How to make sure watch does not use connected GPS from iphone?

[zerozoneice]

So, long story short: first outdoor walk i ever did with the Watch 6 (GPS, non-cellular) the GPS track was amazing. The best i've seen from an Apple Watch. But every time after that it seemed to fade off track, cut corners, take shortcuts (almost like connecting dots where no gps data was collected), basically turned to useless. Logically all speed, pace, elevation data is affected therefore calories count, etc are not that accurate.

I did a reset fitness data in the watch app, then went for an outdoor walk without my iphone.
The GPS track, speed, elevation everything perfect. Garmin-like.
I came back and picked up my phone, the workout synced automatically and the map data is showing. All good.

Question: how can i set the watch up so it NEVER uses the iPhone GPS next time i'll also have the phone with me on my walks?
I've heard different versions: turn on airplane mode on the watch, disable BT on the iphone, turn on airplane mode on the phone, etc, etc.

Which is the way?

PS - noticed the GPS polling rate using watch only is much higher than iphone data. It like collects data faster, therefore the "mario-kart" effect around corners is gone. When using the iPhone (basically just having it in my pocket while walking), the GPS tracks look like old Watch tracks, where it rounded pretty much every corner.

On my phone i have location services on, enabled for apple watch faces and workouts, as well as system services motion calibration and compass calibration. Even with all these enabled, when i have the phone with me, the GPS tracks from my outdoor walks look mostly crap, as explained above: cut / rounded corners, sometimes missing portions, etc.

 

[MJ22]

Turn Bluetooth off on the watch - from the menu itself. Or leave the phone behind which is what I do.

 

[zerozoneice]

Turn Bluetooth off on the watch - from the menu itself. Or leave the phone behind which is what I do.

yeah i noticed in airplane mode behaviour by default bluetooth is NOT turned off. Only WiFi.
So you need to go into settings on the watch, then airplane mode and select BT also (to be turned off).
So i guess airplane mode on the watch is the way to go?

I don't leave my phone behind because i may need it. Or when i'd go for a bike ride i need my phone with me, so it'll be in BT range of the watch anyway.

It would be interesting to know why does the phone GPS takes precedence over the watch GPS when starting a GPS-related workout from the watch. We have no choice of selecting which GPS to use. And i wonder why the phone GPS gives such weird tracks in the first place...could it be that motion & fitness data is not enabled on the phone? (i don't use it as source to count steps, floors, etc. - only the watch).

 

[antbob]

It would be interesting to know why does the phone GPS takes precedence over the watch GPS when starting a GPS-related workout from the watch.

bc battery. whenever the Watch can outsource a task to iPhone or utilise some data available on iPhone already it would do so to save its own battery life.

 

[zerozoneice]

bc battery. whenever the Watch can outsource a task to iPhone or utilise some data available on iPhone already it would do so to save its own battery life.

to the expense of accuracy? at least give users the choice.

 

[zerozoneice]

to answer my own question, turn on airplane mode on the watch but make sure it also disables BT.
To check this, go to settings (on the watch) - airplane mode and uncheck BT as well.

Did 2 outdoor walk activities and both had perfect GPS track, elevation data, speed, pace.

 

[zerozoneice]

more than 2 weeks later, every single outdoor walk i did using this procedure had perfect gps track, elevation data, speed, pace, etc. Compass app shows correct elevation even days afterwards. Much more accurate gps tracking data compared with tethered iPhone GPS.