esterday was a nice warm day in the UK, so I decided the tan mark from my Apple Watch could use a bit of help fading. Instead of strapping it on my wrist first thing in the morning I left it on the stand. This is the first time I I haven’t had it attached to me for a long time, and it it has highlighted a huge problem with the Activity app.

You see, I had my iPhone in my pocket the whole time. It recorded my 6000 steps around the farm park, yet when I open the Activity app it’s as if I’ve been asleep all day. Only when I strapped on my watch to go for a run did the activity app register that I had actually moved at all. I love my Apple Watch, I wear it constantly but I shouldn’t fell like I HAVE to have it on to register my activity.

I can’t understand why all the information isn’t transferred from Apple Health. If a user inputs a workout in Apple Health it appears in Activity so why not steps? Obviously there wouldn’t be any heart rate data to show, but it should be pretty easy to work out my standing time with the data gained form my iPhone, It’s pretty easy to work out that my watch is sat still and my iPhone is moving.

Perhaps every situation isn’t suited to having a watch on. There are no doubt many instances where people simply don’t want a watch on, but want to still record all the activity they have been doing.

The Activity app has ‘gamified’ my workouts and made me much more motivated to move just that little bit more. Apple could make a huge move in this direction and enable all sorts of accessories to transfer data into the service and encourage even more people to get moving. Yet Activity ONLY shows up when you pair an Apple Watch and I cant help but feel millions of users are missing out.

How many people would move more if their Fitbit enabled competition with anyone they knew with an iPhone not just other people with a Fitbit. All of the data is collected in Apple Health – so make every step a competition and get more people moving.