Q: Workout app not counting exercise
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Jul 30, 2015 8:21 AMby léonie,I just ran the "other" workout for a minute sitting in my chair at my desk not moving and the green ring advanced one minute.
Thanks for testing that. The other workout will even register exercise with the watch sitting on the charger. But does the your watch register exercise, when you are running the indoor walk workout app without doing a really brisk walk?
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Jul 30, 2015 12:02 PMby G3gator,Okay, I tried the indoor walk for a minute sitting at my desk. It did not register as exercise. I am certain that "elliptical" and "other" record exercise minutes regardless of briskness and I am pretty sure that "outside cycle" does as well. But, apparently the walking and running functions do not.
George
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Jul 30, 2015 12:21 PMby léonie,I am certain that "elliptical" and "other" record exercise minutes regardless of briskness and I am pretty sure that "outside cycle" does as well.
Other is the "Catch all" - it is meant to be used when you cannot wear the watch, for example when swimming.
I never tried elliptical, but I frequently use the outdoor cycle workout and take the iPhone with me. When I take a route, where I have to stop every few minutes at a red traffic light, the exercise ring will not record the full duration of the workout as exercise. On a route, where I don't have to stop it will record the full duration.
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Jul 30, 2015 1:47 PMby AndronicusZeno,I just finished a treadmill session and I attempted to recalibrate the Apple Watch. I walked briskly for 1.5 miles in 40 minutes, with an average heart rate of 100 bpm. The Activity app correctly recorded steps and distance, but the green exercise circle did not count anything.
I held the iPhone in my left hand, which is also the arm my watch is on, the entire time to see if it would calibrate better, but as you mentioned I may need to do this a few more times. I also let my left arm swing naturally the whole time, as I always do.
When I originally calibrated the Apple Watch, I was on the treadmill and not outside, and I also had the iPhone in my pocket instead of holding it in my hand. The first three days I used the Apple Watch on the treadmill I had my iPhone in my pocket instead of in my hand. So I am going to try over the next few days to hold the iPhone in my hand to see if that changes anything, but so far is doesn't seem to. For the last 60 days I have always had my iPhone either on me or next to me when I was walking on the treadmill, and it has never counted "indoor walk" as exercise credit.
I am concerned about calibrating the Apple Watch outside because I live in Orlando, Florida, and it is really hot outside. For example, right now it is 91F (32.7C) with 70% humidity outside (basically a hot swamp), while inside my house it is 77F (25C) and 45% humidity. If I went for a 20 minute walk outside, and walked briskly, my heart rate would skyrocket because of the temperature and not because of actually activity. Also, the Apple Watch tech specs says that the maximum operating temperature is 95F (35C), and Orlando has already hit that mark many times this summer.
Apple mentions on the Apple Watch section of their website that the calibration data for the watch is stored only on the watch. If a person un-pairs an Apple Watch from their iPhone, the calibration data is deleted; which would explain why some of the people who said they spoke to Apple Support were told to un-pair and then re-pair their Apple Watches.
I haven't un-paired my Apple Watch yet, because I have 60 days logged on the Apple Watch so far and I am concerned about losing that data. I did reboot my Apple Watch this morning when I woke up to see if that would help anything, but it does not seem to so far. If my attempts to recalibrate the Apple Watch over the next couple of days does not work, I will try to up-pair then re-pair the watch to erase the calibration data and start again.
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Jul 30, 2015 2:06 PMby G3gator,"I just finished a treadmill session and I attempted to recalibrate the Apple Watch. I walked briskly for 1.5 miles in 40 minutes, with an average heart rate of 100 bpm. The Activity app correctly recorded steps and distance, but the green exercise circle did not count anything."
In the interest of science, did you run the workout app when you were doing this?
I understand your problem with outside walking this time of year. I live in North Florida. Same.
George
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Jul 30, 2015 2:10 PMby AndronicusZeno,Using the elliptical machine and the Exercise app's "elliptical" option has strangely been the most accurate readings I get on the Apple Watch. The time, distance, and pace all nearly are identical from the watch to what the elliptical machine's display says. I guess because the elliptical machine is such a specific motion Apple was able to lock it down pretty well.
I will attempt to use the elliptical machine at a really slow pace to see if it still counts as exercise. At my normal pace on the elliptical my heart rate will be between 115 and 125 bpm, so I will try to keep it below 98 bpm to see if that changes anything. Using "indoor walk" on a treadmill and an average heart rate of 100 bpm has not ever counted as exercise for me so far.
I agree with you that "other" seems to count everything regardless of what someone might be doing. For example, I have been using "other" when I lift weights, and I alternate which weight exercises I do every other day, but the "other" option seems to count the exercise the same. I suspect it is a simple linear rate based on time duration and likely calorie burn (with calorie burn being based on age, gender, height, and weight data from the Health app).
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Jul 30, 2015 2:18 PMby AndronicusZeno,Yes, I always select "indoor walk" from the Exercise app when I am walking on the treadmill. It has never given me any credit in the green exercise circle no matter how much time or distance I walk on the treadmill. I do however get credit in the red activity circle, and the "indoor walk" exercise shows that it is recorded correctly on the iPhone. I also always have my iPhone either on me or next to me when I am on the treadmill.
At this point I would just be happy if it would give me something like 10 minutes of green exercise credit for 40 minutes on the treadmill, but I keep getting zero.
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Jul 31, 2015 9:06 AMby wrbailey,"Activity app: relies on arm motion and an accelerometer to track movement."
This is a fail. I got to work today and somehow I had 23/30 minutes of exercise within the activity app. I had zero when I got in my car. So this watch is sometimes seeing random vibrations as exercise (even if my body isn't technically moving.) I can kind of see this while wearing it, however, I was charging it when I first got the watch and had it sitting on a box fan (the charger would only reach this far, and yes I understand a box fan is weird to use as a night stand, but alas, was all I had other than the floor.) Even though it knew I wasn't wearing it (as it locked me out as soon as I took it off my wrist), it counted the entire night as exercise due to the vibration (I'm making an assumption) of the box fan it was sitting on.
Definitely in need of some tweaks.
I also wish they had a way of just resetting a day of activity. 23 mins of fake exercise makes a huge difference for the daily goals. I don't want to have to erase and re-sync just to get rid of 1 day. it's only 9am, I should be able to reset a day or reset a specific part of the activity app (reset move/exercise/stand individually.)
Sorry for the rant...
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Jul 31, 2015 9:16 AMby Jonathan UK,HelpfulBased on the following quote on a related thread, it appears that Apple is working on this and that you should just use "Other" for now.
Stephen Schwarz wrote:
I eventually spoke to Apple tech support and they told me they are aware of the problem and working on a fix. There was no promise as to when it would be fixed. In the meantime the work-around I use to to record treadmill time as "Other" on the Workout app. That gets the calories and duration right but you lose the distance data.
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Jul 31, 2015 12:54 PMby AndronicusZeno,Okay, I did some more tests today and thought I would share.
The Workout app's "elliptical" option really does work fine. I attempted to trick the watch by using the elliptical machine as slowly as possible, and the watch correctly did not record any exercise credit. I used the elliptical machine with the "elliptical" option at 10 rpm, when my normal rate is 40 rpm, for 15 minutes with an average heart rate of 92 bpm, and from that I received zero green exercise credit; which is correct.
When I use the elliptical machine normally, my stats are 40 rpm, for 25 minutes, and an average heart rate of 115 bpm, which will give me about 24 to 25 minutes of the green exercise credit. So as far as I can tell at least the "elliptical" option records correctly.
The second test I did today was on the treadmill again. I selected the Workout app's "indoor walk" and set my treadmill to a speed of 3 for 25 minutes. At this speed this is as fast as I can walk without having to begin jogging. At a speed of 3.1 to 3.2 I have to begin jogging on the treadmill or fall off. I maintained the same speed of 3 for the entire 25 minutes, while holding my iPhone in my hand, and had an average heart rate of 109 bpm. I received zero green exercise credit for this test.
The final test I did was on the treadmill set to a speed of 1.8, which is a normal walk for me, and used the Workout app's "other" option for 10 minutes. I received green exercise credit for all 10 minutes.
In all, I have to say this is disappointing, because the Activity app and the Workout app were some of the main reasons I bought an Apple Watch. I do love my Apple Watch, so I really hope this gets fixed as soon as possible.
