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Blood Oxygen Background Reading Frequency

Buadhai

Buadhai

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 15, 2018
1,169
448
Korat, Thailand
My wife got an Apple Watch 6 for Christmas.

For her, background Blood Oxygen readings are rare. Usually just one a day and some times none. The last backgrounding reading was one on Sunday. It's Wednesday here now.

She's able to take manual readings without failure, so we assume it is neither the watch nor the way she wears it. She does have a tiny wrist and is using a Sport Band on the next to the last hole in the strap. To me, it seems snug but not too tight.

With my Watch 6 I generally get four or five background readings per day.

Any way for us to find out what's going wrong?
 
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Yes, we've read both of those. Background readings has been on since she got the watch. Since manual readings work fine we assume that the watch is OK and that it is properly positioned on her wrist.

Something else going on here.
 
Buadhai said:
Yes, we've read both of those. Background readings has been on since she got the watch. Since manual readings work fine we assume that the watch is OK and that it is properly positioned on her wrist.

Something else going on here.
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From the linked article...

"Make sure that your Apple Watch isn’t loose on your wrist. The band should be snug but comfortable, and the back of your Apple Watch needs to be touching your wrist.
Make sure that the back of your Apple Watch is flush with the top of your wrist. If your wrist bones interfere with this, move your watch 1 to 2 inches up your arm away from your wrist bone."

Did she loosen her band etc.
 
As I said, it’s already on the next to the last hole in the strap.

Perhaps her wrist is too small for this to work.

Heart rate works fine.

Manual measurement works fine, so we know the band is at the right tightness and at the right spot.
 
I find that the red light used to measure O2 seems to be quite sensitive to any movement and any amount of sweat. I'm in Hawaii and when out for a walk I measure it and have yet to get a reading...at home is no problem.
 
Hawk665 said:
I find that the red light used to measure O2 seems to be quite sensitive to any movement and any amount of sweat. I'm in Hawaii and when out for a walk I measure it and have yet to get a reading...at home is no problem.
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If that were the case then you'd think my wife and I would have similar experiences since we're both living in the same climate. In fact, she's an attorney who spends most of her weekdays calmly sitting in her office while I'm retired and spend the day cycling and moving about the house and working in the garden.
 
I convinced my wife to tighten the watch as far as possible by fastening it on the first hole:

IMG_7505.jpeg


As you can see, it is quite tight. She wore it that way all day. Not a single background measurement was made. She was able to make two manual measurements.

So, tighter doesn't work for background measurements, but is OK for manual measurements.

She is now trying the other wrist using hole #2 as using hole #1 was uncomfortably tight.
 
Any luck with this?

I have had mine on for about a week in between charges and for the first couple of days it took a few readings during the course of the day, but now hasn't taken any at all for the last two days.

All requirements with regards to positioning, app enabling etc. are met.

I have even sat still with my wrist on the table with watch facing up for about twenty minutes but still no luck.

Manual readings work fine.

I appreciate it is a bit gimmicky but i would still like it to work!

Cheers
 
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No luck at all. In the last three days she's had one background reading. Manual readings work fine.

She's also noticed that with her Watch 6 she gets many fewer prompts to Breathe than she did with the Watch 3. She's very good at breathing when prompted. She gets only a couple a day with the Watch 6 as opposed to four or five with the Watch 3.
 
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Thanks.

I have sent a feedback to Apple, so you never know, it might get looked at!

Not much point in having it if it doesn't work.
 
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Buadhai said:
No luck at all. In the last three days she's had one background reading. Manual readings work fine.

She's also noticed that with her Watch 6 she gets many fewer prompts to Breathe than she did with the Watch 3. She's very good at breathing when prompted. She gets only a couple a day with the Watch 6 as opposed to four or five with the Watch 3.
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have you contacted Apple yet?
 
jz0309 said:
have you contacted Apple yet?
Click to expand...
Yes. I have an open support request with Apple. I have supplied them with screenshots and photographs. When setting up the case via iMessage, the agent asked for my time zone (ICT) and what would be a good time to call. They called me twice at about 4:00 AM. I was asleep. I sent them a message asking them to communicate by email or chat. (I really hate talking on the phone.) That was five days ago. I haven't heard back since then. I'm not impressed.
 
jasons6930 said:
Not much point in having it if it doesn't work.
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At this point my wife is wishing she had her Watch 3 back. With the Watch 6 she gets inconsistent heart rate readings, fewer "Breathe" prompts, no background Blood Oxygen readings and her Active Calorie computations are significantly less meaning it's harder for her to reach her Move goal.
 
Buadhai said:
Yes. I have an open support request with Apple. I have supplied them with screenshots and photographs. When setting up the case via iMessage, the agent asked for my time zone (ICT) and what would be a good time to call. They called me twice at about 4:00 AM. I was asleep. I sent them a message asking them to communicate by email or chat. (I really hate talking on the phone.) That was five days ago. I haven't heard back since then. I'm not impressed.
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ok, thanks, just wanted to check the obvious. Sorry you do not have a good experience with them, when I use the chat function I usually get good response times ...
 
jz0309 said:
ok, thanks, just wanted to check the obvious. Sorry you do not have a good experience with them, when I use the chat function I usually get good response times ...
Click to expand...
Perhaps the fact that I live in Thailand throws them for a loop. It’s a bit disturbing to think that the support staff is unaware of how easy it is to use any Apple device to find out what time it is anywhere in the world.
 
Just updated to 7.3 and ios 14.4.

I contacted Apple who suggested i unpaired the watch from my phone and paired it again after updating.

I also had resting heart rate not updating which i didnt realise until today.

Now i have updated, they both are showing one snapshot, but not sure if it will do anymore.

Basically this is what happened when i first got it so i will be monitoring it over the next couple of days.

If it still plays up, i will be getting a return authorisation from Apple to return it as i am still wthin the 14 days and will re-order.

Hopefully i might just have a dodgy watch.
 
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