Hand washing poor implementation

[GlenK]

S7 is my first Apple watch and it does not work consistently for me. Didn't even know I had it then read about it and made sure it was on. Occasionally it shows washing on the screen but then disappears after about 5 seconds.

 

[Jenniferpilcher]

One very smart comment mentioned rolling up the sleeve so the mic is not covered. I tried that yesterday and hand washing worked perfectly for the first time. I did not stop washing to look at screen either. I washed in a way that showed the screen. It displayed each second (with some delay and skipping counts but the timing was accurate), and ended with a sound and a haptic. I also read that it will not remind you after returning home unless it’s been a few minutes and you haven’t washed. But, I would like an option to remind immediately when returning home before we touch things.

 

[lelisa13p]

Revisiting this issue, my last failure discussion was in March 2021 in this thread. Handwashing Timer function was hit or miss, nothing seemed to contribute to success, and function only worked whenever it decided to, UNTIL I finally upgraded the Watch OS to v.8.1 a couple of weeks ago, on the day before the newest version was released. I'm not upgrading again anytime soon to that newest version because with v.8.1 the Handwashing Timer is back, works flawlessly and times reliably, not missing a single instance! I waited to see if it was a trick before I posted but you can't beat 100% success rate. I smile now while I scrub and music is my reward. 22 months (and counting) of Coronavirus stress has made Little Things like this important to me because I've done everything that I can do about the Big Stuff. (AW/SS/S4 Cellular)

 

[Jenniferpilcher]

I’m running on 8.3 and it’s hit or miss. I always give the feedback when prompted by the watch. So, Apple knows handwashing is not working. I also have never received a reminder to wash after returning home.

 

[prosopopeia2112]

To me, hand washing is not working very well. For one thing, it doesn’t always start. But more annoyingly, it seems to not count down consistently. Every second seems to take several seconds to count, and often it’s just stuck. I would say I have to wash hands for a minute for it to count 20 seconds.

I think it’s because of a paternalistic attitude from Apple. The simple implementation would be that when the watch detects hand washing, it starts a 20 second timer. Instead, from the description on Apple’s website, it seems to really want to check continuous hand washing. What’s the point? Only so that Apple can say: “you’re bad, you did not wash your hands for 20 seconds.” I don’t need that. I just need a 20 second timer that starts automatically.

Just going to note 1) that after 7 posts on this topic, in which you lament the lack of a 20 second timer to measure hand washing, you could just start a 20 second timer (the watch remembers your last 5 custom timers, so it’ll be right on top) when you wash hands, but 2) I also have very inconsistent results when I wash: actual washing motions may be ignored for a couple of seconds, 5 or even 10 seconds, but one activity inevitably registers instantly as hand washing: peeling garlic. Like any algorithm, some false positives and some false negatives, but it mostly works. I think I’m going to turn off the reminders after reading this thread, and I suspect you should, too.

 

[Jenniferpilcher]

Manually timing ourselves defeats the purpose of the watch’s automation. Of course, I wouldn’t resort to setting my own timer each time I wash. I enjoy the automation and just want the watch to work as a fun feature. And I so agree, if Apple would simplify the code to just time us and not feel for continuous motion, that would be perfect. Btw, it also listens for running water before it detects hand washing at all. Also, it occurred to me, that 10 seconds of wash and 10 seconds of rinse meets the 20 seconds because the rinse is also a cleansing process.