Work Out detection not reliable at all?

[contacos]

How is the work out detection feature supposed to work?

Every time i go on a long hike, I usually forget to start my "work out" and JUST as I sit down, I suddenly get the notification asking if I want to record the work out (of the last 15 minutes or so, instead of the last 2 hours) 🙈

For example yesterday we went for a walk around Berlin for 2 hours and nothing. I sit down in the metro to get home, walk for about 5 minutes back to the apartment and NOW i get a notification asking if i want to track my work out (of the last 5 minutes).

Are there any settings I should check? Maybe I have too many sensors / location services deactivated?

 

[jamdex]

Mine is usually accurate and normally asks me 15 minutes in. Its got to be a brisk walk though, not stop-start kinda stuff.

 

[MisterSavage]

Mine is usually accurate and normally asks me 15 minutes in. Its got to be a brisk walk though, not stop-start kinda stuff.

Honestly I find that really annoying. If I'm out in nature I'm going to stop and look at things sometimes.

 

[thelorax76]

Honestly I find that really annoying. If I'm out in nature I'm going to stop and look at things sometimes.

Start it manually then. If you’re ambling about and stopping to look at things, how is the watch supposed to know you’re doing anything different than walking around doing housework or gardening?

I do a lot of birding (hiking), and I hardly get any exercise minutes for that at all, even if I have started a workout. But that’s fine … I know I’m not getting the regular brisk exercise doing that that I would if I were purposefully walking.

The watch does still track your steps and move points and activity points when you are being active while you’re doing the hike, even if no workout is started. It wouldn’t track your route though (which I appreciate on hikes using WorkOutdoors) or give you an award for doing a new kind of workout.

 

[MisterSavage]

Start it manually then. If you’re ambling about and stopping to look at things, how is the watch supposed to know you’re doing anything different than walking around doing housework or gardening?

Thanks. I didn't think of that.

It's still not designed well IMO. Another scenario: I start a walking workout, stop and look at nature and it asks me if I'm done with my workout. I can then continue walking and keep walking yet it will continue to keep asking if I'm done with a walking workout *while I'm walking*.

 

[Howard2k]

Thanks. I didn't think of that.

It's still not designed well IMO. Another scenario: I start a walking workout, stop and look at nature and it asks me if I'm done with my workout. I can then continue walking and keep walking yet it will continue to keep asking if I'm done with a walking workout *while I'm walking*.

Disable the automatic workout detection. I’m not being facetious but it seems like it’s not a good fit for your workouts. But you can also ignore that notification and it will go away I think? Once it detects that you’re really working out again.

I start and stop my workouts manually. I may be wrong but I think the auto workout detection is meant to catch it when you miss starting/stopping manually, but I don’t think it’s designed to replace that step.

 

[thelorax76]

I appreciate the auto detection as I like to track workouts and sometimes forget to start a walk if I’m walking to, say, meet a friend for lunch. And there’s nothing more annoying than realizing you forgot to stop a workout and the watch has continued tracking it, thus lowering your overall pace for the workout (and wrecking the distance if you get in the car and drive 20km), so having it ask if the workout is done is also nice. If I’m not done and am just photographing a bird, I just ignore the warning and it starts up again when I’m back actively walking.
The Apple Watch only considers a walk to be a workout worth activity minutes when one is walking briskly. That doesn’t mean that slower walking, or window shopping, or nature viewing, or birding, is not worth doing. But you’re not going to close the green ring doing that.

If these things are annoying for you, I agree with the person who suggested that maybe auto-detection is not meant for your particular use case.

It's still not designed well IMO. Another scenario: I start a walking workout, stop and look at nature and it asks me if I'm done with my workout. I can then continue walking and keep walking yet it will continue to keep asking if I'm done with a walking workout *while I'm walking*.