Fitness Tracking and Heart Rate Display

[ifarlow]

My wife received her watch a couple of weeks ago. In that time, beyond giving me hell because mine hasn't arrived yet, she has been using the watch to track her fitness activities such as indoor walking, elliptical, strength training, indoor cycling, outdoor walking, etc. The other day she asked me what she needs to do to see her heart rate while she is exercising. I told her that once the activity tracking has started for whatever category she has chosen, she can swipe left or right along the bottom half of the display to change the metric that is displayed including heart rate, calories, etc.

She told me this morning that there was no way to view the heart rate while exercising, and I told her that there is (and re-explained how to swipe to display the metric she wants to see). Turns out that we were both right (or wrong, depending on your perspective). For elliptical, cycling, and other (as I recall), the heart rate can be shown during the exercise. For anything related to walking or running (indoor or outdoor), however, the heart rate can not be shown.

Is this consistent with what others are finding? Anyone have a guess as to why heart rate can not be shown for anything related to walking or running but can for the other exercise tracking options?

 

[lchlch]

*i was wrong, please ignore this post.

 

[bradkrischel]

My wife received her watch a couple of weeks ago. In that time, beyond giving me hell because mine hasn't arrived yet, she has been using the watch to track her fitness activities such as indoor walking, elliptical, strength training, indoor cycling, outdoor walking, etc. The other day she asked me what she needs to do to see her heart rate while she is exercising. I told her that once the activity tracking has started for whatever category she has chosen, she can swipe left or right along the bottom half of the display to change the metric that is displayed including heart rate, calories, etc.

She told me this morning that there was no way to view the heart rate while exercising, and I told her that there is (and re-explained how to swipe to display the metric she wants to see). Turns out that we were both right (or wrong, depending on your perspective). For elliptical, cycling, and other (as I recall), the heart rate can be shown during the exercise. For anything related to walking or running (indoor or outdoor), however, the heart rate can not be shown.

Is this consistent with what others are finding? Anyone have a guess as to why heart rate can not be shown for anything related to walking or running but can for the other exercise tracking options?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204523

While you're working out, you can choose what you want to see on your Apple Watch:

• Tap the time metric (top-right corner) to change between time of day, elapsed time, and pace/speed (during outdoor distance workouts).

• Swipe the primary metric to change between elapsed time, pace/speed (during outdoor distance workouts), distance (during outdoor distance workouts), calories, and heart rate.

After you choose your metrics for an activity, you won’t have to set them again. Apple Watch will use your settings as the default for that activity. As you workout, the goal ring will show your progress.

If you want to see your Distance, Calorie, or Time goal numerically instead of as a progress ring, open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, select Workout, and turn on Show Goal Metric.​

 

[LIOC]

OP,

You are sadly correct. It will not show your HR in the workout app while running or walking. No idea why but it's a pain.

Only workaround I have found is to open up the HRM before you open the workout app and use the quick switch feature to go back and forth.

 

[ifarlow]

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204523

Did you happen to read what I wrote, specifically the part about how I explained to my wife the exact same thing you quoted from Apple? I am fully aware of what it should display. In reality, however, any activity related to running or walking will not display the heart rate during the activity, at least as far as my wife's watch is concerned.

OP,

You are sadly correct. It will not show your HR in the workout app while running or walking. No idea why but it's a pain.

Only workaround I have found is to open up the HRM before you open the workout app and use the quick switch feature to go back and forth.

Thanks. I was afraid of this, but I would certainly love to know why. Perhaps it's a bug.

 

[brandnew2]

Did you happen to read what I wrote, specifically the part about how I explained to my wife the exact same thing you quoted from Apple? I am fully aware of what it should display. In reality, however, any activity related to running or walking will not display the heart rate during the activity, at least as far as my wife's watch is concerned.



Thanks. I was afraid of this, but I would certainly love to know why. Perhaps it's a bug.

Do you have power saving mode on? In power saving mode, the watch only tracks your HR every 10 minutes when you're doing a running or walking workout (but it still tracks constantly in the other workout modes), so perhaps it wouldn't display a constant heartrate for that reason.

 

[dilap]

Mine does!

 

[Craiger]

OP,

You are sadly correct. It will not show your HR in the workout app while running or walking. No idea why but it's a pain.

Only workaround I have found is to open up the HRM before you open the workout app and use the quick switch feature to go back and forth.

I'm guessing this is Apple's subtle way of saying the watch may not be accurate during exercises that have a lot of arm movement?

 

[Spink10]

Outdoor Walking - shows my HR constantly in the workout app on my watch.

 

[ifarlow]

Do you have power saving mode on? In power saving mode, the watch only tracks your HR every 10 minutes when you're doing a running or walking workout (but it still tracks constantly in the other workout modes), so perhaps it wouldn't display a constant heartrate for that reason.

This is an interesting possibility, especially since your description of power-saving mode seems to match what we are experiencing. I have no idea, however, as it's my wife's watch, but I will definitely check this when she and I get home. I will update this thread when I have checked.

Thanks.

 

[Julien]

...For anything related to walking or running (indoor or outdoor), however, the heart rate can not be shown.

Is this consistent with what others are finding? Anyone have a guess as to why heart rate can not be shown for anything related to walking or running but can for the other exercise tracking options?

I always look at my HR while running (constantly comparing to my Garmin 620). Just finished a 6.5 miler and looked at my HR on my Watch dozens of times.

 

[ifarlow]

Mine does!

Outdoor Walking - shows my HR constantly in the workout app on my watch.

I always look at my HR while running (constantly comparing to my Garmin 620). Just finished a 6.5 miler and looked at my HR on my Watch dozens of times.

Based on brandnew2's post, I am wondering if she has power-saving turned on. Clearly the watch can display heart rate during running or walking, so I'm hopeful that this is an easy fix.

Thanks, everyone, for the responses. I'll update as soon as I have more.

 

[brandnew2]

Based on brandnew2's post, I am wondering if she has power-saving turned on. Clearly the watch can display heart rate during running or walking, so I'm hopeful that this is an easy fix.

Yea, I'm pretty sure it has to be power saving mode. See this from Apple's website:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204523

"To preserve your battery life on long walks and runs, you can turn on Power Saving Mode. Just open the Apple Watch app on iPhone, tap Workout, then tap Power Saving Mode. The heart rate sensor will turn off, but your Apple Watch will still calculate active calories, distance, pace, and elapsed time."

 

[Julien]

Based on brandnew2's post, I am wondering if she has power-saving turned on. Clearly the watch can display heart rate during running or walking, so I'm hopeful that this is an easy fix.

Thanks, everyone, for the responses. I'll update as soon as I have more.

Quick sprint in the house.

 

[ifarlow]

Yea, I'm pretty sure it has to be power saving mode. See this from Apple's website:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204523

Good find. Thanks for the info.

 

[ifarlow]

Do you have power saving mode on?

This was it. I sent my wife a message about power-saving mode and she checked her phone. The setting was turned on, so she turned it off and then started an indoor walking activity. The heart rate was an option on the watch, so it looks like everything is working as expected now.

Thanks for your help with this. She and I appreciate it.

OP,

You are sadly correct. It will not show your HR in the workout app while running or walking. No idea why but it's a pain.

We have fixed the issue on my wife's watch based on brandnew2's post from earlier. Check the power-saving option in the watch app on the phone.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204523

 

[brandnew2]

This was it. I sent my wife a message about power-saving mode and she checked her phone. The setting was turned on, so she turned it off and then started an indoor walking activity. The heart rate was an option on the watch, so it looks like everything is working as expected now.

Thanks for your help with this. She and I appreciate it.

Glad to have helped! Hope you get your own watch soon

 

[ifarlow]

You and me both.

 

[LIOC]

This was it. I sent my wife a message about power-saving mode and she checked her phone. The setting was turned on, so she turned it off and then started an indoor walking activity. The heart rate was an option on the watch, so it looks like everything is working as expected now.

Thanks for your help with this. She and I appreciate it.



We have fixed the issue on my wife's watch based on brandnew2's post from earlier. Check the power-saving option in the watch app on the phone.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204523

I'm not in power save as I can see all my HR data in the Health app after the run. It's just not there while running

 

[ifarlow]

Seeing the data after the fact was never the issue. Seeing the data during the run was the problem. If you haven't specifically checked the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, I would do so.

Open the Apple Watch app on iPhone, tap Workout, then tap Power Saving Mode. Make sure it is disabled. You should then be able to select the heart rate as a viewable metric on the Apple Watch during walking and running activities.

 

[nullman]

OP,

You are sadly correct. It will not show your HR in the workout app while running or walking. No idea why but it's a pain.

Only workaround I have found is to open up the HRM before you open the workout app and use the quick switch feature to go back and forth.

That's really weird. I've only had mine a few days, but I have only done indoor (treadmill) and outdoor walking, and was able to monitor my heart rate in the workout app just fine. A couple swipes and I was shown heart rate along with time, distance, etc.

 

[LIOC]

Seeing the data after the fact was never the issue. Seeing the data during the run was the problem. If you haven't specifically checked the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, I would do so.

Open the Apple Watch app on iPhone, tap Workout, then tap Power Saving Mode. Make sure it is disabled.

I knew about the setting before this thread. Power-save is not on.

But it being on would affect the data in the health app after the fact. The power-saving is that it's not taking your HR continuously while running (thus not having to power the lights on the sensor the whole run). The fact that I'm seeing a continuous heart rate data after a run means I did not have power-save on.

 

[ifarlow]

Ah, got it. Then I have no clue.