It was important to me that my Apple Watch reliably showed me a pulse when rowing. I’m 80, so it’s a good idea to control it.
But lately, it’s a real struggle to show my ueartrate, and I have to keep stopping and moving my watch around on my wrist.
Has anyone found a permanent solution to this issue?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Apple Watch Series 8
I have this problem, and I think it's because my wrist is too boney, so the sensors can't get a clean reading because of all the external light leaking in. What I've found helps (if this is your problem) is using something that blocks the light, like the Action Band by Twelve South. It's basically a sweatband, but with a watch mount molded in. You can also just put a sweatband over your watch, or cut the top off of a thick sock and put that on your wrist over the watch, but then you can't see the face.
For other exercises it can help to push the watch up your arm a little (one to one-and-a-half watch width higher than you usually wear it), that's what I do for running. But for rowing your arm moves in a way that makes that not really work.
A bonus with the Action Band is that if you use your watch for sleep tracking, it's really comfortable for sleeping.
I have this problem, and I think it's because my wrist is too boney, so the sensors can't get a clean reading because of all the external light leaking in. What I've found helps (if this is your problem) is using something that blocks the light, like the Action Band by Twelve South. It's basically a sweatband, but with a watch mount molded in. You can also just put a sweatband over your watch, or cut the top off of a thick sock and put that on your wrist over the watch, but then you can't see the face.
For other exercises it can help to push the watch up your arm a little (one to one-and-a-half watch width higher than you usually wear it), that's what I do for running. But for rowing your arm moves in a way that makes that not really work.
A bonus with the Action Band is that if you use your watch for sleep tracking, it's really comfortable for sleeping.
Okay just got done with 11.5k row and it is much better flipped to the inside of the wrist. I still have some drop outs but it is pretty consistent. This does take a little getting used to if you have a short erg pull bar like the water rower but I would rather track for heart problems.
Same issue. I row daily and got used to Garmin / Wahoo trackers for heart rate measurement. Ultra 2 is not reading consistently. It is very annoying and frankly it dangerous as fall detection depends on sudden stops and heart defect detection needs that reading. I have read to flip the watch to the inside of the wrist. I will try that on tomorrow’s row.
The thing works great on walks or hikes but any strenuous arm activity it is awful.
Oh and if Apple reads this, fix the calorie counts for rows. Walking is NOT harder than rowing. Use the MET Olympic charts for crying out loud!
I have the same issue! No problems with the Apple Watch 6 for years! Now with the 9 it drops all the time. Changed it 5!!!!!!! Times! We assume that it is a software bug ! The was a watch os version where the 9 worked perfect. After an update (not sure which one) it is broken for rowers! Senseless to try to reach out for apples help! I am in this situation for nearly 3 month now!
I tried one suggestion, to put the watch on the bottom of my wrist, but it was blank so gave up on that.
what works a good bit of the time now is, I crank down the band so I’m on the 5th hole (your results may vary), and I got good report when I rowed on Monday. We shall see.
I agree completely. Whenever I’m doing any other exercise this doesn’t happen. It’s very frustrating that the watch loses the heart rate during the row.
Oof I hate tight things around my wrist or arms when rowing. I hope it works for you though! I can safely say that this trillion dollar company has no idea how to account for caloric burn of a rowing workout. Apparently painting a closet burns more than a hour of erg rowing at a 1:53 split. I generally have to manually enter calories from a MET chart, just FYI. Good luck and maybe one day they will get it figured out.
My Apple Watch not showing heart rate when rowing
