The Apple Watch Series 6 and other high-end fitness trackers may not be as precise as we had hoped.
According to a new study, smart watch values do not equal those of other industry-leading exercise equipment when it comes to determining the number of calories burned during particularly intense fitness activities. The study's goal was to learn more about the accuracy of wrist-worn devices.
The study was conducted with a sample size of 30 men and 30 women using the Apple Watch 6, Polar Vantage V, and Fitbit Sense wearables, according to GSMArena.
The information was gathered and compared to readings taken with sophisticated exercise equipment such as the Polar H10 chest strap and the MetaMax 3B.
Medical equipment that can track and record cardiopulmonary vitals is the latter.
Each participant's data on sitting, walking, jogging, endurance training, and cycling activities was obtained.
When the data was compared, the wearables were found to have "poor accuracy" when compared to the specialised equipment.
It was also indicated that the wearable device recordings were unreliable and varied greatly.
While the study shows that you don't get precise calorie burn data, there is still some positive news.
For heart rate monitoring, the Apple Watch Series 6 delivered reliable findings. The wearables from Fitbit and Polar were also similar, but data differences were noticed depending on the activity.