When the Fossil Group released a software update for some of their WearOS watches last year (my Skagen Falster 3 included) there were complaints that it caused the watches to overestimate the number of steps taken, almost as though it was double-counting. Recently, I've been seeing the opposite with the watch grossly underestimating the number of steps.
This morning I had to drop a parcel off at a nearby postbox so took the opportunity to take a longer walk – there's a loop close to our house that I've been meaning to check the length of. So, in went the earbuds, on went the music, and I started a walking workout on the watch.
The music is actually key here: the extended versions of Narkosis and Spektre by Plastikman. Narkosis is nearly 16 minutes long at 120 BPM while Spektre is over 9 minutes at 128 BPM. As I deliberately and diligently walked in time to the music I did just over 15 minutes at 120 steps per minute and then around 7 minutes at 128 steps per minute for the "sprint" home. In total that would be around 2700 steps.
The watch and my phone agree that the walk was 1.34 miles but the watch only says 1441 steps while Google Fit on the phone says 1632 steps.
Something's not right.
