Why does the exercise app on my apple watch only show a few minutes exercise, even after a 3 mile walk, a lot of which is uphill.

Hi Dave

The exercise ring (part of the Activity app) requires activity above a "brisk walk" - with a sustained increase in heart rate for at least 1 minute - in order to give credit. What constitutes a brisk walk depends on your personal information.

If you are not using the Workout app, it's important for your arm to swing naturally as you walk or run, because the Activity app relies on arm motion and the accelerometer to track movement.

To get the best results from fitness activity, ensure that you have Wrist Detection turned on (Apple Watch iPhone app > General > Wrist Detection toggle).

You can record walks as "workouts": use the Workout app (eg Outdoor Walk activity) and start and end your activity accordingly (force press the screen to pause or end a workout, once started). This will also monitor your heart rate continuously during the workout.

If you also take your iPhone along on a few outdoor walks (with the appropriate settings selected - see below), you can calibrate your Apple Watch. This will enable it to more accurately recognise activity and provide more accurate estimates, including Move estimations in the Activity app.

Also ensure that Apple Watch is fitted snugly to your wrist so that the sensor can measure your heart rate - and also so that it doesn't accidentally loosen to such an extent that the watch thinks it has been taken off. It may help to tighten your watch band before a walk and loosen it again afterwards.

More info:

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

Use the Activity app on your Apple Watch - Apple Support

Use the Workout app on Apple Watch - Apple Support

Other users have reported that Apple is aware of and working on some issues with the exercise ring: BUG: Exercise app time not showing in Activity app

In the meantime, you may get better results (in terms of recognition for exercise) by using the "Other" category in the Workout app to record your walks.

Also, you mention that your walks include inclines, many of which are steep. The calibration instructions advise using a flat area for calibration activities. The process trains the watch by comparing accelerometer data to actual distances covered, as measured by Location Services (ie GPS) on your iPhone. On anything other than flat terrain, you can appear - from a GPS point of view - to be moving less quickly than you actually are.

You can submit your own feedback regarding the exercise ring to Apple here:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/watch.html

The exercise ring logic needs to be overhauled. I did a *3 HOUR HIKE* up a very rocky and vertical mountain, all the way to the peak. The app gave me credit for 22 minutes even though my BOM was above 140 for long periods. In the exercise app I started an "outdoor walk" since there Is no better option... Maybe it was looking for horizontal distance? Dunno. My trust is gone on this whole ring-activity thing. ... And why doesn't the phone track workouts and give calories? I can only see rings x days. Not helpful. How many workouts did I do? Who knows? There is no workout app on the phone. Runkeeper does a better job tracking my workouts -- and it gives me an awesome map of my journey. I know it's a first attempt, but I'll be watching on 9/9/15 to see wnat they announce.