Turn On Location Services and Motion Calibration on iPhone

On Apple Watch, the motion and distance tracking are impressively accurate. Some users however prefer to calibrate these functions manually to ensure that they give the result the user expects. To calibrate these functions, users use Apple Watch and iPhone together to monitor an outdoor workout in a location with cellular and GPS access. Several workouts can be calibrated and monitored for greater accuracy.

Contents

1 How To Use And Turn On Location Services iPhone – Locations Settings [Video]
2 How to Turn On Location Services and Motion Calibration on iPhone
3 Perform a Running and Walking Workout with Apple Watch and iPhone
4 How to Reset Calibration Data
5 How to Update Personal Information
6 Test to Measure Who Accurate Apple Watch Is
7 The Test
8 Tips About Calibration
9 Links

How To Use And Turn On Location Services iPhone – Locations Settings [Video]

Video uploaded by DHTV on February 13, 2013.

How to Turn On Location Services and Motion Calibration on iPhone

Press Home on iPhone.
When the Home screen appears, tap Settings.
On the Settings screen, tap Privacy.
On the Privacy screen, tap Location Services.
When the Location Services screen appears, verify that the Location Services switch is set to On.
Now swipe up do scroll down to the bottom of the screen.
Next tap System Services to display the System Services screen.
Set the Motion Calibration & Distance Switch to On.
Tap Back and the Location Services screen appears.
Tap Privacy to display the Privacy screen.
Tap Settings to display the Settings screen.

Perform a Running and Walking Workout with Apple Watch and iPhone

First, attach the iPhone to your arm with an armband, or attach it to your waist with an waistband.
Raise you wrist to wake Apple Watch and display the watch face.
Click the Digital Crown to display the Home screen.
Tap Workout to open the Workout app.
Tap Outdoor Walk or Outdoor Run, as you prefer.
Set up the workout you want to perform.
Tap Start to start the workout. Now walk or run at your normal pace for the specified time.

How to Reset Calibration Data

If you want to reset your calibration data do the following:

On your iPhone, open the Apple Watch app.
Next tap the My Watch tab.
Now tap Privacy > Motion & Fitness > Reset Calibration Data.

How to Update Personal Information

Personal information of the owner, such as the owner’s height, weight, gender, and age, is one of the things your Apple Watch uses to calculate how many calories you burn and more. To update your personal information proceed as follows:

On your iPhone open the Apple Watch app.
Then tap the My Watch tab.
Now tap Health > Edit.
Tap the item that you want to change and adjust it.
Tap Done.

Test to Measure Who Accurate Apple Watch Is

Dan Graziano from cnet.com (see this article: Apple Watch Test) tested the Apple Watch, and focused on two metrics – steps taken and distance traveled – to see how the watch it stacks up against the competition.

How the Apple Watch measures distance: Steps taken and distance traveled are two related metrics. The former is exactly what it sounds like: the number of footfalls in a given period, while the latter is the resulting linear distance. While both should be absolute numbers, they’ll differ from person to person based on height and stride.

A taller person should be able to cover a fixed distance with fewer steps. But depending on his or her pace (say, an active run versus a casual walk), the number of steps in a given mile can also vary.

So, how does the Apple Watch convert steps to distance? First at all, the owner will be asked to provide the Watch’s activity app with basic health information, such as height, gender, age and weight. Apple will then use this information to estimate the user’s calorie burn and stride length, which in turn is used for the distance metric. Fitbit and Jawbone also attempt to estimate calorie burn and distance using health information the user provides during set up. Activity trackers allow the user to set a custom stride length to calibrate the device for improved accuracy. The Apple Watch also offers an option to calibrate, but the process is less tedious. Steps and distance on the Apple Watch can be calibrated using your iPhone’s GPS. This will establish an individual benchmark for how many of your steps are in an average mile. Once established, the Watch can then make an educated guess on distance traveled, whether or not your iPhone is present and connected.

The Test

With those caveats in mind, I developed a testing methodology to try and reduce variables as much as possible. I wore each activity tracker or smartwatch on my left wrist at a single time and walked on a treadmill for a mile (as measured by the treadmill’s built-in distance tracker). I then compared the mileage from the treadmill to the mileage recorded on the watch. This test was performed three times with each device I tested to ensure accuracy. The same treadmill was used for the test, and I walked at the same speed (3.5 mph, which came to about 17 minutes each time).

You can find on the cnet page a chart showing the results of the test, with steps and distance traveled being the average of the three walks for each device. Each tracker was tested in an original out-of box state, unless otherwise noted.

Step counts for the 14 activity trackers and smartwatches we tested ranged from 2,079 to 2,190. The 2,097 and 2,107 average steps measured by the uncalibrated and calibrated Apple Watch placed it in the middle of the pack.

In its out-of-the-box, precalibrated state, the Apple Watch lagged on distance measurement: both it and the Samsung Gear Fit consistently overestimated the distance Mr. Graziano walked compared to the data recorded by the treadmill. The distance tracked on both devices were off on average by 10 percent, with only the Pivotal Tracker 1 performing worse with a 16 percent deviation. Once calibrated, however, the Apple Watch jumped to the head of the pack, with a deviation of just 0.33 percent.

The Moto 360 , on the other hand, was found to be the most inconsistent device in the test. The step results from all three of the test the team performed with the watch were higher than the other 13 devices tested. In the first test, our steps were recorded at 2,207, the second test was the highest at 2,248, and the last was 2,115, for an average of 2,190 steps walked.

The mileage metric on the Moto 360 saw even greater inconsistencies, measuring 0.92 in the first test, 1.08 in the second, and dropping to 0.74 in the third, compared to the mileage recorded on the treadmill. These inconsistencies aren’t just isolated to the Moto 360, however, but appear to be a problem in the way Google Fit measures steps and the algorithm used to convert them to distance.

To learn more about the test visit this page: https://www.cnet.com/news/smartwatch-step-counter-and-distance-tracker-accuracy

Tips About Calibration

Perform the calibration when your iPhone has a cellular connection and can access GPS. If you prefer to exercise over different types of terrain and changing paces, you should repeat the calibration using different types and combinations of terrain and pace.

Don’t forget that if you reset Apple Watch or if you unpair it from iPhone, you’ll need to repeat the calibration process, as the calibration data stored on Apple Watch is not backed up to iPhone.