Health app, incorrect averages

[eastwoodandy]

Does anybody know how the Health app calculates daily averages?

They look completely inaccurate to me and I can't see what logic Apple is using. Examples below.

Across one month, I cycled 7 miles on 6 occasions, 3.5 miles on one occasion and 20 miles on one occasion. That's a total of 65.5 miles, my daily average shows as 8.38!

Across one week I cycled 7 miles on two occasions and 3.5 miles on one occasion. A total of 17.5 miles, it shows my daily average as 6.01!

 

[M. Gustave]

Does anybody know how the Health app calculates daily averages?

They look completely inaccurate to me and I can't see what logic Apple is using. Examples below.

Across one month, I cycled 7 miles on 6 occasions, 3.5 miles on one occasion and 20 miles on one occasion. That's a total of 65.5 miles, my daily average shows as 8.38!

Across one week I cycled 7 miles on two occasions and 3.5 miles on one occasion. A total of 17.5 miles, it shows my daily average as 6.01!

That sounds right. It's only counting the days you ride.

 

[eastwoodandy]

That sounds right. It's only counting the days you ride.

Ok, thanks. That doesn't seem very useful. If I go out for one 3 mile ride all year, my daily average will be 3 miles!

 

[M. Gustave]

Ok, thanks. That doesn't seem very useful. If I go out for one 3 mile ride all year, my daily average will be 3 miles!

If you go out for one ride per year, why "track" it at all? I think their point is that it tracks activity, not inactivity. If you skip a day of riding, your average would plummet. How is that useful?

Have you tried another app, like MapMyRide?

 

[eastwoodandy]

If you go out for one ride per year, why "track" it at all? I think their point is that it tracks activity, not inactivity. If you skip a day of riding, your average would plummet. How is that useful?

Have you tried another app, like MapMyRide?

I use a different app for tracking my activity, I've just been poking around in the Health app to see the background data.

I guess I don't see a purpose for the average, and its mislabelled in my opinion.

For example, my current daily average for this month is 6.8, for the year it's 8.4. However, I've been cycling most days this month but I have barely cycled all year, in fact nothing in the first 4 months. So this average doesn't help me at all, it implies I'm doing worse this month compared to the year, it's in fact the opposite.

In every view it shows you the miles today, a not very useful graph and the "Daily Average". None of this information is useful, it provides no insight for weekly or monthly activity. Even just a total would be helpful.

 

[M. Gustave]

I think there are apps that will splice and dice the data any way you like. But if you want to tinker with the Health app, you could try tapping on the graph, then manually entering a data point for each day you didn't ride. It ignores zeros, but you can enter a small decimal, then it should average those days with your ride days.

 

[AsherN]

I use a different app for tracking my activity, I've just been poking around in the Health app to see the background data.

I guess I don't see a purpose for the average, and its mislabelled in my opinion.

For example, my current daily average for this month is 6.8, for the year it's 8.4. However, I've been cycling most days this month but I have barely cycled all year, in fact nothing in the first 4 months. So this average doesn't help me at all, it implies I'm doing worse this month compared to the year, it's in fact the opposite.

In every view it shows you the miles today, a not very useful graph and the "Daily Average". None of this information is useful, it provides no insight for weekly or monthly activity. Even just a total would be helpful.

On the contrary. It is useful. It tells you that when you ride, you average x miles per ride. It allows you to compare any given ride to your average ride. Say you ride every second day. 10 miles each time. What is the more useful info, that you average 10 miles per ride, or that over the month you appear to have riden 5 miles per day?

 

[chris975d]

On the contrary. It is useful. It tells you that when you ride, you average x miles per ride. It allows you to compare any given ride to your average ride. Say you ride every second day. 10 miles each time. What is the more useful info, that you average 10 miles per ride, or that over the month you appear to have riden 5 miles per day?

This seems like the most reasonable way to display the info. "Average per occurrence". Doesn't really make much sense to do it any other way. In athletic activity, you'd almost always want to know the averages per time you do that activity.

 

[NoBoMac]

What others have said re: per occurance averaging.

I like Health app for tracking daily measurements, but still enter each day's data into a spreadsheet. Backup for Health app (early days of app had nasty habit of losing the data), and then can swizzle the data as I see fit.

 

[Badrottie]

If you are not happy with health app then do not use it anymore.

 

[eastwoodandy]

It's just mislabelled, it isn't a daily average.

I'm not trying to push myself further each day, I'm trying to make sure I get a decent amount of excercise. So a daily average is more useful.

 

[M. Gustave]

It's just mislabelled, it isn't a daily average.

You said the same thing 20 days ago. Send feedback to Apple, and move on.

 

[AsherN]

It's just mislabelled, it isn't a daily average.

I'm not trying to push myself further each day, I'm trying to make sure I get a decent amount of excercise. So a daily average is more useful.

Unless you workout every day, then a daily average is useless. If you run 30 minutes every second day, tour dayly average is 15 minutes. Running 20 shows you having run more than average, that's not correct.

 

[now i see it]

Use Cyclemeter app. It's a "real" cycling app and can export to health.

 

[Mrbobb]

Don't take Fitness Apps as Gospel that's all. Know how they work so you can interpret the data.