Samsung Health not tracking the correct distance

Janieface · ‎29-12-2019

Would love to know if anyone else is having this issue... And any fixes..?!

I've got the galaxy watch active 2 and like to use the Samsung Health app to track my runs on my watch, but it's shortchanging me on my distances.

I did a park run the other day and it tracked me at 3.04 miles... When it synced to Strava it showed as 3.12 miles (which is correct)

Why is my watch not tracking correctly?

Any ideas? Ta!

Master-KiwiOca · ‎03-01-2020

@Janieface wrote:
Would love to know if anyone else is having this issue... And any fixes..?!

I've got the galaxy watch active 2 and like to use the Samsung Health app to track my runs on my watch, but it's shortchanging me on my distances.

I did a park run the other day and it tracked me at 3.04 miles... When it synced to Strava it showed as 3.12 miles (which is correct)

Why is my watch not tracking correctly?

Any ideas? Ta!

I noticed the same. I tracked a run with Samsung Health on Active2 and sync'd with Strava. Strava showed the correct distance while Samsung Health was short of 200m on a 4km run. Given it is the same raw data, I'd say Samsung Health is calculating the distance wrongly.

brkmnd · ‎24-04-2020

I have the exact same problem. Without the correct distance the whole app is pretty useless. I mean then it's basically a stopwatch that can show the route you have been running. All other features are incorrect.

It seems like the app is based on GPS data. So I guess either that the programmers of the app has messed up the translation between distance and coordinates. Or that the build in GPS in the phone is not precise enough.

Another possibility is that the app requires some amount of internet to work. Hopefully this is not the case.

redrabbit · ‎25-04-2020

I'm losing my patience with this watch now and it's appalling tracking of distances and even times.

A few examples for you:

Example One:

=============

I use strava on my phone and also seperately used the Galaxy watch

Ran 3.1 miles according to Strava - finishing it in 31:23 minutes

The galaxy watch shows I ran only 2.9miles and did that in 27:45 minutes

The health app shows something different

HOW???? HOW can that be when the data is surely just synced to Health?

Example Two

=============

Pretty much the same, however this time I synced the galaxy watch to strava

The upload data was very different, the time and distance both way off what i actually did

I am now seriously considering giving up on the watch as I want to track my runs and activity accurately. It's a shame as I like it as a smart watch.

How can it be so poor? The difference to strava is one thing, but the sync to strava/health being wrong is just mystifying.

Master-KiwiOca · ‎25-04-2020

Try Gear Tracker for tracking and sync to Strava... There is a free trial... I'm very happy with the watch and Strava now using Gear Tracker on the watch instead.

Janieface · ‎26-04-2020

Definitely try Gear Tracker. I was losing my patience as well, but this app is amazing and syncs straight to Strava. I bought the paid version... Best money I've spent 😁

Master-KiwiOca · ‎26-04-2020

@Janieface wrote:

Definitely try Gear Tracker. I was losing my patience as well, but this app is amazing and syncs straight to Strava. I bought the paid version... Best money I've spent 😁

Agree 100%

redrabbit · ‎27-04-2020

I tried this today but it wasn't much better unfortunately

STRAVA - 2.2 miles walked

GEARS - 1.82 miles

Huge difference and I just don't get it. I only walked to the shop to buy a handful of food. Below are the pictures to show you - at no time did Gears indicate it had stopped, in fact the time reflects that it continued tracking the whole time and the route map appears correct too.

Master-KiwiOca · ‎27-04-2020

@redrabbit wrote:

I tried this today but it wasn't much better unfortunately

STRAVA - 2.2 miles walked

GEARS - 1.82 miles

Huge difference and I just don't get it. I only walked to the shop to buy a handful of food. Below are the pictures to show you - at no time did Gears indicate it had stopped, in fact the time reflects that it continued tracking the whole time and the route map appears correct too.

I've seen this before... I used Google maps to confirm the distance and strava was correct. My watch Gear Tracker matches Strava so I'm not sure what's happening with yours. The Gear Tracker developer is very helpful so he might have some insight. He also has a good description of why sometimes there are mismatches (https://limegreenv.com/wiki/gt/#!Home/FAQ.md#Strava_Differences) Get in touch with him. He might be able to shed a light.

redrabbit · ‎27-04-2020

Thank you for your reply. I will get in touch with him and see whether there's any further testing or changes I can make.

I will update you all as things develop.

Thanks again