What you need to know
- Apple has released a support document to help fix GPS Workout data in watchOS 7 and iOS 14.
- Users had previously reported that routes were missing after workouts.
- Turns out there are so many problems, that the fix involves erasing your phone and restoring from a backup.
Apple has released a support document to try and alleviate issues with GPS Workout data in watchOS 7 and iOS 14.
A week or so ago, users on watchOS 7 and iOS 14 began reporting problems with missing GPS data in Workouts. Apple has now released a support document users can use to try and alleviate the problem. Unfortunately, the solution is basically "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" Users are being advised to unpair their Apple Watch from their iPhone, before erasing and restoring the phone from a backup.
That's because there are seven really quite problematic issues listed by Apple.
The support document states (opens in new tab) users may have noticed that since upgrading to watchOS 7 and iOS 14, workout route maps may be missing. It looks like there have also been problems with Activity, Heart Rate, and other health apps failing to launch and load data, the Fitness app or Health app failing to launch, the Health/Fitness apps reporting inaccurate data storage on iPhone, the Activity app messing with data storage on your Apple Watch, environmental sound level and audio headphone data missing, and increased battery drain. Yikes.
As you can imagine, for a problem this big, Apple's solution is to simply nuke your iPhone and Apple Watch and start again, from an iCloud backup of course.
You can read the steps in full on Apple's document (opens in new tab), but the basic premise is:
- Unpair your Apple Watch from your iPhone
- Verify your iCloud settings and create a backup of your iPhone and Apple Watch.
- Erase all content and settings from your iPhone
- Restore your iPhone and Apple Watch from a backup
Apple doesn't list any further support steps if this doesn't work, so it looks like they're confident that this will alleviate the problem. Be sure to take plenty of caution when following all of these steps, as you could risk losing your iPhone data if you don't get it right.
