bpm alarm point? Have you tried other 3rd party apps? 

Ive had multiple heart valve replacements and used to use an old school Sportline watch and chest strap - ant+ only so no tracking or logging but frequently observations always seem reasonable and when I was in cardio rehab, it tracked well with the ecg monitor. I got the Apple Watch as a gift so was hoping to get rid of the chest strap and be able to better view my progress. I'm on med's that limit my heart rate so I never see anything like the 160 plus anymore, lucky to get over 125 now. But the watch and native app rarely ever records anything over 110. But the strange part is going along in the 100 to 110 range the dropping to 52 or 46, or some low number I never get down to even at rest. My resting rate since my last surgery is no less than 62. It's nuts, really. It would seem reasonable to give us an app that let us set our normal resting rate and then filter results to kick out the outliers. It would also seem pretty easy to allow for setting a hi alarm point. I was hoping I'd be able to set the hi alarm to vibrate. My old watch would ding but with the loud music they play in cardio classes, I can't hear the alarm. Anyway, will just keep looking for the right 3rd party app and hope apple gives this some serious improvement.

While the software could be an issue, thus far, there are no wrist only heart rate monitors that can compete with a chest strap HRM. That's why Apple even recommends going that route in their literature if the readings are generally inconsistent. Mine works primarily for biking or running and is virtually useless for anything else.

Using my sons polar chest strap, H7 I think, did seem like I got more realistic numbers once I started to sweat to keep it moist. Early in my workouts it would go as high as 200 at times, I figure maybe due to temporarily drying out or losing contact as I move, I mostly do things like cardio kickboxing or cross training with a mix of cardio and dumbbell exercises, so there is a lot of body movement. Working out in an air conditioned gym seems to dry the pads until I start to sweat. I use my water bottle to wet them down when I start but the strap always seems hinkie til the sweat starts. i do sweat a lot, so maybe I'll try the strap again but I won't start tracking my workout til I start to sweat. From what I've read, it seems there are not a lot of choices in chest straps. Polar seems to get good reviews. My son just uses it with his Polar watch and the Beat app for biking and hiking, he gets good steady results but he is not moving his upper body as much. Anyway, the cost is reasonable so I'll probably try my own. I just like to know how well I'm working out to try and maintain some level of fitness and hopefully avoid a fourth heart surgery.

I've tried strapping it to my wrist and then moving it up and but I can try moving it to the last hole and strapping it to my arm. How often is it measuring my HR during a workout? I've stopped moving during my workout and watched the HR monitor sit at 56BPM for over a minute when it should have been about 120BPM. I could have sworn, once I swiped to the left or right on the workout app and the then swiped back to the HRM screen and it updated. Is that how it works?

I've been having the same problems since the Watch first came out. In an article on 9to5Mac a couple of weeks ago, it was mentioned the the designer of the HR monitoring hardware originally wanted the sensor located in the strap, rather then on the back of the watch, for increased accuracy. He was overruled in the interest of having easily changeable straps. It make sense, and if that's the case, it's hard to be optimistic about improved accuracy in future models.

ok, so this morning I changed my band to the M/L length and strapped it on my arm well above the flex point. I started an "Other" workout on the workout app and did a 30 minute weight training workout. I did notice that the HRM monitor was slightly more accurate at more points throughout the workout but still wildly inaccurate for most of it. Still instances of knowing my HR was at 120BPM but Apple Watch showing 55BPM. Afterward I checked another weight training workout earlier in the week where I left the band on my wrist and it showed 10-15 less calories burned so it may have been able to maintain a correct reading for longer in the position I used today. I would still like to know how often it updates the heart rate! All throughout my workout I'm looking at a HR on the watch, for up to a full minute, that would be correct if I was half dead. I'm thinking that if the HRM updated faster then it wouldn't matter so much if it missed the mark several times throughout the workout. I'm going to open a support request from Apple and ask them about this.

So I opened a case with Apple today and spoke for about 30 minutes with support. He didn't have any solutions for me but we did look through the data from my workouts and found some interesting info. We were trying to figure out how often the watch measures your HR during a workout and I looked at the heart rate data from my "Other" workout this morning. According to the data it was giving a HR reading about 5-6 times a minute. So a few times during my workout the HR reading dropped to 50-56 BPM for 3 minutes straight. Why is this happening? Even after I stop moving and make sure the band is snug, it sits at the wrong BPM for three minutes. Something is throwing the Apple Watch for a loop and causing crazy readings. It almost seems like it is a software issue. At 56BPM the watch should know that something is wrong and send a notification like, Apple Watch has lost your HR or something.

That's one of the things that jumped out at me. I'd often get a measurement of 55 or 60 when I was pretty certain the actual rate was somewhere around 140bpm. I don't have an HR of 60 when I'm lying in bed, let alone during DDP Yoga. I seem to remember reading somewhere that for "Other" workouts, that the watch would basically give you credit for 60 if it wasn't making decent contact, which struck me as stupid considering for many that registers as barely alive.