Counting steps in Activity App and Healthkit

Question

Level 1

11 points

Counting steps in Activity App and Healthkit

I have an Apple watch and obviously an iphone too. The number of steps recorded each day in Healthkit is always somewhat more than the number of steps recorded in Activity. I wear my watch most of the day but not always - e.g, while charging in the evening, or doing some household cleaning, or first thing in the morning when I grab my phone and go to make coffee.

When I look in Healthkit it shows the data source for step counting throughout the day as coming from both the iphone and the watch. The number of steps from the iphone alone would be too much that if they were all excluded from the Activity app the number of steps would equal just those from the watch. In other words, the watch steps alone does not equal the Activity steps - you need both phone-sourced and watch-sourced steps to get anywhere near the total steps in Activity.

I am thinking that the following may happen:

1) When you wear the watch AND the phone, it sometimes pulls the steps from either device but they all get entered into Activity and Health.

2) But, when you do NOT wear the watch but have only the phone, the steps are entered into Health only, and never make it into Activity.

Do you think that analysis is right?

I called Appe care and the woman tried to be helpful but was kind of guessing that for the Activity app you need a certain exertion level to count for a step - but I think that is only an issue in counting for move or exercise, not steps.

Thoughts??

Posted on Dec 11, 2016 8:38 AM

Reply

Answer 1

man02195

Level 1

14 points

Jan 7, 2018 5:15 PM in response to MagicDC

was this ever resolved?

my watch is charging, i go for a walk, and when i come back the activity app didn’t count the steps or the stand hours, shows blank stand. doesn’t make sense to me

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Answer 2

Jonathan UK

Level 10

164,015 points

Dec 11, 2016 8:42 AM in response to MagicDC

Hi

Both your iPhone and Apple Watch are capable of counting your steps.

The Heath app on your iPhone combines health and fitness data from Apple Watch, iPhone and any other data sources.

When it combines data from different sources, it adjusts the results to avoid any double-counting of information.

The Activity app on your watch runs continuously in the background, tracking steps, distance, Active Energy (calories / kilojoules) and progress towards your daily Exercise, Move and Stand goals.

More information and instructions for using each app are available here:

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Answer 3

MagicDC Author

Level 1

11 points

Dec 11, 2016 9:41 AM in response to Jonathan UK

Thanks - but this doesn't really explain why the Healthkit app would show more steps than the Activity app. Why would the Activity app have fewer steps (maybe about 5 or 10% less). The only devices I use to track steps are my phone and watch. As I said in my post, on occasion I just have my phone with me but not my watch. Is it at that time that steps keep getting added to the Healthkit count but not the Activity count?

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Answer 4

Jonathan UK

Level 10

164,015 points

Dec 11, 2016 9:44 AM in response to MagicDC

The Activity app reflects data from your Apple Watch. The Health app reflects data from all sources (without double-counting for any given time period).

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Answer 5

MagicDC Author

Level 1

11 points

Dec 11, 2016 10:26 AM in response to Jonathan UK

Then I assume that while you are wearing your apple watch AND carrying your phone (e,g, in your pocket), your apple watch or the Activity app does sometimes/frequently pick up steps from your phone instead of your watch e.g., because your hand is not moving but the phone in your pocket (I assume this because I see so much data in Healthkit that comes from the phone, rather than the watch, but is still needed to help get anywhere near the total step count in Activity).

But, when you have just the phone, without the watch present, the phone's data goes into Healthkit and never makes it into the Activity app (the way it would if you had your watch present as well).

I don't think the Activity app can ONLY reflect steps measured on the watch alone, because so much of the data in Healthkit shows that steps are coming from the phone - I think this might be, for example, when I am holding a dog leash and not swinging my arm, but the phone is in my pants pocket and moving. So I am assuming, as noted above, that in those cases the phone-measured steps go into both Healthkit AND the Activity app. But if I walked the dog and wasn't wearing the watch, the phone-measured steps would just go into Healthkit.

Is that correct? Thx for helping me understand this.

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