You might need to calibrate then. I already know a certain mountain pass in my city that has a specific length and the AW always hits the number with +/- 10m in deviation.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Watch Series 7 HORRIBLE GPS reading accuracy
- Thread starter jcandrada
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I ran Copenhagen marathon with a AW series 7 SS and a Garmin Epix 2, both watches with latest firmware. I didn’t bring my IPhone, so solely using their own GPS. My AW recorded 42.22 km and my Garmin 42.66 km. So both very accurate ??
Yep. I just did a run but put my iPhone7 into airplane mode. Much much better GPS track ? must have been from the Apple Watch directly.
I wonder if this a temporary issue that Apple will fix.
As it stands it's so bad. I don't want to be unavailable whilst working out just to get accurate readings.
I wonder if this a temporary issue that Apple will fix.
As it stands it's so bad. I don't want to be unavailable whilst working out just to get accurate readings.
A lot of folks asked Apple to introduce a setting to allow the AW to take GPS from the watch instead of a connected iPhone. Nothing happened so far. Maybe you add yourself to the list too: https://www.apple.com/feedback/
To be reachable, you could switch off Bluetooth on either your AW or your iPhone depending on your devices (HR, headset, etc.).
A marathon is 42.196 km Long, but only if you run om the exact line.
Look at DC rainmakers explanation.
Racing the line – understanding how courses are measured
Last week on one of my review posts, someone asked why their Garmin GPS showed a longer distance than the actual course distance of the National Marathon. Of course, there are two possible explanations, but likely only one is the
www.dcrainmaker.com
Interesting thread. I use mine for tracking hiking trips successfully and accurately. I carry a Garmin eTrex 10 as well as the AW7 and the AW7 is notably more accurate than the Garmin. I compare both afterwards usually via GPX export.
Some tips:
1. Stick your phone in flight mode when you're out. This forces it to use the AW GPS.
2. Turn off the always on display. It'll last 12 hours tracking GPS then easily.
3. Export it to GPX with "workout" on the App Store on your phone and compare that. Some of the third party apps cock up the data export / route or do smoothing and weird stuff to it.
Here's a typical walk out for me these days. Battery was on 30% at the end and that did included the 3h it took to get to the start point on trains and buses.
Some tips:
1. Stick your phone in flight mode when you're out. This forces it to use the AW GPS.
2. Turn off the always on display. It'll last 12 hours tracking GPS then easily.
3. Export it to GPX with "workout" on the App Store on your phone and compare that. Some of the third party apps cock up the data export / route or do smoothing and weird stuff to it.
Here's a typical walk out for me these days. Battery was on 30% at the end and that did included the 3h it took to get to the start point on trains and buses.
That's good to know, thanks.
How straight is the canyon?
I think the inaccuracies for me come from rounding and cutting corners.
Now that I've done a few more I'm not sure my previous comment stands up. It's possible the perceived improvement was just from the route being wider and less wiggly.
It's pretty dependent on how wiggly the route is because the inaccuracy looks to come from the track cutting off corners or rounding edges e.g. if I ran down a straight road did a 180° turn and ran back I wager it would be accurate.
There are so many things it could be though:
- iPhone connection or iPhone taking responsibility for location to save battery.
- Poor GPS signal or weak GPS lock (low level buildings, tree cover etc…).
- I listen to music over bluetooth from my Watch and also hear the running announcements.
- My Apple Watch 6 is approaching 2 years old and reports ~80% battery health.
- My iPhone is old and has a terrible battery (I'm about to upgrade my iPhone so we'll see if that makes a difference)
- …probably others I haven't thought of.
I've filled out an Apple Feedback form detailing the issue now 👍.
Here's hoping they fix it and I "suddenly become much faster" 😆.