KM is way off

Hi Uge

There is no need to unpair and re-pair your watch. Continue taking your iPhone with you on bike rides, ensuring that your Apple Watch and iPhone are connected by Bluetooth.

Check your iPhone settings

You said that you took your iPhone with you, but that the distance and speed estimations were wrong. On your iPhone, go to:

• Settings > Bluetooth > check this is enabled and that it is connected to your Apple Watch (listed in My Devices as Connected).
• Settings > Wi-Fi > check that this is enabled (not important for this particular purpose, but worth checking whilst you're in Settings).
• Settings > Privacy > Location Services > check this is enabled.
• Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services (scroll to the very bottom) > Motion Calibration & Distance > check this is enabled.

Using the Workout app

• Start and end your activity using the Workout app on your Apple Watch.
• During the workout, ensure that your watch stays fitted snugly on top of your wrist.
• Use the Workout app on Apple Watch - Apple Support

Mapping / directions

To get directions during your bike ride, use the Maps app on Apple Watch.

• Open Maps from the Home screen or by swiping up on your watch face, swiping to the Maps Glance and tapping on it.
• Stick a pin in the map: touch and hold the map (don't press hard) where you want the pin to go > wait for the pin to drop > then let go. The pin can be used as the destination or starting point for directions.
• To get directions, tap the pin > scroll down the info to Directions > tap Walking or Driving > tap Start when ready.
• Taps will indicate when to turn (12 steady taps for right, 3 x 2 taps for left). You'll also get vibrations on the last leg and after you arrive.

There are also other ways to set destinations - see these links:

https://help.apple.com/watch/#/apd84d3c42db - drop a pin

https://help.apple.com/watch/#/apdea7480950- get directions

Calibrating Apple Watch

Calibrating Apple Watch helps it to more accurately estimate distance and pace measurements for running and walking Workouts when GPS isn't available (eg you don't have your iPhone with you) or when you exercise indoors. It can also help to improve other estimations in the Workout and Activity apps.

Calibrating can be done during an outdoor walking or running workout in the Workout app when you have your iPhone with you.

Repeating calibration over time will further improve accuracy.

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

If the KM was significantly off with your phone along, there is a problem. Mine is consistently pretty accurate. I would reboot the phone and try again. If there is still a problem you may need to reset it.

As others have said, you can train the watch by taking your phone along for running and walking. However, it does not train for biking. The watch alone cannot determine distance, pace, etc. If you start the cycling workout function, it will monitor your heart rate and estimate calories burned.\

George

Unfair and re=pair the watch, to reset its calibration.

The, do your ride *with the phone* - the watch has no GPS and depends on the phone to measure distance when you're cycling.

For running, once calibrated, the watch can count steps, but on a bike, with your wrists still on the handlebars, there's very list;e data to work with - hence the phone

Check out the information here for more details

https://www.apple.com/uk/support/watch/health/

You're welcome 🙂

However: calibration won't address the major distance or speed discrepancies that you noted in respect of your cycling workout (it focuses on calibrating the accelerometer with respect to arm movements - which is why calibration requires walking or running).

Given that all of your Location Services settings are correct and that you took your iPhone with you on your bike ride, there is no obvious reason why the Workout app should have misreported the distance and speed so badly.

It is worth restarting both devices and then re-testing:

Restart Apple Watch: Press and hold the side button until you see the Power Off slider; Drag the slider to turn off completely; Afterwards, press and hold the side button until you see the Apple logo.

Restart iPhone: Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until the red slider appears; Drag the slider to turn your iPhone off; When it has finished turning off, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button again until you see the Apple logo.

Now that we know your configuration was correct, you may also want to try unpairing and re-pairing your Apple Watch and iPhone (to help eliminate software issues). Your Apple Watch app on your iPhone takes backups of your watch automatically, including a refresh when unpairing via the app. When setting it up again after unpairing, choose to restore your Apple Watch from backup when offered the option (by the iPhone Apple Watch app). Most data and settings will be restored, with only a few exclusions - eg Apple Pay.

Unpair your Apple Watch and iPhone - Apple Support

Set up your Apple Watch - Apple Support

With your next bike ride, try to follow a route that offers good GPS reception and to ride under clear skies.

If you still get similarly incorrect results, I suggest that you contact Apple Support with a view to having your watch checked for potential hardware issues:

https://www.apple.com/support/watch/contact/

You're correct that it's not a requirement to re-pair, but my experience has been that doing so, and re-calibrating, can improve consistency and accuracy.

In its first iteration, watch distance measurement (running and cycling) was around 7-8% off, compared to Runkeeper; interestingly, that applied even when taking the phone along.

To solve a separate problem, I had to unfair/re-pair and recalibrate; accuracy compared to Runkeeper is now within 1-2%, which I consider acceptable, given the limitations of consumer GPS.

Apple has, apparently, acknowledged that there is a bug/are bugs in the GPS algorithms on the phone that can lead to distance measurement inaccuracies. I say "apparently" because I've only seen one reference to this.