Apple Watch mileage tracking HELP!!!

Hi

When recording Outdoor Run and Outdoor Walk workouts using the Workout app, if you also take your iPhone along (with Location Services and Bluetooth enabled), your watch can use GPS data from your iPhone (ie information about your actual location and distance travelled) when estimating the results of your workouts.

Calibration only becomes relevant when the watch is required to estimate your distance without access to GPS data, such as during indoor workouts. It then seeks to estimate your distance and speed based on knowledge of how your arm movements relate to your stride lengths at different speeds.

More information:

Use the Workout app on your Apple Watch - Apple Support

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

More generally, various activity-related estimations depend, in part, on your personal information. To check that this has been entered accurately:

- On your iPhone, in the Watch app, go to: My Watch (tab) > Health > Edit - tap and adjust items, then tap on Done.

To optimise the accuracy of distance and other estimations when data from your iPhone is unavailable, it may also help to reset your calibration data and calibrate your watch afresh:

- On your iPhone, in the Watch app, go to: My Watch > Privacy > Motion & Fitness > tap on Reset Calibration Data.

Calibration instructions:

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

JT_Tan wrote:

.. in the calibration instruction, it mentioned you have to hold your phone during calibration but I read in your post that you had it in on a waist belt , could that be the "gap" here ? That somehow the watch is overriding the GPS information on the phone ?..

The calibration instructions do not say that you "have to hold your iPhone".

They say: "Hold your iPhone in your hand, or wear it on an armband (preferably) or waistband."

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

Are you running with your phone? Or without? Your mileage is going to be more accurate with the phone. There is no way to adjust the results to match a different device.

Why do you assume the FitBit is correct? And which Fitbit? The only FitBit with GPS is the Surge. It's reasonably accurate, but, as I recall doesn't rate as highly as the Garmin running watches.

As I'm not currently training for an officially timed race, I pick a device and stick with it. As long as the device is consistent in the distance it measures, I can compare times from one run to another.

In conclusion, for the most accurate distance results, continue to carry your iPhone with you (as you do now) during your outdoor workouts.

So that your watch can access GPS data as described in my first reply, ensure that Location Services and Bluetooth are enabled on your iPhone, that your watch is not in Airplane Mode and that the devices are connected via Bluetooth.

Perhaps the most significant remaining factors that could then potentially lead to any inaccuracy in distance readings would be poor GPS reception and/or training over hilly terrain (GPS data provides a more accurate measure of distances run / walked when routes are over flat areas).

As I hoped to explain, subject to the settings that I described above, for the activities and circumstances that you have described, your watch uses actual distance information based on GPS data from the iPhone - so there is nothing to be "fixed" or "adjusted".

GenellefromGA wrote:

Yes, I run every time with my phone and watch. I did a half marathon and at the end of 13.1 my apple watch said 13.5. That was my first indication that something was off and that was about a month ago. I relied heavily on it and had no reason to disbelieve it until that point. My health app info is sharing as its supposed to as well. After the half I would do long runs starting at point, going out a number of miles then returning to the same point and the mileage is always different, wanting me to stop sooner than my starting point. I got a FitBit Blaze to side by side comparison and its seems to be more accurate re the half marathon mileage difference. Short run last night had the fitbit at 3.0 miles and the Apple Watch at 3.46. That's a big difference and that's with my phone with me the whole time. Steps are over calculated as well on apple watch vs fitbit.

As the Blaze and the Apple Watch both use the iPhone's GPS, that is rather strange. I wouldn't think much about .4 miles out of 13. That's well within the margins I've seen for most wrist worn trackers. However, the fact that the difference is so much greater on a short run is concerning.

It's the fact that it's not a constant difference that indicates a potential problem. If the difference were constant, I know that I would simply pick one device and go with it.

In my experience, you will get greater accuracy with a dedicated running watch with it's own GPS than with a phone. When I'm training seriously, I use my Garmin 620 (they've since released a newer model). I just haven't found GPS on a phone to be accurate enough when running for timed race training. And that's on iPhones since the iPhone 4 and an uncounted number of Androids. For casual running, my iPhone/Apple Watch combo is consistent enough for my purposes.

Best of luck.

Hi There 🙂

Was looking through apple support and discussion forums as I was also concerned the lack of GPS in the Apple watch. Apologize for being "technical", but in the calibration instruction, it mentioned you have to hold your phone during calibration but I read in your post that you had it in on a waist belt , could that be the "gap" here ? That somehow the watch is overriding the GPS information on the phone ?

thanks

JT

Good luck and enjoy your run!