I know there's a pony in here somewhere (SMS issues and more)

Bart Childers

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LG Urbane 2 LTE (AT&T) w/NumberSync
Samsung S7 (AT&T)

After 2 weeks I fee like NumberSync and AndroidWear is a ****show. The core features I want from a smartwatch and NumberSync simply don't work. Phone calls - as near as I can tell work - SMS/Text messages - not so much. Inbound text messages rarely, but occasionally, show up on the watch. I can usually, but not always, send txt message from the watch. SMS conversations are not in any way 'synced' between the phone and watch. SMS worked as I expected (conversations mirrored between phone and watch) on my Moto360 sport.

GPS / Running etc - again - it is a total crapshoot what will or won't work on any given run. Sometimes, Google Fit works fine though GPS lock takes a while (I can live with that). Too often I'll head out after getting a GPS lock and look at the watch after 5 - 10 minutes and none of the running metrics (Steps, distance, pace) are updated - they all say '0' or '0.00' or '0'00'. However, once the data eventually syncs up to Google Fit the running metrics (time, distance, pace) will show up.

Step counting - again - totally random. For example this morning I finished my run with 5500 steps registered on the watch. After my shower I looked on Google Fit on my phone and it showed 3300 steps. I have activity tracking disabled on my phone.

This is all so maddening. Am I expecting too much? I want to get phone calls on my phone and/or my watch. I want text messages mirrored to both devices. I want the watch's basic fitness tracking to just work. Arrgh.

At this point I'm naively hoping AW2.0 may fix some or, dare-to-dream, most of these issues. If it doesn't I may pull the SIM out of the watch and just use it as a regular AW device.

TLDR - LGU2 and ATT NumberSync doesn't sync. No SMS alerts on the phone, SMS activity not synced. Any ideas? TIA!
 

StimulatorCam

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Not having SMS syncing is annoying.

When you're sending messages from the watch are you selecting to send them from the phone's number? If so they should sync up with your phone no problem. However, if you send them from your watch number I can't find any way to view them aside from on the watch itself.
 

foxbat121

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When you're sending messages from the watch are you selecting to send them from the phone's number? If so they should sync up with your phone no problem. However, if you send them from your watch number I can't find any way to view them aside from on the watch itself.

IIRC, when NumberSync is used (as OP is), there is no such choices anymore. Text messages are synced back via AT&T cellular network's backend.
 

foxbat121

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GPS / Running etc - again - it is a total crapshoot what will or won't work on any given run. Sometimes, Google Fit works fine though GPS lock takes a while (I can live with that). Too often I'll head out after getting a GPS lock and look at the watch after 5 - 10 minutes and none of the running metrics (Steps, distance, pace) are updated - they all say '0' or '0.00' or '0'00'. However, once the data eventually syncs up to Google Fit the running metrics (time, distance, pace) will show up.

When working standalone (without BT connection to phone), the GPS often takes a few minutes to gain full lock assume you have a cellular data connection. I suspect Google took out the GPS network assist feature of Android OS in the AW. Rest assured, once it is locked, you will get proper location data.
Step counting - again - totally random. For example this morning I finished my run with 5500 steps registered on the watch. After my shower I looked on Google Fit on my phone and it showed 3300 steps. I have activity tracking disabled on my phone.

As discussed here in other threads, Google Fit step counts take half hour or so to sync back to the phone. It will fully sync. You just have to wait for whatever reason Google thinks it is necessary to delay.

If you can't wait. Buy yourself an LG phone and load up LG Health app on the phone. It should sync those step counts right away.
 

StimulatorCam

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when NumberSync is used, there is no such choices anymore

Seems odd that the syncing process would still be different though, as without NS it just uses whatever data connection you have to tell the phone to send the text.

GPS often takes a few minutes to gain full lock assume you have a cellular data connection. I suspect Google took out the GPS network assist feature of Android OS in the AW

I tend to use a GPS app to make sure I have a good signal before tracking anything. And yes I agree the A-GPS is probably not a part of AW because there wouldn't be much use for it yet until more devices have cellular.
 

foxbat121

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Seems odd that the syncing process would still be different though, as without NS it just uses whatever data connection you have to tell the phone to send the text.

Not odd at all. When NS is enabled, the AT&T network does all the heavy lifting for sync the existing and new text messages, not the phone. It is a very specific feature implemented by AT&T on the cell network level that does not rely on AW or Android.
 

foxbat121

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I tried it and it didn't sync with, nor see, my watch. I didn't link it to Google Fit though. The app seems pretty basic and since it does not sync directly with my watch, no sense to use it instead of Google Fit.
 

StimulatorCam

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The app seems pretty basic

I learned something interesting yesterday about it though. When you have the app installed on your phone and track an activity on the watch, it actually saves the GPS path data on the map. I guess the watch itself only uses the GPS to calculate distance and speed, but doesn't save the location. All my previous tracking that was imported to the phone after I installed the app shows no locations, but the one I've done this week have the full map.
 

foxbat121

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Google Fit already does that (record GPS path on the map when you start an activity in Google Fit) if you either connected via BT to phone or given enough time for the watch to lock on its own GPS. So, LG Health offers nothing new (other than let you use the lower button on the watch to start an LG Health active tracking).
 

Bart Childers

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Thanks for the follow-up information everyone!

I had an issue recently where SMS/TXT messages were not showing up on the watch at all. I tried everything I could think of - no joy. Out of ideas I installed EvolveSMS on phone (and watch) and lo-and-behold: SMS messages started arriving and message threads were synced across devices! Amazing!

I've learned to just be patient about step-count and GPS route details syncing to Google Fit. I ran this morning and used the recently updated Nike Run Club app (being a long-time NIKE+ user from other platforms) - Looks like it doesn't sync GPS route info to Google Fit. I'll just use Google Fit Activity for now.