Swimming workout miscounts laps and distance

Update: With more swimming, the lap count seems to get more accurate but still off. I kept reading online that the new watch had been tested by many swimmers, and they say that the lap count has been very accurate. When I look at my daily swim results, something was not adding up. The calorie count seemed good and comparable to the Speedo Fit app (which I used before the new watch). It was the lap count and the total yards for each swim session that was always wrong. So yesterday, I changed the pool length to be equal to a full lap length of a pool swim (the sum of the two lengths) -- finally, the lap count and total yards was correct by the end of my swim session. The lap count was off a little in between my short resting periods, but correct at the end. The total calories was roughly the same as before, which implies that the watch does not rely on either the lap count or yards for that calculation. Hope this helps!

When in Pool Swim, my screen is locked with the blue water symbol at top. So the only way I can access the screen is pushing the button or turning the crown. I don't have that problem you describe. If you don't activate the swim activity, the screen is NOT technically locked but the general advice is that the screen may not be as responsive to touch senses/gestures when it gets wet. If you want to jump into the pool to relax and not do laps, you can water lock the screen by swiping up from the bottom of the screen and clicking on the water symbol.

I typically swim just freestyle, although yesterday, I added two additional laps to my workout using a different stroke at the very end, and they were properly recognized/counted. At the end of each leg, may turns vary so there was no impact there on the lap count.

I also didn't have the issue of missed laps, it was always too many laps. The Apple Watch algorithm must have an issue depending on the pool length you specify versus what it tracks. Like Siri, maybe the watch improves the accuracy as you use it more. The first time I used it, it counted 15 more laps than what I actually did, but then again, was it really full laps when I only entered one pool length for the pool length (especially when the total yards was about half of what it should have been).

I am having the exact same problem. I am only swimming freestyle and both times that I've swam with my watch it has miscalculated the laps. Both times it was almost double the actual laps I swam. For example, I swam 15 laps and it said I did 29. My husband thinks it's because I do not flip turn. I hope that's not it!

All I know is the pool has two lengths which should equal a full lap -- the Watch should be specific as to what you enter: pool length or pool lap. As suggested by Apple Support, the way you swim affects the actual lap count; which I don't think it should because if you provide the length/distance framework of your pool, it should have a better algorithm to get the lap count to be more precise. Last year, my watch only accurately counted my laps three times (for the last three months I started using it for swimming -- all freestyle). At least it seems that the calorie count seems to be less questionable. I've used other apps where you enter the data as well as some swim sensor devices and I prefer the Apple Watch.

tl;dr: Interval training is probably bad for measuring

Thanks for the review link.

I swam 17.5km so far with the Apple Watch 2, and the counting and lap times were imho quite reliable.

Today, I started to do interval swimming and some kicking drills. As a result, my AW2 reported I would've done 1200m with 3 of the 100m-laps (in a row) finished in less than 1:10. That would be jawdropping.

Actually, I swam 1000m plus maybe 25m "chilling" in the end - and my fasted lap was around 2:18.

All in all, today's results were kind of scrambled - and that's quite annoying.

Another thing I noticed:

The first 100m lap is always (i.e. 12 of 12 times I used the AW so far) about 20s faster than the rest of the laps (whose times are far more equal to one another). However, I don't feel that difference when I swim. That's why I'm not counting it for a "fastest lap". Did anyone else notice this?

Did anyone ever feel no a fix for this? I tried Apple support, and they didn't help at all. They suggested it was because you glide for the first couple meters when you push off from the wall. But given that every swimmer does this, you'd think they would have taken that into account in the program. I've tried shortening the length of the pool by a couple meters on my watch, which helps get the count closer to accurate, but still not perfect.

Very disappointed. Swam laps for an hour. Predominantly freestyle. It recorded 1 lap for 50 yards. Not anywhere close. Since I assumed the Watch was counting laps, I didn't count, but likely swam @1800 yards or more. 🙁

I did my first swim workout today and for the first 3-5 laps I found that the watch wasn't counting laps properly. However, after a few laps I noticed that each time I did a turn it started recognizing the turns correctly and I believe I ended-up with the correct number of lap counts at the end of the workout.

Here are some assumptions for the initial miscounting:

1) Since this was the first swim, maybe the watch needs some calibration time to assess my stroke type, stroke length, etc. plus how I turn to determine the proper lap count. Around lap 10 I started looking at the watch at the end of every lap and it was counting laps correctly, ended-up doing about 51 and the total length tracked at the end seems about right for the pool length and my usual average time to cover a lap, so I think while it was showing incorrect laps at the beginning, it seems to have corrected / adjusted some time during the workout.

2) During the first laps I glided a lot as I was doing fairly strong strokes (i.e., covered length of pool with less strokes), so I wonder if the watch has a harder time determining distance covered as I was doing less strokes than what would be expected for the pool length (since the watch doesn't use GPS to determine distance when doing a pool workout).

3) Not sure how Apple counts distance covered or how they determine if a lap has been completed. I would assume some element of acceleration, velocity is determined using the watch's sensors and then they probably make assumptions based on your height, weight, gender to determine how much distance you covered based on those parameters (average displacement for a stroke, length of stroke, number of strokes, etc.). For pool counts they are probably comparing their assumption of distance covered with a detection of change in direction, or the fact that you might have stopped momentarily as you turn to a new lap. So, in other words, there are a lot of assumptions going into those calculations and I wouldn't expect them to be completely accurate, but to stay relatively in the ballpark of the actual number of laps, calories used, etc.

I will have to try again later this week to see how the watch behaves and if it needs that initial calibration for the initial laps.

Hi

I suggest that you raise this question with Apple Support, taking advantage of your initial 90 days of complimentary telephone-based technical support cover:

• Contact - Official Apple Support
• https://twitter.com/applesupport
• http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

You're welcome! 🙂

Another user has reported experiencing similar issues, but - in the absence of a known solution - the same suggestion applied:

Discrepancies/Inaccurate Swimming Workout Lenght

My understanding is that if you are doing any other stroke beside freestyle, you will get an inaccurate reading. Just like if you did a kick set, it won't even pick up the yardage as you are not moving your arm.

If you found any additional information when talking to support, please let the community know! I am sure a lot of swimmers (like me) would love to know.

Happy Swimming!

You might be interested in this review and the section where he discusses accuracy, strokes and intervals.

http://www.macrumors.com/2016/09/23/apple-watch-swimming/