By Stephen Pate – If you’re doing an Apple Watch 4 Workout and the Watch displays 206 BPM you might be scared like I was.
Was I having another heart attack?
As I found out through investigation I was another victim of the sloppy algorithms Apple uses on its Apple Watch Series 3 Workouts. My real heart rate that time was about 105 BPM, a number within my safe exercise range.
The Apple Watch Series 3 heart monitor is wildly inaccurate during Workouts. The Workout App reports high heart rate BPM’s that are double the BPM at the same time in the Heart App. This is a known issue.
Apple has not supplied a fix yet. Will Apple announce they have fixed the Apple Watch Workouts during the September 12, 2018 product announcement?
Apple promotes how the Apple Watch has saved lives when people noticed high or abnormal heart rates. (9to5 Mac) If the Watch reports high beats per minute (BPM) readings that are false, these stories are outliers and not indicative of how the device works for most people.
If we visited the hospital every time our Apple Watch falsely reported 150 BPM or higher, it would be an embarrassment.
Apple Watch heart monitor in Workouts
Apple Watch Stair Stepper Workout with 169 BPM heart rate (S. Pate photo)
The heart monitor on the Apple Watch is its most important health feature yet it can give wildly inaccurate results.
The heart rate is used to determine the energy used during workouts and triggers other health warnings.
During Stair Stepper and Elliptical workouts, I was alarmed when heart monitor reported BPM double my normal heart rate during exercise, as shown in the screen shot.
When I saw my heart rate jump to 169 BPM on the Apple Watch, I was alarmed.
I has some readings as high as 206 BPM, at which point I stopped exercising.
Compare the actual heart rate of 77 BPM with the screen shot above at the same time (S. Pate photo)
This happened so often I cross-checked the Heart app to see if the reading was the same or different.
The actual heart rate was about half or 77 BPM in the case of the false 169 BPM reading. I was relieved but confused.
By switching back and forth between the Workout and the Heart apps I could see the Workout was doubling the heart rate.
It took some practice to get the screenshots within seconds of each other.
Apple Watch Workout versus Polar and Omron Heart Rate
Double checking the Watch against my Polar H7 Chest Strap and Omron OM 760N blood pressure monitor showed the Watch Workout was wildly wrong.
I cross checked the high BPM readings in the Stair Stepper and Elliptical Workouts over and over. Any high readings in the Workout did not match the actual Heart rate being measured.
I had already checked the Polar chest strap against similar devices at the hospital and it was accurate. None of the devices agreed with the readings during the Workouts.
Does it matter? Until you figure out which Workouts are accurate, you might be alarmed when your heart rate shows abnormally high BPM. My physiotherapist told me to stay below 115 BPM during workouts. It freaked me out until I determined the Apple Watch Workouts were wrong.
Apple Watch Mixed Cardio Workout more accurate
At the end of my research, I found the Mixed Cardio workout is accurate when compared with the Polar chest band.
Mixed Cardio because it is the only Workout that seems accurate at this point.
A soon to be published story will reveal that the highly touted Wheelchair routines are similarly inaccurate.
I like the Apple Watch and wear it everyday. Considering the promises about health information, price point and hype level, Apple should be more responsive to making it accurate.
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