Trouble With Step Counting

[Jcmoney]

I just received my Apple Watch last week as a gift, and naturally I'm wanting to get rid of my Fitbit and use this to track my steps. Unfortunately, I'm finding it extremely difficult to get an accurate, up to date step count. I've gone through the steps to calibrate everything, and that seems to have fixed the issue with the steps being drastically off, but my big concern/annoyance right now, is the fact that I can look at my watch, walk around for a few minutes, look at my watch again, and it acts like I didn't take a single step! My initial thoughts have been that it must not update in real time, and instead it only displays the updated steps after so many minutes or hours. My concern though, is that it just isn't grabbing all my steps, and that it's only picking up steps at random.

Can anyone shed some light as to how the watch counts and updates steps? I would really love to be able get real time feedback on how many steps I'm taking. Is this an issue for anyone else?

 

[maflynn]

I think the AW takes on a more holistic approach to fitness and doesn't rely solely on step counts. I focused too much on my step count moving on from a fitbit to the AW. Now I don't even look at them.

With that said, I found that the AW's steps were within the same ballpark as the fitbits. I didn't do anything different.

My advise is not to use the Apple Watch like a bit fitbit

 

[exxxviii]

What kind of FB are you using? I have a FB zip, and the steps on my FB match my AW pretty closely whenever I look. I do think the watch display does lag a little in updating steps, but it is not material-- as in a few minutes. At the end of a day, the two match well enough to have confidence in both.

 

[sean000]

I have a Fitbit One and the step counts on my Apple Watch are always very close. If Fitbit says I walked 10,000 steps, AW will usually say it was slightly less... like 9,750 or so. Stairs climbed numbers are a usually a little lower than Fitibit though. Quite often the Apple Watch will report only about 60-75% of the flights climbed according to Fitbit.

Did you calibrate your Apple Watch using the Workout app? That improved step count accuracy for me.

Sean

 

[akosnitzky]

It updates on your AP Watch every few minutes and it is rather accurate. You can also use sync solver (IOS APP) to export those steps to your Fitbit Account.

 

[exxxviii]

Did you calibrate your Apple Watch using the Workout app? That improved step count accuracy for me.

Calibration refines the stride length. I do not think it affects step count accuracy.

 

[sean000]

Calibration refines the stride length. I do not think it affects step count accuracy.

that makes sense... it would be checking your steps taken (as detected by the motion sensors) vs the distance traveled (according to the iPhone GPS) to measure your average stride. Still, it seemed like there were bigger discrepancies in step count between my Apple Watch and Fitbit in the week before I calibrated. Could have just been a coincidence though.

 

[TxWatch]

It updates on your AP Watch every few minutes and it is rather accurate. You can also use sync solver (IOS APP) to export those steps to your Fitbit Account.

I use Sync Solver to move my Watch steps to the Fitbit website, as well. It works extremely well for importing your Watch steps into the Fitbit eco system.

Calibration refines the stride length. I do not think it affects step count accuracy.

This is partially correct. The calibration is "supposed" to improve the stride length calculation, but it does not seem to be working with Watch OS 2.0.1 at this time. As Exxx said, the calibration does not change the step count accuracy. I hope they improve the stride length calculation in the next version of the OS.

TxWatch

 

[nicho]

I have a Fitbit One and the step counts on my Apple Watch are always very close. If Fitbit says I walked 10,000 steps, AW will usually say it was slightly less... like 9,750 or so. Stairs climbed numbers are a usually a little lower than Fitibit though. Quite often the Apple Watch will report only about 60-75% of the flights climbed according to Fitbit.

Did you calibrate your Apple Watch using the Workout app? That improved step count accuracy for me.

Sean

how do you measure flights climbed on apple watch? it has no barometer.

 

[sean000]

how do you measure flights climbed on apple watch? it has no barometer.

I think that's why it doesn't report as many stairs climbed as my Fitbit. The Apple Watch relies on my iPhone to count stairs climbed. I don't always have my iPhone with me, so the Fitbit is capturing stairs climbed that the watch is not.

Sean

 

[nicho]

I think that's why it doesn't report as many stairs climbed as my Fitbit. The Apple Watch relies on my iPhone to count stairs climbed. I don't always have my iPhone with me, so the Fitbit is capturing stairs climbed that the watch is not.

Sean

(The Apple Watch is not counting stairs climbed at all, the phone is)

 

[sean000]

(The Apple Watch is not counting stairs climbed at all, the phone is)

Right. I forget that stairs climbed only appears in the Health app and not in the Activity app on the watch or iPhone.

 

[Newtons Apple]

I just received my Apple Watch last week as a gift, and naturally I'm wanting to get rid of my Fitbit and use this to track my steps. Unfortunately, I'm finding it extremely difficult to get an accurate, up to date step count. I've gone through the steps to calibrate everything, and that seems to have fixed the issue with the steps being drastically off, but my big concern/annoyance right now, is the fact that I can look at my watch, walk around for a few minutes, look at my watch again, and it acts like I didn't take a single step! My initial thoughts have been that it must not update in real time, and instead it only displays the updated steps after so many minutes or hours. My concern though, is that it just isn't grabbing all my steps, and that it's only picking up steps at random.

Can anyone shed some light as to how the watch counts and updates steps? I would really love to be able get real time feedback on how many steps I'm taking. Is this an issue for anyone else?

My AW was off by more than 35% when compared to my FitBit Charge HR. The AW is not a great fitness tracker . . . more suited as a phone notification device.

 

[Julien]

My AW was off by more than 35% when compared to my FitBit Charge HR. The AW is not a great fitness tracker . . . more suited as a phone notification device.

Or maybe your FitBit Charge HR is 35% off or maybe they are both 17% off, or maybe....

Here is an actual test by CNet of several step counters/smart watches and the Watch was actually measured by a wide margin as the best step counter.

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

 

[Newtons Apple]

Or maybe your FitBit Charge HR is 35% off or maybe they are both 17% off, or maybe....

Here is an actual test by CNet of several step counters/smart watches and the Watch was actually measured by a wide margin as the best step counter.

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

Or maybe not. I have and use multiple devices made by different manufacturers and none come close to the AW step count. After this I have little faith in CNET but believe what ever you want.

 

[exxxviii]

Here is an actual test by CNet of several step counters/smart watches and the Watch was actually measured by a wide margin as the best step counter.

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

That is apples and spaceships.
1) That was an old review of pre-OS2.
2) It is walking, not running.
3) It does not comment on step count accuracy, only distance
4) The writer does not tell if or how he calibrated the other watches. So, as far as we know, they are all un-calibrated.

I believe that the 1.x calibration was OK, but not great and 2.x has broken calibration altogether on the AW. I think that actual stepcount on the AW is spot on.

You are a runner with a Garmin 620, which is pretty freakin' accurate. How do your AW distances (without the iPhone on hand) compare to the Garmin 620 distances?

 

[Julien]

Or maybe not. I have and use multiple devices made by different manufacturers and none come close to the AW step count. After this I have little faith in CNET but believe what ever you want.

It is not a question of what you or I believe. Proper testing is as close to objective science as you can get. Here are a couple of other test too. It could be that your Watch has a defective accelerometer.

http://quantifiedself.com/2015/06/comparing-apple-watch-fitbit-one-step-tracking/
http://victor-r-lee.com/blog/2015/8...e-watch-fitbit-charge-hr-and-ios-withings-app

 

[Newtons Apple]

It is not a question of what you or I believe. Proper testing is as close to objective science as you can get. Here are a couple of other test too. It could be that your Watch has a defective accelerometer.

http://quantifiedself.com/2015/06/comparing-apple-watch-fitbit-one-step-tracking/
http://victor-r-lee.com/blog/2015/8...e-watch-fitbit-charge-hr-and-ios-withings-app

Thanks Julien.

I have tried most of the fitness devices and basically the performance is most important to me. My AW sits in a drawer now and I no longer consider wearing it. I have tried most of the Garmin products but keep coming back to the FitBit Charge HR for it size and ability to track my HR continuously. The AW was kinda of a disappointment to me after all of Apple's advertising, it just did not live up to the hype. It really comes down to the device that offers the most for tracking fitness with the least amount of trouble.

I still like my Apple watch but most important for me is the fitness aspects. Everyopne has to make their own choices and the AW is still a nice device.

 

[Julien]

Just or kicks I tested the Watch with my Garmin 620 on a 5 (5.12) miles (killer good run for me) run this morning. The results were much more accurate than I expected (just a coincidence to be so close). My Garmin measured 7000 steps and my Watch measured 7002 steps.

Just to boast a little.

 

[nicho]

Just or kicks I tested the Watch with my Garmin 620 on a 5 (5.12) miles (killer good run for me) run this morning. The results were much more accurate than I expected (just a coincidence to be so close). My Garmin measured 7000 steps and my Watch measured 7002 steps.

Just to boast a little.

And the distance was within 0.02 miles!

Did you wear both on the same arm or one on each? If it's the latter, it's either bang on or 4 out because one swing of an arm would mean two steps.

PS I've just started running and I can't get anywhere near those times :/

 

[exxxviii]

It is dead on. In hundreds of miles of running so far with the AW. I have never seen anything that close. Did you have your phone with you? And, did you use the Workout app?

If no to both, I wonder if that affects how the AW calculates distance. In other words, I wonder if when you hit Workout Outside Run, that it uses the run calibration factors and if not, it uses some other factor for stride length.

 

[Julien]

And the distance was within 0.02 miles!

Did you wear both on the same arm or one on each? If it's the latter, it's either bang on or 4 out because one swing of an arm would mean two steps.

PS I've just started running and I can't get anywhere near those times :/

I wore one on each wrist (always do).

If just staring out put speed as the last thing to worry about. Make sure you have shoes that wok best for you. Work on getting an steady cadence when running on a flat surface when running distance (175 to 185). Then you can do intervals, sprints and other workouts to get your speed (stride length) up. Also don't forget wight training. Many (or most) runner don't do enough weight training and this can lead to more injuries.

It is dead on. In hundreds of miles of running so far with the AW. I have never seen anything that close. Did you have your phone with you? And, did you use the Workout app?

If no to both, I wonder if that affects how the AW calculates distance. In other words, I wonder if when you hit Workout Outside Run, that it uses the run calibration factors and if not, it uses some other factor for stride length.

I used the Workout app and always carry my iPhone. My calibration/distance accuracy can be all over the map too. When I do extreme trail running it 'screws up' and is off for a run or 2. I was on a good stride (1.18M average) [great for me] and constant cadence (177 average) today so that helped.