Heart Rate Monitoring Gives Up After Awhile During Workout

[sixtydashone]

I've been noticing about 40 minutes into my cycling workouts the heart rate monitoring seems to just stop. Example here from yesterday where about 40 minutes into the workout it stopped reading my heart rate for about 5 minutes (I can tell when it stops because my calories burned stops increasing). You can see the gap in the heart rate readings. It seems if I manually start a heart rate reading on the watch, it will resume monitoring, but it's hit or miss and I may have to do that repeatedly every few minutes to keep the heart rate monitoring going.

Another example from this morning (right around the 8:43 AM mark) where it stopped reading my heart rate for a few minutes and I jump started it by initiating a heart rate reading on the watch. You can also see how spotty the readings are thereafter compared to prior to that point. Anybody else notice anything like this?

 

[SaSaSushi]

I had similar HR dropout issues on my daily runs both with my current Series 6 and the Series 3 it replaced. I was using the sport band that came with the watch.

I switched to a sport loop band about a year ago. I wear the sport loop about a half inch above my wrist and attach it snugly.

I haven't experienced a single HR dropout since.

 

[rmw49]

I not only get heart beat not reading but it sometimes jumps sky high, even when I'm not working hard, and then falls straight back down. I don't even feel my heart working hard either. I'm 72 years old but still manage an average of 26/7kph on my 30/40k rides with a normal heart beat average of 140ish ( when it's working properly!)

 

[Blowback]

I've been noticing about 40 minutes into my cycling workouts the heart rate monitoring seems to just stop. Example here from yesterday where about 40 minutes into the workout it stopped reading my heart rate for about 5 minutes (I can tell when it stops because my calories burned stops increasing). You can see the gap in the heart rate readings. It seems if I manually start a heart rate reading on the watch, it will resume monitoring, but it's hit or miss and I may have to do that repeatedly every few minutes to keep the heart rate monitoring going.

View attachment 1768701

Another example from this morning (right around the 8:43 AM mark) where it stopped reading my heart rate for a few minutes and I jump started it by initiating a heart rate reading on the watch. You can also see how spotty the readings are thereafter compared to prior to that point. Anybody else notice anything like this?

View attachment 1768702

Yep...have experienced this for years. Have not found a real solution but what sometimes works (as found on the forums here) is to check your HR 2 or 3 times prior to an exercise / workout or run. But this appears to be a well known problem. Or feature!

 

[tugger]

I not only get heart beat not reading but it sometimes My jumps sky high, even when I'm not working hard, and then falls straight back down. I don't even feel my heart working hard either. I'm 72 years old but still manage an average of 26/7kph on my 30/40k rides with a normal heart beat average of 140ish ( when it's working properly!)

My experience exactly during running and brisk walking. It's even more evident after the WatchOS 7.5 update a few days ago. Adjusting tightness and placement on the wrist doesn't make a difference; neither does a reset. This is the only annoyance I've had with the AW6 but I sure wish Apple would improve the performance of this pretty important feature.

 

[bricktop_at]

Strange…
Never had this happen on any of my Watches (S2, S3, two S4s and two S6es).

Only thing I have/had with all of them is that the HR measurement sometimes starts with about double the value it should have and after a minute or two it drops down to the real HR.

 

[Rocko99991]

I have it stuck at 99 or 100bpm for 1-5 minutes at beginning of workout. No amount of adjusting seems to change it.

AW6

 

[kytiger]

I have it stuck at 99 or 100bpm for 1-5 minutes at beginning of workout. No amount of adjusting seems to change it.

AW6

I have this too on my AW4. Especially if I'm not properly hydrated. I've definitely seen a correlation between heart rate issues on AW and how hydrated I am.

 

[cdcdoc]

I gave up trying to find a solution for this. I was first in contact with Apple for TWO MONTHS and did everything possible softwarewise: unpaired, restored watch, restored iphone, paired with another iphone...NOTHING. I pushed and they swapped it and the same thing. My wife has one and it is the same. It is just during running or brisk walks and I am now 100% sure it is a hardware issue. They will never admitted because it would mean a call back and they tried everything to put it on me: the temperature outside, the band, the position on the hand. I have tried everything band that I have loop or no loop and wear it up to my elbow ...NOTHING. It is a hardware issue.

 

[bricktop_at]

But to be honest: If it really was a general hardware issue, you‘d hear from lots of people complaining about it.

 

[cdcdoc]

There are people complaining about it. I also need to say that optical sensors will never cope with speeds. A guy from Apple support told me that Apple Watch is for people that want to stay active but if you want professional readings we should get a chest strap.

 

[SaSaSushi]

There are people complaining about it. I also need to say that optical sensors will never cope with speeds. A guy from Apple support told me that Apple Watch is for people that want to stay active but if you want professional readings we should get a chest strap.

Yes, the Apple Watch is not a diagnostic medical device. You'll get a more accurate HR reading from an electrical heart strap but most doctors care more about healthy heart rate ranges than exact accuracy anyway.

It really doesn't bother me that it might be a few BPM off. That said I used to run with a Wahoo Tickr HRM chest band and it was always within a few BPM of both my Apple Watch and Fitbit Charge.

 

[cdcdoc]

The problem is not a few bpm...it is minutes long with no bpm...I could not care less for a few bpm. I am running marathons and after 30 minutes or so there is no more measurements. I am doing workouts and I need to know the heart rate and sometimes I just need to to wait until the heart rate comes back on...

 

[SaSaSushi]

The problem is not a few bpm...it is minutes long with no bpm...I could not care less for a few bpm. I am running marathons and after 30 minutes or so there is no more measurements. I am doing workouts and I need to know the heart rate and sometimes I just need to to wait until the heart rate comes back on...

I'm sorry I don't have any helpful information for your specific issue which, while I no longer share, I do understand. When I was having measurement dropouts mid-run it was extremely annoying.

I was surprised to read that different bands and even a replacement watch didn't fix it for you. As mentioned a tighter fitting band slightly higher on the wrist fixed it for me. I do hope you get it resolved.

 

[cdcdoc]

I found a solution...I ordered a wahoo tickr

 

[mlody]

The problem is not a few bpm...it is minutes long with no bpm...I could not care less for a few bpm. I am running marathons and after 30 minutes or so there is no more measurements. I am doing workouts and I need to know the heart rate and sometimes I just need to to wait until the heart rate comes back on...

My AW4 does the same thing. I start a walk and first 1-5 minutes nothing (it shows an outline of the previously recored BPM readings). On my bike rides, I see usually 1-2 gaps throughout the workouts.

when I see this issue I usually try to open the heart rate app and see if that starts reading my heart rate. Sometimes it works, sometimes I end up with a heart outline and an icon inside of it.

 

[Lsbcal]

I had similar issues as those above with the series 4 watch. The solution for me was to switch to my other wrist. I am (wildly) guessing that the skin on my right wrist is somehow different then the left. It could be that the skin under the watch is much less tanned on the left (my normal wearing wrist) versus my right. I am a white male with pretty tanned skin. Not saying this is the solution for everyone but it works 100% for me.

 

[FriendlyMackle]

I had similar issues as those above with the series 4 watch. The solution for me was to switch to my other wrist. I am (wildly) guessing that the skin on my right wrist is somehow different then the left. It could be that the skin under the watch is much less tanned on the left (my normal wearing wrist) versus my right. I am a white male with pretty tanned skin. Not saying this is the solution for everyone but it works 100% for me.

I wear a tight solo band for exercise, I’ve never had any problems with the fitness app tracking my heartbeats in real time. And I don’t think melanin (pheomelanin/eumelanin) are factors in the lack of tracking. I’ve read that tattooed skin will definitely create a sensor barrier due to the non-human pigments and density of applied pigmentation. I also sweat a lot during cardio, and as long as I am wearing a tight band, there’s no problem with the sensors.