Apple Watch & MFP FAQ 1.0
GBO323
Posts: 333 Member
I have dug around MFP Support and Community posts and created this FAQ to help fellow Apple Watch MFP users. I've added a few things I've discovered as well.
How do I install the MyFitnessPal Apple Watch app?
If the auto-install option is on, the MyFitnessPal app for Apple Watch will install automatically once you update the MyFitnessPal app on iPhone to version 5.14 or later. (Integration with Apple Watch requires iOS version 8.3 or later).
If auto-install is off, launch the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, and visit the “App Store” app to manually install the MFP app from your iPhone to the Apple Watch. Please note that it may take up to several minutes after updating the iPhone app for the MyFitnessPal app to appear in the list of available Watch apps
What does Apple Watch send to MFP?
When syncing with your watch, you will track your exercises with the workouts app. This should then show in the Activity app as well as in iPhone Health app. It is intended to sync with MyFitnessPal if there is a matching exercise name in our database. If there isn’t a match it should still sync but may show as other. If you are not seeing them make it over, please check the Sources tab in Health and confirm that MyFitnessPal has permission to read Steps, walking+running distance, and workouts.
At this time we are currently only reading the step data. Individual workouts sent from the watch via what transfers directly from HealthKit. We are not yet considering the active calories amount, also being measured by the watch.
In the meantime, you may notice that your total calorie burn showing on the watch does not match the total being reported to MyFitnessPal by the HealthKit. This is to be expected.
We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work out all the kinks. We will also do our best to update the following link as we have more information available:
https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/1957681
How do I enable step tracking in MyFitnessPal using the Apple Watch?
First, launch the MyFitnessPal app on your Apple Watch. This will register your Apple Watch with the MyFitnessPal app on iPhone.
Second, launch the MyFitnessPal iPhone app, and visit More > Steps. Select “Apple Watch” as your step source. This choice will use data from both the Apple Watch and the M7/M8 chip in the iPhone through HealthKit to track your steps.
What can I do with the MyFitnessPal Apple Watch app?
- Use step data from the watch to adjust your calorie goal for the day
- Walk more to eat more!
- View your remaining calories for the day
- View your remaining nutrient amounts for the day
- View your steps and your step goal for the day
Known Issues
- Exercises tracked as “Other” via the watch will not currently sync to the MyFitnessPal app. “Other” is a new HealthKit category, and the MFP app is currently unaware of this label. We hope to support this category in the future.
- The Nutrients view in the Watch app does not match our App store screenshots. This will be fixed in an upcoming release: Carbs, Fat and Protein will be moved to the top of the view.
- If the Watch app is unresponsive communicating with the iPhone, exiting and re-launching the Watch app is usually enough to cause unsynced data to process.
- In some cases it may also be helpful to tap More > Sync at the bottom of the MyFitnessPal iPhone app.
If you are having issues with the Apple Watch integration, try a fresh reinstall of the MyFitnessPal app and re-link your Apple Watch and HealthKit to see if that will help. Once reinstalled, in MyFitnessPal tap More>Steps>Apple Watch and you should be taken to a page to turn some Categories On. Turn them on and then tap More>Settings>Sharing & Privacy>HealthKit Sharing and you’ll be taken to another page to turn On more Categories. This should re-link your Apple Watch and HealthKit.
Deleting Accidental Workouts
iPhone>Heath App>Sources>Your Named Watch Device>Workouts. Tap 'Edit' and the tap on the entry to be deleted.
Apple Watch Workout Screen Metrics
iPhone>Watch App>Workout>Workout View
There are two big options: multiple metric and single metric. Single metric will show you a single statistic at a time, and spinning the Digital Crown will let you see others. Multiple metric will let you see more than one, and sort them in the order you to see while working out.
You can customize which metrics you see for which workouts. For example, for an outdoor walk your default metrics are duration, active calories, heart rate and distance. But you can also add current pace, average pace and total calories. For outdoor cycle, it's a little different. Duration, current speed, heart rate and distance are the default metrics; you can add average speed, active calories and total calories if you are inclined.
"Hey Siri, Start 'NAME OF WORKOUT' "
Starting a workout session from Apple Watch with your voice using Siri is the easiest way to get up and go. You can activate Siri on Apple Watch by raising your wrist and saying “Hey Siri Start [Name of Workout]” when the display is on to activate it.
If you just tell Siri to start a specific workout without specifying a time, distance, or calorie goal, Apple Watch will just start that workout session with an open goal too.
Siri can start specific workouts like a timed outdoor run or a specific distance outdoor walk by saying
“Hey Siri, start a 30 minute outdoor run” or “Hey Siri, start a 2 mile outdoor walk.”
If you just tell Siri to start a specific workout without specifying a time, distance, or calorie goal, Apple Watch will just start that workout session with an open goal too.
Log your workouts to get full credit
Using Siri is one of the easiest ways to start a workout, but why should you even take that step? Apple Watch is an all-day activity tracker after all, right? Starting a specific workout actually keeps the heart rate sensor fired up so you get precise measurements for the duration of your activity, and specifying which activity you’re doing helps Apple Watch know how to measure your movements.
Apple Watch Exercises
Currently there are some exercises in the Apple Watch that do not have a match in MyFitnessPal's exercise database. Due to this, those exercises will not sync. We are working on updating our database so that these exercises will have a match and will sync in the future. Below you will be able to find which exercises will and will not sync from Apple Watch.
The following chart lists the default Apple Watch exercises. Default exercises will sync to MyFitnessPal, and do not need to first be renamed after logging an Other exercise.
Apple Watch Exercises Will it Sync? Syncs to MyFitnessPal as:
*Elliptical Yes Elliptical Trainer
*HIIT Yes N/A
*Indoor Cycle Yes Bicycling, <10mph, leisure (cycling, biking, bike riding)
*Indoor Run Yes Running (jogging), 5mph (12 min mile)
*Indoor Walk Yes Walking, 2.0 mph, slow pace
*Open Water Swim Yes Swimming laps, freestyle, light/moderate effort
*Outdoor Cycle Yes Bicycling, <10mph, leisure (cycling, biking, bike riding)
*Outdoor Run Yes Running (jogging), 5mph (12 min mile)
*Outdoor Walk Yes Walking, 2.0 mph, slow pace
*Other Yes Apple HealthKit Workout
*Pool Swim Yes Swimming laps, freestyle, light/moderate effort
*Rower Yes Rowing, stationary, moderate effort
*Stair Stepper Yes Stair-treadmill ergo-meter, general
How do I install the MyFitnessPal Apple Watch app?
If the auto-install option is on, the MyFitnessPal app for Apple Watch will install automatically once you update the MyFitnessPal app on iPhone to version 5.14 or later. (Integration with Apple Watch requires iOS version 8.3 or later).
If auto-install is off, launch the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, and visit the “App Store” app to manually install the MFP app from your iPhone to the Apple Watch. Please note that it may take up to several minutes after updating the iPhone app for the MyFitnessPal app to appear in the list of available Watch apps
What does Apple Watch send to MFP?
When syncing with your watch, you will track your exercises with the workouts app. This should then show in the Activity app as well as in iPhone Health app. It is intended to sync with MyFitnessPal if there is a matching exercise name in our database. If there isn’t a match it should still sync but may show as other. If you are not seeing them make it over, please check the Sources tab in Health and confirm that MyFitnessPal has permission to read Steps, walking+running distance, and workouts.
At this time we are currently only reading the step data. Individual workouts sent from the watch via what transfers directly from HealthKit. We are not yet considering the active calories amount, also being measured by the watch.
In the meantime, you may notice that your total calorie burn showing on the watch does not match the total being reported to MyFitnessPal by the HealthKit. This is to be expected.
We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work out all the kinks. We will also do our best to update the following link as we have more information available:
https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/1957681
How do I enable step tracking in MyFitnessPal using the Apple Watch?
First, launch the MyFitnessPal app on your Apple Watch. This will register your Apple Watch with the MyFitnessPal app on iPhone.
Second, launch the MyFitnessPal iPhone app, and visit More > Steps. Select “Apple Watch” as your step source. This choice will use data from both the Apple Watch and the M7/M8 chip in the iPhone through HealthKit to track your steps.
What can I do with the MyFitnessPal Apple Watch app?
- Use step data from the watch to adjust your calorie goal for the day
- Walk more to eat more!
- View your remaining calories for the day
- View your remaining nutrient amounts for the day
- View your steps and your step goal for the day
Known Issues
- Exercises tracked as “Other” via the watch will not currently sync to the MyFitnessPal app. “Other” is a new HealthKit category, and the MFP app is currently unaware of this label. We hope to support this category in the future.
- The Nutrients view in the Watch app does not match our App store screenshots. This will be fixed in an upcoming release: Carbs, Fat and Protein will be moved to the top of the view.
- If the Watch app is unresponsive communicating with the iPhone, exiting and re-launching the Watch app is usually enough to cause unsynced data to process.
- In some cases it may also be helpful to tap More > Sync at the bottom of the MyFitnessPal iPhone app.
If you are having issues with the Apple Watch integration, try a fresh reinstall of the MyFitnessPal app and re-link your Apple Watch and HealthKit to see if that will help. Once reinstalled, in MyFitnessPal tap More>Steps>Apple Watch and you should be taken to a page to turn some Categories On. Turn them on and then tap More>Settings>Sharing & Privacy>HealthKit Sharing and you’ll be taken to another page to turn On more Categories. This should re-link your Apple Watch and HealthKit.
Deleting Accidental Workouts
iPhone>Heath App>Sources>Your Named Watch Device>Workouts. Tap 'Edit' and the tap on the entry to be deleted.
Apple Watch Workout Screen Metrics
iPhone>Watch App>Workout>Workout View
There are two big options: multiple metric and single metric. Single metric will show you a single statistic at a time, and spinning the Digital Crown will let you see others. Multiple metric will let you see more than one, and sort them in the order you to see while working out.
You can customize which metrics you see for which workouts. For example, for an outdoor walk your default metrics are duration, active calories, heart rate and distance. But you can also add current pace, average pace and total calories. For outdoor cycle, it's a little different. Duration, current speed, heart rate and distance are the default metrics; you can add average speed, active calories and total calories if you are inclined.
"Hey Siri, Start 'NAME OF WORKOUT' "
Starting a workout session from Apple Watch with your voice using Siri is the easiest way to get up and go. You can activate Siri on Apple Watch by raising your wrist and saying “Hey Siri Start [Name of Workout]” when the display is on to activate it.
If you just tell Siri to start a specific workout without specifying a time, distance, or calorie goal, Apple Watch will just start that workout session with an open goal too.
Siri can start specific workouts like a timed outdoor run or a specific distance outdoor walk by saying
“Hey Siri, start a 30 minute outdoor run” or “Hey Siri, start a 2 mile outdoor walk.”
If you just tell Siri to start a specific workout without specifying a time, distance, or calorie goal, Apple Watch will just start that workout session with an open goal too.
Log your workouts to get full credit
Using Siri is one of the easiest ways to start a workout, but why should you even take that step? Apple Watch is an all-day activity tracker after all, right? Starting a specific workout actually keeps the heart rate sensor fired up so you get precise measurements for the duration of your activity, and specifying which activity you’re doing helps Apple Watch know how to measure your movements.
Apple Watch Exercises
Currently there are some exercises in the Apple Watch that do not have a match in MyFitnessPal's exercise database. Due to this, those exercises will not sync. We are working on updating our database so that these exercises will have a match and will sync in the future. Below you will be able to find which exercises will and will not sync from Apple Watch.
The following chart lists the default Apple Watch exercises. Default exercises will sync to MyFitnessPal, and do not need to first be renamed after logging an Other exercise.
Apple Watch Exercises Will it Sync? Syncs to MyFitnessPal as:
*Elliptical Yes Elliptical Trainer
*HIIT Yes N/A
*Indoor Cycle Yes Bicycling, <10mph, leisure (cycling, biking, bike riding)
*Indoor Run Yes Running (jogging), 5mph (12 min mile)
*Indoor Walk Yes Walking, 2.0 mph, slow pace
*Open Water Swim Yes Swimming laps, freestyle, light/moderate effort
*Outdoor Cycle Yes Bicycling, <10mph, leisure (cycling, biking, bike riding)
*Outdoor Run Yes Running (jogging), 5mph (12 min mile)
*Outdoor Walk Yes Walking, 2.0 mph, slow pace
*Other Yes Apple HealthKit Workout
*Pool Swim Yes Swimming laps, freestyle, light/moderate effort
*Rower Yes Rowing, stationary, moderate effort
*Stair Stepper Yes Stair-treadmill ergo-meter, general
6
Replies
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VERY disappointed today. I walked almost 12K steps and earned 200 extra calories. Ate dinner and included those extras. When I took a short walk to the mailbox for 37 calories, it ZEROED out my day's steps calories and put the 37 instead...thus making me under for the day.
In essence, if you don't add any workouts, you will get to keep your daily steps calories. If you add a Watch workout, you lose all of the step calorie credit instead for workout calories.
My negative calorie adjustments are turned off, so that's not it...and I read others have run into this issue as well and was told by MFP "it works as designed."
SMH...
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Yup. If you sync a workout from Apple Watch MFP zeroes out your steps that day. Or worse if negative adjustments is enabled. I now only use MFP to sync calories over to my FITIV app which does it right.VERY disappointed today. I walked almost 12K steps and earned 200 extra calories. Ate dinner and included those extras. When I took a short walk to the mailbox for 37 calories, it ZEROED out my day's steps calories and put the 37 instead...thus making me under for the day.
In essence, if you don't add any workouts, you will get to keep your daily steps calories. If you add a Watch workout, you lose all of the step calorie credit instead for workout calories.
My negative calorie adjustments are turned off, so that's not it...and I read others have run into this issue as well and was told by MFP "it works as designed."
SMH...
Many days I get a LOT of steps. Can’t use MFP for figuring out my actual caloric needs at all anymore.
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I'm not impressed with the link up between apple watch and myfitnesspal. I've been using this app since 2012 on and off, worked brilliantly with the fitbit and I lost a steady 1lb a week. Just started on a diet again, would like to lose about 10-12lbs, due to the inaccuracy of the calories/exercise counter I've actually lost 4lb in 1 week, now I am pleased with that but it's not a good way to lose weight, needs to be slow and steady or I'll put it back on very quickly, might explain why I haven't been sleeping very well too. So far today I've been to the gym, 40 mins on the cross trainer, walked there and back 30 mins, just did an 1 hour and 30 min walk, 22,408 steps and iphone says 684 kcal whereas myfitnesspal app is only giving me an extra 257 calories. This is definitely not right!1
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I had to make a choice...either ditch my Apple Watch and go back to Fitbit (MAJOR downgrade of features), or find another calorie tracking platform that works with Apple Watch. Lose It tracks with Apple Watch on the workouts, steps, etc via the Activity Burn that is measured from the watch. Simple, yet genius and it works. Having to rip away 7 years of my tracking life of MFP to switch platforms is painful, but I needed to do it for best use of my AW3 and tracking activity. Hope this helps...2
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I had to make a choice...either ditch my Apple Watch and go back to Fitbit (MAJOR downgrade of features), or find another calorie tracking platform that works with Apple Watch. Lose It tracks with Apple Watch on the workouts, steps, etc via the Activity Burn that is measured from the watch. Simple, yet genius and it works. Having to rip away 7 years of my tracking life of MFP to switch platforms is painful, but I needed to do it for best use of my AW3 and tracking activity. Hope this helps...
Does using Lose It mean quitting MFP as your diary though? They don't sync do they? Also, it's the premium version of Lose It that permits syncing with your watch?1 -
GrahamUK72 wrote: »I had to make a choice...either ditch my Apple Watch and go back to Fitbit (MAJOR downgrade of features), or find another calorie tracking platform that works with Apple Watch. Lose It tracks with Apple Watch on the workouts, steps, etc via the Activity Burn that is measured from the watch. Simple, yet genius and it works. Having to rip away 7 years of my tracking life of MFP to switch platforms is painful, but I needed to do it for best use of my AW3 and tracking activity. Hope this helps...
Does using Lose It mean quitting MFP as your diary though? They don't sync do they? Also, it's the premium version of Lose It that permits syncing with your watch?
Graham, it did. I really sweated and stressed but in the end, I needed a whole system to work. Very pleased with my decision and haven't had one day of syncing issues since.
0 -
I had to make a choice...either ditch my Apple Watch and go back to Fitbit (MAJOR downgrade of features), or find another calorie tracking platform that works with Apple Watch. Lose It tracks with Apple Watch on the workouts, steps, etc via the Activity Burn that is measured from the watch. Simple, yet genius and it works. Having to rip away 7 years of my tracking life of MFP to switch platforms is painful, but I needed to do it for best use of my AW3 and tracking activity. Hope this helps...
^ THIS!!! Yes!! Thank you for suggesting Lose It! I’ve been a faithful member of MFP for years but after switching from Fitbit to the Apple Watch, MFP wasn’t working correctly. I was so frustrated with exercising and receiving back 10 calories for my effort. MFP you really need to take notice and make your app more compatible with Apple Watch.
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I sneak back in ever so often and see if anything has improved on the sync....and nope.
To answer @GrahamUK72 you can use Apple Watch and Googgle Fit with Lose It! on the free plan. Premium is required for FitBit, Garmin, Misfit, etc.
Sorry for the delay....0 -
@GBO323 I got an Apple Watch about two weeks ago, upgrade from Fitbit Flex 2.
Someone here suggested downloading Pacer, free version. Sync Pacer to Apple Watch in the Pacer App, and MFP. I’ve been doing that and I’m happy with it. I set my activity level to sedentary in MFP to give me the closest TDEE with AW.
Also, I track all my workouts on AW. After Pacer and MFP sync, I get exercise calories from Pacer, then under it will list my tracked workouts from the Apple Health app, I delete those bc it’s kind of doubling at that point.
I’ve tracked my workouts and TDEE on spreadsheets on and off with Fitbit, I think the TDEE now lines up pretty correctly.
From all the suggestions, Pacer has been the best option for me bc I didn’t want to switch to Lose It. I’m on a 1900 day streak with MFP and just prefer to continue.1
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