Apple Watch and iPhone Step Tracking Question

[evanstos]

Does the health kit - step tracking software prevent double counting of the steps on your watch and the steps taken while holding your phone?

 

[Julien]

Yes.

 

[mightyjabba]

You don't get double counted -- that would be a pretty basic mistake for Apple to make, considering that you pretty much have to have the phone and watch together all the time. However, I was wondering the other day whether the watch takes the phone's pedometer into account in any way when making its own count. Would somehow averaging the two of them make it more accurate?

 

[Julien]

...However, I was wondering the other day whether the watch takes the phone's pedometer into account in any way when making its own count. Would somehow averaging the two of them make it more accurate?

I would guess not. A pedometer is so much more accurate on the wrist (one arm swing = 2 steps) than in a pocket that I bet the Watch is all that is used.

 

[stoomc]

You don't get double counted -- that would be a pretty basic mistake for Apple to make, considering that you pretty much have to have the phone and watch together all the time. However, I was wondering the other day whether the watch takes the phone's pedometer into account in any way when making its own count. Would somehow averaging the two of them make it more accurate?

I don't have a watch at the moment so can't check, but you could take the watch off for 5 - 10 mins and walk around with the phone in the meantime, and then check to see if it syncs up with the watch steps in the activity app (you could even check that it's updating on the activity app for the iPhone)

 

[spotman]

In the health app, there is prioritization settings.

When you first connect a watch it puts itself at highest priority.

For a given minute, based on the priority setting - it will take this reading.

So, for example, if you leave your watch at your desk for a bit, and have your iPhone in your pocket, in the Health App (on your iPhone) the steps for the day for this duration when your watch is not recording but your phone is, your steps will come from your phone.

If you leave your phone at your desk, and walk around with your watch, the opposite is true, all step data will come from your watch.

If they are both on you at the same time, with default settings, the watch data will be whats used.

NOTE: this setting is for the health app - it has no effect on the activity app on your watch or phone. The activity app, and the "ring" that you try to complete each day are purely based on things recorded on the watch, as far as I can tell.

 

[stoomc]

In the health app, there is prioritization settings.



When you first connect a watch it puts itself at highest priority.



For a given minute, based on the priority setting - it will take this reading.



So, for example, if you leave your watch at your desk for a bit, and have your iPhone in your pocket, in the Health App (on your iPhone) the steps for the day for this duration when your watch is not recording but your phone is, your steps will come from your phone.



If you leave your phone at your desk, and walk around with your watch, the opposite is true, all step data will come from your watch.



If they are both on you at the same time, with default settings, the watch data will be whats used.



NOTE: this setting is for the health app - it has no effect on the activity app on your watch or phone. The activity app, and the "ring" that you try to complete each day are purely based on things recorded on the watch, as far as I can tell.

Thanks for this.

I'm still confused though, when you go through the health app and dig into the steps on a minute by minute basis, you can see that the watch and iphone are submitting steps when you have them both on you at the same time.
I'm not saying that they're duplicating though (the steps are different) but they're both submitting.

 

[evanstos]

Thanks for this.

I'm still confused though, when you go through the health app and dig into the steps on a minute by minute basis, you can see that the watch and iphone are submitting steps when you have them both on you at the same time.
I'm not saying that they're duplicating though (the steps are different) but they're both submitting.

^This is EXACTLY why I came to the forum to ask the question. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[ScubaLeo]

^This is EXACTLY why I came to the forum to ask the question. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

I don't think the health app is double counting the steps. I think what spotman said is correct.
I checked the data this morning for the first two hours since I woke up. I added up all the steps from the health app that shows both data from my iPhone and my Apple Watch. The step total came up to be 1880, but when you look at the total steps for the day on the dashboard it shows only 1045. I checked the activity app which only shows step data for the Apple Watch which was 1015. There was a short period where I had my iPhone and not my watch which would account for the extra total steps.