OK, this has been super annoying, but the last time I got a VO2 max rating from my Apple Watch was a year ago. Despite doing the resets and everything, deleting the calibration data and then doing a 20 minute walk nothing worked.
But sometimes the definition of insanity is trying it again, so off I go with and I did the was to the phone that is paired with the Apple Watch and go to `Watch > Privacy > Reset Fitness Calibration Data` and then reset. Then, the watch only does calibration with the Workout application where you set it for Outdoor run or walk. You need to walk for 20 minutes on a flat path and this will recalibrate.
And, this actually worked. The next day looking at the Health application instead of seeing no data sources for my watch one appeared!
Battery life after four years
So, the Apple Watch Series 3 has never had great battery life but lately, it doesn’t even last 8 hour when it supposed to last 18 hours typically.. I can’t tell if this is because it is old, after all we are nearly at the series 7 announcement.
Turns out with watchOS 7, the Apple Watch learns your habits and doesn’t charge beyond 80% and has on-device machine learning to predict when you will need it. It is used for extended charging. It’s on by default, but you can check it on the Watch at Settings > Battery > Battery Health > Optimized Battery Charging and it gives the maximum power available.
Mine was actually very good at 93% available, but it still didn’t last long. YOu do have to turn on location settings in Privacy > Location Services > Location Services and Privacy > Location Services > System Services > System Customization.
So, I’m now thinking maybe it is a runaway application? So looking at iMore, they ask you to do increasing dramatic steps, such as rebooting the watch (that didn’t help), re-pairing the phone to the watch (which sounds like folklore, but worth a try) and then doing a setup as new.
Then, if that doesn’t work, the you can try to reduce things that draw power such as push notifications because they use WiFi power, you do this on the iPhone on the Apple Watch application and go to Notifications and turn stuff off
Also getting rid of all those unneeded watch applications can also help. I really only use a fraction of what I stuff on there.
Anyway worth a try.
A quick update: Notifications and reset worked!
Well, turning off all those notifications did seem to work, the life is longer and by doing that reset, we started to get VO2 max finally.
I do see that the VO2 max just from walking is pretty hard to validate. If you walk slowly then it will drop.
And VO2Max estimate by Garmin FTP works as well
The more reliable way to estimate the VO2Max by riding hard. I see that this estimate varies from low to very high depending on how hard you work, so if you are using your watch for VO2 Max then you should be working hard, not just strolling.
