Galaxy Watch 4 not recording speed and distance during exercise

[pjniez]

I've had the Galaxy Watch 4 since it was released and I use it to record Cycling exercise when I'm mountain biking. The Cycling exercise in Samsung Health app on the GW4 has always recorded my heart rate, speed and distance info when I'm mountain biking when I had the Note 20 Ultra. But ever since I upgraded to the Galaxy S22 Ultra, it has stopped recording speed and distance info during my rides.

I'm not totally certain that this issue is related to upgrading from the Note 20 to the S22 Ultra. The last time that speed and distance was recorded on a ride was on February 28th. I know there was a firmware update somewhat recently on the GW4. But I don't remember when that was. However, I do know that I switched from the Note 20 to the S22 Ultra on March 1st or 2nd.

I've gone through the settings on the GW4, and app settings for Samsung Health on the GW4, and the S22 Ultra, and I can't figure out why is not recording speed and distance on my rides. The GW4 has location turned on and Samsung Health on my phone has access to my location. I don't see permissions on the Samsung Health app for the GW4. I've even reset the watch to see if it would fix the issue.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Trees]

My last ride was March 15th. I used the Cycling app on the Galaxy Watch 4 to capture the ride details. Speed and distance information was recorded.

I also have the S22U. I just updated the S22U to the March software update (unlocked model). Samsung Health version is 6.21.1.031, and I think that version is newer than what I had on the 15th as the March software update mentioned that Samsung Health might be updated along with the other fixes.

My Galaxy Watch 4 has One UI Watch version 4.0, Software version R870XXU1EVB4, System version 11, and Wear OS version 3.2. Samsung Health app is Version 6.21.3.006. I notice now that "Allow background activity" setting is toggled to Off. I have never touched/changed that before, so assume that Off is the default value. I will leave it that way so that the only variable between the 15th ride and today will be the S22U and Samsung Health app versions.

I am going on a ride later this morning, and will use the Galaxy Watch 4 Cycling app to record the ride. Will report back on if speed and distance details are captured or not.

 

[Trees]

Restarting your phone and then watch prior to your ride is one option to test.

I always carry my phone with me in the hydration pack, so am not exclusively relying upon the watch GPS. I am assuming that if something is not working with the watch GPS, then the phone GPS would pick up the slack and still enable Samsung Heath to record distance and speed metrics.

I could be wrong on how the phone and watch GPS "sync" or "hand off" while in use for activity tracking. Just a hypothesis.

 

[Trees]

Yesterday's ride distance and speed metrics were captured, and are visible in the Samsung Health app on the phone. I used the Galaxy Watch 4 Cycling app to initiate the workout.

My phone and watch history is exactly like yours. I had the Galaxy Watch 4 paired with the Note 20 Ultra, and paired the watch to the S22 Ultra, once received.

 

[mr neutron]

@Trees
You mention “Galaxy Watch 4 Cycling app”. Is that a separate app or just the Cycling exercise choice in the Samsung Health app?

 

[pjniez]

My last ride was March 15th. I used the Cycling app on the Galaxy Watch 4 to capture the ride details. Speed and distance information was recorded.

I also have the S22U. I just updated the S22U to the March software update (unlocked model). Samsung Health version is 6.21.1.031, and I think that version is newer than what I had on the 15th as the March software update mentioned that Samsung Health might be updated along with the other fixes.

My Galaxy Watch 4 has One UI Watch version 4.0, Software version R870XXU1EVB4, System version 11, and Wear OS version 3.2. Samsung Health app is Version 6.21.3.006. I notice now that "Allow background activity" setting is toggled to Off. I have never touched/changed that before, so assume that Off is the default value. I will leave it that way so that the only variable between the 15th ride and today will be the S22U and Samsung Health app versions.

I am going on a ride later this morning, and will use the Galaxy Watch 4 Cycling app to record the ride. Will report back on if speed and distance details are captured or not.

Thank you for sharing your versions. I have all of the same versions except for the Software version. I have R890XXU1EVB4. I believe the difference is in the watch model. I have the 46mm Galaxy Watch 4 Classic (SM-R890) and it looks like the R870 is the 44 mm Galaxy Watch 4. I too have "Allow background activity" turned off for Samsung Health. I have not changed that. So I assume it is the default.

 

[pjniez]

Restarting your phone and then watch prior to your ride is one option to test.

I always carry my phone with me in the hydration pack, so am not exclusively relying upon the watch GPS. I am assuming that if something is not working with the watch GPS, then the phone GPS would pick up the slack and still enable Samsung Heath to record distance and speed metrics.

I could be wrong on how the phone and watch GPS "sync" or "hand off" while in use for activity tracking. Just a hypothesis.

I have my phone attached to a phone holder on the handlebars. So both my watch and phone should have good signal. I am not sure which GPS is being used when recording an activity from the Samsung Health on the GW4.

I have restarted the watch a couple of times and that didn't help. I will try again after restarting my phone.

Thanks!

 

[pjniez]

@Trees
You mention “Galaxy Watch 4 Cycling app”. Is that a separate app or just the Cycling exercise choice in the Samsung Health app?

I am using the Cycling exercise option from Samsung Health on the GW4 to record my ride. That's interesting that yours is still recording speed and distance. Either something is broke on my watch. Or I have some setting set wrong somewhere.

BTW, has your S22 Ultra received any firmware updates yet? I am seeing some people are getting an update with the March security patch level. I am on AT&T and have not received it yet. I'm not sure if that would make a difference or not though...

Thanks for your help!

 

[Trees]

My S22 is an unlocked model. The last firmware update was March 19.

 

[Trees]

@Trees
You mention “Galaxy Watch 4 Cycling app”. Is that a separate app or just the Cycling exercise choice in the Samsung Health app?

Good clarification. The app is called Cycling. It is native to the Galaxy Watch 4, as I did not install a cycling app from the Play Store. I think you are correct that its the Cycling exercise choice offered by Samsung Health.

 

[Trees]

Thank you for sharing your versions. I have all of the same versions except for the Software version. I have R890XXU1EVB4. I believe the difference is in the watch model. I have the 46mm Galaxy Watch 4 Classic (SM-R890) and it looks like the R870 is the 44 mm Galaxy Watch 4. I too have "Allow background activity" turned off for Samsung Health. I have not changed that. So I assume it is the default.

Yes, I have the Galaxy Watch 4, 44 mm version that does not have the rotating bezel or LTE.

 

[pjniez]

I tried restarting my GW4 and my phone before a ride and it didn't solve the problem. I also received the firmware update with the March security patch level this week and that didn't help either. The next thing I'm going to do is verify that the GPS is still working on the watch.

 

[pjniez]

I downloaded a speedometer app to test the GPS on my GW4 and it didn't work. So either the GPS got turned off and I can't figure out how to turn it back on or something got broken.

 

[risulo]

I've had the Galaxy Watch 4 since it was released and I use it to record Cycling exercise when I'm mountain biking. The Cycling exercise in Samsung Health app on the GW4 has always recorded my heart rate, speed and distance info when I'm mountain biking when I had the Note 20 Ultra. But ever since I upgraded to the Galaxy S22 Ultra, it has stopped recording speed and distance info during my rides.

I'm not totally certain that this issue is related to upgrading from the Note 20 to the S22 Ultra. The last time that speed and distance was recorded on a ride was on February 28th. I know there was a firmware update somewhat recently on the GW4. But I don't remember when that was. However, I do know that I switched from the Note 20 to the S22 Ultra on March 1st or 2nd.

I've gone through the settings on the GW4, and app settings for Samsung Health on the GW4, and the S22 Ultra, and I can't figure out why is not recording speed and distance on my rides. The GW4 has location turned on and Samsung Health on my phone has access to my location. I don't see permissions on the Samsung Health app for the GW4. I've even reset the watch to see if it would fix the issue.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Hello. Have you already fixed this issue? I have the same problem with my GW4 Classic 46mm. Speed and distance are not recorded during mountain biking and/or cycling activity. Running acitvity works correctly. I also tried Samsung Health application directly on my Samsung A54 phone and it works correctly only when I disconnect GW4. In this case I can see speed, distance and heart rate. But when I connect GW4 then speed and distance are not recorded.
I have the latest versions of software installed.
Richard