Apple Watch Activity
There’s a feature on the Apple Watch that’s similar to FitBit. It’s the Apple Watch Activity app that tracks my daily physical activity.
What Is The Apple Watch Activity App
The app basically tracks three types of daily activity…calories, minutes of exercise and periods of 60 minute increments when I’m not sedentary. Each activity is represented by a colored ring, and you are encouraged to “close your rings” each day by reaching your daily goal in each of the three areas. One type of encouragement is an hourly reminder at :50 minutes past the hour to stand up and be active for 60 seconds.
Two strange aspects to the activity app on my Apple Watch:
- It has a strange calculation on minutes of exercise that I really don’t understand. If I walk in place for 30 minutes as part of a specified workout on the Apple Watch, I get credited for a full 30 minutes of exercise. However, if I ride a bicycle for an hour and go 9 miles, I get credited for anywhere from 20 to 27 minutes of exercise. I’ve done a web search on it, and I’m still kind of baffled.
- Knitting and/or crocheting can be considered active enough to be considered “standing up” during a specified hour. Not always, but usually. I know arm movement is a big indicator and I do throw my yarn with my Apple Watch hand (my left). So perhaps that’s what it’s considered activity? Still it’s weird.
Overall, I quite love my Apple Watch. When I reach all three activity goals, it does this sparkly, fireworks animation of the three colored rings.
It makes me happy.
Charity Auction
So far, there have been two bids on the April Showers Shawl auction. Thank you!
That means that The Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project will get at least a $100 donation. It’s incredibly satisfying to know that all the work that went into this beauty will go toward a good cause. You have 9 more days to bid if you’re interested.
Current Knitting
I’ve finished knitting the body of the Millamia Baby Blanket. And I’ve begun doing a very simple border.
The blanket will end up being about 27″ (69 cm) square. I am doing a very simple border that I “invented” by mistake when I ran out of yarn on a neck edging for a sweater years ago. We’ll see how well I like it with this yarn. But for now, taking a decent photo is impossible.
Hi, Joe, Yes, the activity feature is confusing. If, for example, you enter an “Outdoor Walk” and walk for a half hour, you don’t get credit for the full half hour — it has to do with your heart rate not exceeding a certain point. If you hit “Open Goal” instead, it will credit you for the whole half hour. That’s what I do when I’m weeding — though I’m not actually walking, my upper body gets a real workout and as far as I’m concerned, that’s exercise!
I knit continental, with very little movement in my left hand, just small shifts going from k to p (and vice versa), and my Apple Watch often counts that as Standing. As for Exercise, I think it auto-detects based on heart rate. I sometimes get a minute or two going from car to store in a parking lot. My heaviest exercise day, though, was totally auto-detected; I spent well over an hour chopping up ice on my driveway one day last winter. But when I enter Open Goal walk, it sometimes rounds up, and closes the ring when the counter is only showing c. 28 minutes exercise.
Even Fitbit is weird. I can ride on a stationary bike for half an hour and get nothing. I haven’t tried spinning for steps yet. Much more satisfying.
With my Fitbit, I noticed that it has to be in the right place on my arm and fairly snug to accurately assess my heart rate. If it doesn’t see your heart rate as high enough, it won’t give you credit for it. Since I found the right spot on my arm and tightened the band it has been more accurate. It drives me crazy to be literally panting and pouring sweat and see that my fit bit has me at only 100 beats/minute. (My cardio range is 130- 153).
I hope you figure it out. The explosion of color is a nice reward.
I recently got an Apple watch. I noticed it gives credit for steps when I knit. I think it’s funny to check my step count before and after sitting and knitting for a couple of hours. It’ll easily add 1000+ steps.