Have you ever wondered how the Apple Watch calculates calories burned? Well, the short answer is pretty easy. Your Apple Watch calculates how many calories you burn based on information such as your height, weight, age, gender, heart rate, and movement throughout the day. Of course, it’s an estimate, but the results are generally regarded as fairly accurate.
Now, let’s go over the long answer and other vital information as it relates to the Apple Watch, how it calculates calories burned, and how accurate these calculations are.
Overview
The Apple Watch is an excellent device for tracking health and fitness goals, and one important aspect of this is how much energy you expend. Continue reading to learn how to view your calories burned on Apple Watch for active and passive metrics, as well as your daily total.
Apple Watch tracks your active calories burned, and your Move ring displays your progress in relation to your daily goal. However, the Apple Watch also tracks your total calories burned, which includes active and passive calories.
Active calories are those that you burn while moving. Passive calories are the calories your metabolism burns simply by existing, even if you sit on the couch all day. This is referred to as your base metabolic rate.
What You Should Know
- Apple Watch calories are accurate if your settings are correct.
- Enter your height and weight precisely into your Health app for the best results.
- Also, make sure your Apple Watch fits snugly against your wrist.
How Does the Apple Watch Determine the Number of Calories Burned?
When you first set up your Apple Watch, you must enter your age, gender, weight, and height. Meanwhile, the device, as a fitness tracker, is outfitted with a variety of sensors that actively track your activity and heart rate. Apple uses this data to estimate how many calories you are burning using a series of algorithms.
Furthermore, you can specify your activities on your Apple Watch to improve accuracy during workouts. Choosing a relevant type of workout (such as outdoor cycling or swimming, for example) allows your Apple Watch to estimate results using the appropriate sensors and data sources. This results in different calorie calculations for each type of workout.
Is the Calculation Correct?
After you understand how the Apple Watch calculates calories burned, the next question is its precision. Simply put, Apple’s measurements are called estimates for a reason. Outside of an extremely controlled environment, determining your caloric burn with 100% accuracy on any fitness tracker would be extremely difficult. However, Apple Watches are powerful tools, and these estimates are widely accepted.
How to Get the Most Accurate Results
- Enable Wrist Detection: Enabling Wrist Detection allows your Apple Watch to take background heart rate readings like walking and resting rates. It also allows the device to monitor your Stand progress. Open the Watch app on your paired iPhone to enable Wrist Detection. Scroll down to and tap Passcode, then tap My Watch. Toggle the Wrist Detection switch to the on position.
- Select your workout: As previously stated, your Apple Watch adjusts your calorie burn calculations based on the type of exercise you are performing. Before you begin recording your activity, select the appropriate workout.
- Update your information: Keep personal information up to date because data points like height, weight, and even medication use can affect the accuracy of your estimated calories. To do so, open the Watch app on your paired iPhone and select My Watch, then scroll down to and select Health. Select Health Details. Finally, tap Edit, followed by the details you want to change.
- Examine your fit: During workouts, your Apple Watch estimates calories using data from its heart rate sensor. Keep this in mind when wearing your watch and selecting a reliable band. Adjust the strap so that the device is centered on the top of your wrist.
- Calibrate your device: Calibrate your Apple Watch to improve the accuracy of your calorie estimates. Calibration of your watch will help the device learn your fitness level and stride, in addition to fine-tuning your distance and pace data.
How to View Calories Burned on an Apple Watch: Active, Passive, and Total
Active Calories on the Apple Watch
- Navigate to the Activity app on Apple Watch.
- Using the Digital Crown, swipe or scroll down.
- Under the Move goal, you’ll see your active calories burned.
- You can also use an Activity watch face or add the Activity complication to a variety of watch faces to see active calories burned at a glance.
Active and Passive Calories on the iPhone
- More calorie data is available in the iPhone Fitness app.
- When you open it, tap the top Activity rings.
- In the bottom left of your screen, just below the Move data, you’ll see your total calories burned for the day.
- Choose another day from the top of your screen, or tap the calendar icon in the top right corner to see the total calories burned for more days.
- Subtract your active (“Move”) calorie goal from the total to calculate your passive calories burned (base metabolic rate).
Tips for Improving the Apple Watch Calories Tracker
If you are dissatisfied with the data displayed by the smartwatch, there are a few things you can try to improve its tracking.
- Check the watch’s accuracy. Move to an outdoor location with flat ground and good GPS reception while wearing the Apple Watch. Open the Workout app from there. Tap the three dots to set a goal and then select Outdoor Walk or Outdoor Run. Then, depending on your option, walk or run for about 20 minutes.
- Check that the Health app has up-to-date, accurate information about you. If you haven’t used your Watch or opened your Health app in a while, now is a good time. Make sure the app has your true height and weight so it can accurately monitor your BMR.
- Take care of how you move your hands. Because the Apple Watch relies on wrist movement, make sure you’re not moving rigidly with your arms stiff. If this occurs, the smartwatch may not consider its movement at all and thus cease tracking it. The same is true if you’re out walking with a stroller. The Workout app, which uses the accelerometer, heart rate sensor, and GPS, is your savior in the second case. Simply use that one instead!
Active Calories vs. Total Calories
Calories are burned in two ways: by your body maintaining itself at rest and by using extra calories during exercise. Apple refers to the extra calories burned during exercise as “active calories.” Total Calories = Active Calories + BMR, or the sum of calories burned at rest and calories burned during exercise.
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