Fitness frustrated

[thefredelement]

What is the deal with fitness and this watch? I have a sport, I want it to count calories that I burn.

I use the Nike + running app and Cyclemeter & Strava. I also do pilates and other at home workouts.

I never use the workout apps on the watch - they're really nothing compared to the competition.

Does that mean my heart rate isn't being accurately tracked? I always get exercise credit.

I know if I do use the apps on the watch with the apps I want to use for fitness tracking that the data will be off anyway because the 3rd party apps will be using the GPS.

What is the right way to do this? (get a fitbit?)

 

[Aluminum213]

What is the right way to do this? (get a fitbit?)

If you're wearing a Fitbit and apple watch, one of the products needs to be returned

 

[thefredelement]

I'm not, currently I only have the watch but it's getting aggravating not knowing if it's accurate. Is a FitBit more what I'm looking for?

 

[thefredelement]

My chat with Apple:

• 
  Thanks for contacting AppleCare chat support. My name is Jamie. Please give me a moment to look over your information.
  
  Me:Hi Jamie, sure thing
  
  JamieHey Fred! How are you doing today?
  
  Me:I'm good, how're you?
  
  JamieI am doing well! Thank you for asking!
  
  JamieWhat will we be able to assist you with today, Fred?
  
  Me:Well I'm a little confused with using my Apple Watch for tracking exercise
  
  Me:I have a few different fitness tracking apps that I use to keep track of my info, like Nike + Running, Strava & Cyclemeter, I'm not sure what the right way to use them with the Apple Watch is
  
  JamieOkay, you have come to the right place for support today!
  
  JamieDo you currently have those apps installed on your Apple Watch?
  
  Me:I'm glad! You have come to the right place to help me!
  
  Me:I do
  
  Me:They are fine, I am wondering if the calories that I burn are counted accurately with the watch itself
  
  JamiePerfect! The watch should certainly be able to accurately calculate your calories burned during a workout or run. Have you calibrated your Apple Watch prior to using to calculate calories burned?
  
  Me:I don't know?
  
  Me:Is there a way to tell?
  
  JamieOkay no problem at all! I’m not sure if there is a way to tell but, we have a great articles that will explain how to calibrate your Apple Watch for improved results.
  
  JamieThis calibration process can also help improve the accuracy of your overall calorie estimations in many of the other workout categories in the Workout app, and the calorie, distance, Move, and Exercise estimations in the Activity app.
  
  JamieCalibrating your Apple Watch for improved Workout and Activity accuracy(Opens in new window)(Opens in new window)(Opens in new window)(Opens in new window)(Opens in new window)(Opens in new window)(Opens in new window)
  
  Mek, before I read that real fast, now do I have to tell the watch I'm doing a workout before I start one with one of the other apps?
  
  Me:I know they do write data to the Health app as well, so I don't want to count double
  
  JamieYou can definitely start the workout from a 3rd party app without first setting it up in the built in Apple Watch app. If you do both you may get inaccurate readings.
  
  Mek and just another really quick question, if I pair a bluetooth heart monitor to the watch, will it be more accurate with calorie counting?
  
  Me:Thanks by the way, I appreciate this. This is a little confusing with tracking all this stuff the right way
  
  JamieYes, if you use another heart rate monitor you may get a more accurate reading for all categories. I would first calibrate the watch using the article then take a look at the results of the workout.
  
  JamieMake sure the bottom of the watch is held tightly to your wrist and that should give you the most accurate reading.
  
  Me:Right on, I do, I have a sport band really tighten it down and awesome I will calibrate it tomorrow morning
  
  Me:Thank you for clearing all that up for me
  
  JamieOkay perfect! I will email you that article as well too! I am happy I was able to answer those questions for you today!
  
  JamieAgain my name is Jamie and keep an eye on your inbox because I will email you the case number from today’s interaction in case you need to chat back in for any reason!
  
  JamieIt's been my pleasure chatting with you today, Fred! If there is nothing more for now, I will go ahead and end the chat. We are here for you via chat 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
  I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!
  
  Me:You too, take it easy
  

Your chat session has ended. Thanks for using Apple's chat support.


-- So tomorrow I will calibrate my watch, I'm guessing if a 3rd party app is in control of GPS but the watch is calibrated it won't need GPS to accurately get my calorie count. I may also just get a chest strap for when I exercise.

 

[acctman]

I'm not, currently I only have the watch but it's getting aggravating not knowing if it's accurate. Is a FitBit more what I'm looking for?

no fitness watch will ever be accurate Apple Watch nor Fitbit... (it's all guess-estimates) based on average human collected data. A fitness watch is suppose to help motivate you and keep you active. If you want accurate then visiting a doctor the specializes in fitness and get hooked up to a few machines and have blood drawn.

If any watch says you've burned xxx calories in a day don't take that as an 100% accurate amount it's just best guess. Current health, walking stride, height, weight, altitude, temperature, food intake, etc can all change the way calories are burned.

 

[thefredelement]

no fitness watch will ever be accurate Apple Watch nor Fitbit... (it's all guess-estimates) based on average human collected data. A fitness watch is suppose to help motivate you and keep you active. If you want accurate then visiting a doctor the specializes in fitness and get hooked up to a few machines and have blood drawn.

If any watch says you've burned xxx calories in a day don't take that as an 100% accurate amount it's just best guess. Current health, walking stride, height, weight, altitude, temperature, food intake, etc can all change the way calories are burned.

That makes a lot of sense, hopefully one day the Health app can be tweaked to crunch all of the metrics and produce a more accurate experience in combination with the watch. So maybe going to a doc once every 6 months, entering all the data that can be entered then just tracking weight & body fat % (and height for those still growing). Maybe I'm dreaming but it would be cool.

 

[acctman]

That makes a lot of sense, hopefully one day the Health app can be tweaked to crunch all of the metrics and produce a more accurate experience in combination with the watch. So maybe going to a doc once every 6 months, entering all the data that can be entered then just tracking weight & body fat % (and height for those still growing). Maybe I'm dreaming but it would be cool.

I was actually trying to find HealthKit devices that can calculate more health data for input, but it's still limited. A few scales input weight automatically. Some fitness gyms provide a health analysis where they hook you up to machines and give you a print out at the end. A fitness physician would still be best for getting blood drawn and analyzed.

 

[zmunkz]

Me:I'm glad! You have come to the right place to help me!

I HATE the way they talk in the live chat support. So bubbly and positive it makes me want to shoot myself. You took the higher road, though, and just fed it back to them, lol.

 

[acctman]

I HATE the way they talk in the live chat support. So bubbly and positive it makes me want to shoot myself. You took the higher road, though, and just fed it back to them, lol.

Lol you're right... Apple Customer Employee training; always be bubbly, polite, and cheery to the customer.

 

[01silver4]

What is the deal with fitness and this watch? I have a sport, I want it to count calories that I burn.

I use the Nike + running app and Cyclemeter & Strava. I also do pilates and other at home workouts.

I never use the workout apps on the watch - they're really nothing compared to the competition.

Does that mean my heart rate isn't being accurately tracked? I always get exercise credit.

I know if I do use the apps on the watch with the apps I want to use for fitness tracking that the data will be off anyway because the 3rd party apps will be using the GPS.

What is the right way to do this? (get a fitbit?)

Was riding my bike on the trainer today, doing a lot of high tensidy workouts. And my AW was right on par with my Garmin 500, with the HR and calories burnt.

Make sure the AW not to loose on your wrist or to far down on it. Because if it is, it will not give an accurate reading. My wife as been using hers for running, and The results for her so far as been good.

 

[The Tuck]

I have found the distance and calories to be quite off compared to my Fitbit. I'm a little confused why the Watch doesn't use constant GPS monitoring for distance when it's connected to the phone. Could be they wanted to save battery on the phone during exercise so it only checks GPS every so often.

Tuck

 

[pilot3033]

I have found the distance and calories to be quite off compared to my Fitbit. I'm a little confused why the Watch doesn't use constant GPS monitoring for distance when it's connected to the phone. Could be they wanted to save battery on the phone during exercise so it only checks GPS every so often.

Tuck

It should if you have the phone with you on the run and are doing an outdoor run or outdoor walk in the workout app. That's the "calibration" it talks about. I've found it to be pretty accurate so far, but I'm excited for whenever a true enough SDK is released such that 3rd party mapping apps can start using the heart rate data.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

I have found the distance and calories to be quite off compared to my Fitbit. I'm a little confused why the Watch doesn't use constant GPS monitoring for distance when it's connected to the phone. Could be they wanted to save battery on the phone during exercise so it only checks GPS every so often.

Tuck

Let me guess, fitbit is way higher?

 

[RangerOne]

So tomorrow I will calibrate my watch, I'm guessing if a 3rd party app is in control of GPS but the watch is calibrated it won't need GPS to accurately get my calorie count. I may also just get a chest strap for when I exercise.

C|NET ran a pretty decent set of tests, and found that the uncalibrated Apple Watch showed about a 10% deviation in distance compared to the treadmill they were using. This was near the bottom of the pack when compared to both other smartwatches and dedicated fitness trackers. HOWEVER... once calibrated, the accuracy was within .3% -- much more accurate than even the best dedicated fitness trackers (at least those they tested).

However, step counters worn on wrists are never very accurate because of the difficulty tracking steps while you're flailing your arms about, holding hands, sitting at the desk, etc. But when doing a dedicated walk, I found it was very accurate compared with my Withings Pulse (the most accurate step counter I've ever used, when worn on the belt).

http://www.cnet.com/news/smartwatch-step-counter-and-distance-tracker-accuracy/

 

[RangerOne]

I have found the distance and calories to be quite off compared to my Fitbit. I'm a little confused why the Watch doesn't use constant GPS monitoring for distance when it's connected to the phone. Could be they wanted to save battery on the phone during exercise so it only checks GPS every so often.

Tuck

Despite all the FitBit success, both my wife and I found that this fitness tracker was surprisingly inaccurate. We both had the Withings Pulse, and it was uncannily accurate in terms of steps taken (many times I counted out 100, 200, 300, etc. steps and the Pulse was exactly accurate right to the step when worn on the belt).

So, from my personal experience, I would be a bit skeptical of using the FitBit as the accuracy standard. This C|NET experiment seems to agree: the Surge was 7% off and the Charge was 9% off.

http://www.cnet.com/news/smartwatch-step-counter-and-distance-tracker-accuracy/

 

[thefredelement]

Let me guess, fitbit is way higher?

Well that's the rub right, you can either use the built in workout apps to get more accurate data or use a better 3rd party app, for instance Nike + Running instead of Outdoor Run but then the watch can not accurately track your distance because the Nike app is currently using the GPS.

So I'm hoping once the watch is calibrated it will be on the up & up with crunching the data accurately since I'm not using it in exercise mode when I work out, though I do permit other apps to write to the Health app. I think I may end up with a 3rd party sensor doing heart rate monitoring through other apps that then write back to the Health app.

Which essentially relegates the watch to a nifty iPhone remote and a resting heart rate monitor. Which for the $, I probably could have done better.

In all honesty, I had a FuelBand before that I was obsessed with, the watch has gotten me a) more motivated and b) more into tracking to a point where I don't want to screw around with it, I just want it to work.

I've started running & cycling daily and I'd really like to be on top of my calories burned to make accurate nutrition choices.