Tests & Experiences

Apple Watch 4 GPS Accuracy (44mm Nike Edition)

23 January 2019
the5krunner

Test Route I’ve done my GPS ‘test’ on the Apple Watch 4 (44mm Nike Edition). The Apple Watch 4 (AW4) uses GLONASS as well as GPS but let’s call it GPS as no-one knows what GNSS means, except you clever…

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12 thoughts on “Apple Watch 4 GPS Accuracy (44mm Nike Edition)”

  1. Hi! Two silly questions: did you leave the phone at home? The AW uses its GPS only if it is unable to use the phone’s (to save battery).
    The other question is regarding how you record the run. I mean, if the AW is somehow changing the raw data, it must be the Workout app. Maybe using the Strava or Endomondo app the results are more “real” and you can then separate the gps signal from the accelerometer correction.

    1. yes i leave the phone at home and i start the test well away from home.
      the workout app may be changing the data, the gps chip may be changing the data. I am planning to use the STRYD app at some point I wil lfind out from the developers their sampling rate.

      1. Please, do not take my comment as criticism.

        I’ve seen the comment of Lee Davis and my point is the same. I’ve been testing an AW the last few days but I’ve been unable (IT tendinitis) to test the GPS. But I’ve read several posts in different blogs talking about the differences between using Workout and another app (Strava mainly), and I wanted to know your expert analysis.

        saludos! 🙂

  2. There’s been lots of comparisons done in the past and results show that the default workout app cuts corners and ends up being comparable to Garmin (as you say), but using 3rd party apps like Strava or Workoutdoors which appear to have more frequent sampling provides very accurate results and no cutting of corners. I’m a 10+ Garmin user, but decided to try an Apple Watch from the S4 and must say I’m very pleasantly surprised. Just fails me on all day hikes though 🙁

    1. maybe. but zooming into the details of the lines drawn on my maps (above) show that each line is the same distance from one point to the next which to me implies the same ‘sampling rate’

      1. I’ll dig out the link to the YouTube video I watched just last week. The guy did the same track, running, walking, cycling with a garmin and an Apple Watch. The Garmin was simply there each time to provide a comparison because there’s no guarantees you can follow your last route exactly. But the one key finding was a difference between using Apple’s workouts app and the Strava app and the GPS plots were very different with no smoothing and greater accuracy.

        1. that would be interesting. STRYD say they use an effective 1Hz sampling rate which they thought was what most apps used. HOWEVER there is a higher sampling rate which seemed to be intended for navigation BT which was very battery hungry. they didn’t know whihc sport recording apps, if any, used that mode. I’ll have a look at the FIT file as well and see how the gps points vary in there. (I don’t think any of this wlll affect my results…but could be wrong)

  3. Hi there, just found this post and I’m facing a similar issue when comparing my Apple Workouts distance and the exported GPX file.
    According to Apple Workouts I’ve run 8.190 meters but when I check the GPX file it says 7.970 meters.
    Where this distance difference is coming from? if the AW is supposed to use the GPS, why the resultant GPX file shows less distance?
    I’ve tried to get a response from Apple but they just say: The AW uses the GPS.
    This difference between the Apple Workouts and the GPX file is driving me crazy.
    Any thoughts?

    Thanks
    Dani

    1. there could be an issue of the AW switching over to its own gps from that of the smartphone. as a test, start and stop the WELL away from the phone.
      there could also be an issue with the start of a workout waiting a few seconds to capture sesor info (hr and gps). maybe start a dummy workout for 2 minues walking around. discard it and then start your real workout.
      i’m not saying do it each time, just to eliminate these possibilities.

      1. I go running without the smartphone, so the AW should only get its own GPS signal. Do we know how long it takes to get the GPS signal when I start the running workout? it could be the reason of the difference between the distance in the workouts app and in the GPX file.

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