This guide is designed to show you how to fix your Apple Watch when the heart rate tracking is not working properly, or it is working erratically.
5 quick ways to fix heart rate tracking on Apple Watch
- Adjust your Apple Watch fitment
- Clean the back of the Apple Watch
- Restart the Apple Watch
- Update the Apple Watch
- Reset the Apple Watch
The Apple Watch comes with a built-in heart rate sensor that is designed to continually monitor your heart rate. The feature is great for when you are working out and for measuring your overall heart rate.
There are times when the heart rate may go off during a workout or when it will stop measuring your heart rate altogether. There are a number of different things that you can try to resolve heart rate issues on your Apple Watch.
1. Make sure the Apple Watch is fitted correctly
Getting the correct fitment on your Apple Watch is important, this can ensure that your heart rate is measured correctly on your device.
If the watch is too loose, then it will move about and this can stop the Apple Watch from measuring your heart rate correctly. If the watch moves about during a workout this can be the issue, to fix this ensure that the watch strap is slightly tighter.
The watch strap on your Apple Watch is too tight can also cause an issue with the heart rate tracking, you want to ensure that the strap is not causing any pressure on your wrist, if it is then the strap is too tight, loosen it a notch to see if this solves the issue.
2. Clean the back of your Apple Watch
The heart rate and other sensors are located on the back of the Apple Watch, if you use the device regularly for working out, then the back glass can get dirty, and this can sometimes cause an issue with the heart rate sensor on your device.
Give it a quick clean under a tap and then dry the Apple Watch and the back glass with a soft cloth, this will ensure that any dirt or sweat on the back is removed and could improve how the heart rate sensor works on your Apple Watch.
You can now try out the heart rate tracking on your Apple Watch to see if this has resolved the issue with yhe device, if it has not then you can try some of the steps below.
3. Restart the Apple Watch
One of the easiest ways to resolve issues with your Apple Watch is to restart the device, sometimes giving it a quick reboot can solve a lot of issues.
This is something I have done on a regular basis when I am having issues connecting the device to a Peloton or when the heart rate sensor stops working.
To restart the Apple Watch press the button on the side under the digital crown until you see a menu popup, now select the power off option from the top right and then select Power Off. This will turn your apple Watch off.
Leave the device for about 10 to 15 seconds and use the same button to turn it back on, hold the button until you see the Apple logo appear, it will then restart.
Once your Apple Watch has restarted, you can then open the Heart app on your Apple Watch and see if this has resolved the issue.
4. Update your Apple Watch to the latest software.
Sometimes the heart rate tracking not working on the Apple Watch could be related to software, make sure that you have the latest software version installed on your device.
To do this open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone and then select General and then Software update, you will then be told if you have the latest software or if there is an update available.
If you have the latest software then go to step 5 below, if you do not then install the latest version of Apple’s watchOS on your device. The current version at the time of writing this article is watchOS 9.3.1.
Once you have installed the update, open the Heart app on your device and see if the Apple Watch will measure your heart rate.
5. Reset your Apple Watch
If none of the above tips have worked then the final thing that you can try is to reset your Apple Watch, this is one way that I have been able to resolve this heart rate tracking issue in the past.
To reset your Apple Watch make sure that the device is backed up and then open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone. Now go to Settings > General and select Reset, you will be given a range of options to choose from.
The one you want to select is Erase Apple Watch Content and Settings, this will pop up again down the bottom, select Erase All Content and Settings, and your Apple Watch will be erased. You can now set it up again as either a new Apple Watch or restore it from your backup. You can find out hwo to reset your Apple Watch over at Apple’s website.
Once this has been done, open the Heart Rate app on your iPhone and see if it has resolved the issue with the heart rate tracking.
Conclusion
If you have tried all of the steps above and your Apple Watch is still not measuring and recording your heart rate then there could be a hardware issue with the device. It is worth taking it to the Apple Store and getting Apple to diagnose any hardware issues on your device.
We hope that you find this guide useful and hope that it will help you get any heart-tracking issues resolved with your Apple Watch. If you have any comments or questions or suggestions that may help people resolve this issue, please let us know in the comments section below.
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