Apple says the Watch's irregular heart rate tracking is intentional
When Apple trotted out its first update for the Watch, fitness mavens were alarmed at the suddenly inconsistent heart rate tracking. Did Cupertino break one of its wearable's signature features? Well, not quite. Apple has posted an updated support page that indicates the change in heart tracking was intentional. Instead of getting your beats per minute every 10 minutes regardless of what you're doing, its new default behavior is to check only when you're staying still. You can still make the Watch check on the move by using the heart rate Glance (above) or starting an activity in the Workout app, but the change risks creating gaps when you're strolling down the street.
It's not clear why Apple changed its device's monitoring habits. There's speculation that the company did this to improve the Watch's battery life, but it's not clear that this is the case -- it could be for the sake of accuracy, for example. We've reached out to Apple for an explanation, and we'll let you know if it has more to say.
