Is it correct to say that as long as I run with my watch and phone that the watch will constantly improve? I've been doing that for about a week of runs (5) and it's not improving much. The first time I used it, it said it would calibrate so I walked for 23 minutes. Next I tried to calibrate the run. I did that for 30 minutes. Do I need to redo the initial calibration? If so how do I do that?
Apple Watch
You do not need to redo the initial calibration.
Whenever you walk or run outside using the Workout app (not the Activity app) with both your watch and your iPhone, it will continue to calibrate the accelerometer and get more accurate over time. You need to start and end a workout each time in the Workout app.
If you often walk or run at different speeds, it is best to accumulate 20 minutes of outdoor walking or running using the Workout app with your iPhone at each of those speeds. Each of those 20 minute calibrations can be accumulated over multiple sessions.
Ensure that you have configured your iPhone as directed by Apple:
- Settings > Privacy > Location Services - on
- Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Motion Calibration & Distance - on
More info:
Calibrating your Apple Watch for improved Workout and Activity accuracy - Apple Support
It's worth remembering that, when you walk/run *without* the phone, the watch only has your number of steps and average stride length to work with. It's smart enough to know the difference in stride between running and walking, but if your stride length changes significantly, the watch will struggle to maintain accuracy. Reasons your stride length might vary include: speed (faster commonly means longer strides); tiredness/unwellness (is that a word?) commonly mean shorter; terrain - shorter strides uphill, longer downhill, varying stride on rough terrain.
The more you walk/run with the phone, the better the watch will get at estimating, so take the phone with you from time to time. If the results you get without the phone are very poor indeed, you can start calibration from scrathc by unpairing/re-pairing but, as already posted, that shouldn't be necessary
Thanks!
I'll just keep on doing what I'm doing and the calibration will sort it self out.
Regards!
Rich
You're welcome! 🙂
Hello,
I've done walking and running calibration and keep the setting for GPS and "Motion calibration and distance " always on, when I use the workout app, but it seems to be not successful.
During a running distance of 12km, the measured distance differs from the real distance by more than 500m to 1000m.
Is this happening when you run without the phone? Or with the phone?
Without the phone, the Watch has only the number of steps you take, and a stride length estimated from your calibration runs. If, for any reason, your stride length varies (injury, tiredness, different terrain), it will affect the Watch's calculations of distance and pace.
If you're running the same terrain as your calibration run, and similar pace, and you still get these odd results, try doing some more calibration.
Having said all that, there do seem to be some issues with the way the Watch deals with this stuff - hopefully, future software updates will improve things.
Currently, I'm running always with the phone, active GPS and active "Motion calibration and distance". The running terrain is flat, sometimes trees along the route. Is a sometimes bad GPS reception (which I can't check during my run) the reason for wrong distance measurement?
How does the workout app measure the distance, if GPS is permanent available, based on GPS or sensor information? 500 - 1000m difference shouldn't be a GPS issue.
Due to the Apple description, the sensor calibrations should improve over time and my assumption was, after 2 month and min twice per week usage, collected data of my movement should be more than enough.
Apple Watch Activity App Calibration Question
