A number of Apple Watch users say that after they updated their wearables to watchOS 7 they’re experiencing missing GPS mapping data after recording exercise in the Watch’s Workout app.
MacRumors reports that several of its readers have experienced the issue, which was first noted in a thread on Apple’s support communities. The thread was started by a user who upgraded their iPhone XS Max to iOS 14 and Apple Watch Series 4 to watchOS 7.
Later, I went for a walk. I used the Outdoor Walk activity on my Watch, but this time didn’t take my iPhone. When I returned, and attempted to upload the activity to Strava, I received a warning that no GPS/route data was present. I checked the Fitness and Health apps, and sure enough, there was no route on the map – only the starting point.
I spoke to someone at Apple Support and they suggested I turned off/back on a couple of related privacy settings. I have since tried another Outdoor Walk activity, without the phone present, and the problem persists – no GPS/route data.
My wife also tried the same this evening, after upgrading her iPhone X and S4 Watch too. She had the same results – i.e. with just the Watch, no GPS/route information was saved with the activity.
The thread currently runs 16 pages and includes multiple users reporting similar issues on their Apple Watch Series 3, 4, and 5 models.
Users report recording a workout on their watch while leaving their iPhone at home, but when they later look at the Activity app it only shows the workout’s starting point on the GPS map. Other users also report sync issues with Strava and problems with other workout stats, including heart rate information.
While it isn’t clear what is causing the issues, but Apple is reportedly aware of the problems, so hopefully a solution will soon be on its way. A beta of watchOS 7.1 was seeded to developers last week.
