Adding laps when swimming, Ultra Watch (7K7K)

[Freja]

My Ultra has started adding laps when I swim. All of a sudden I do times rivalling the WR on a 25m pool for breaststroke and I'm definitely not that good of a swimmer. It has always been correct before but for the last few swims it's gone crazy. Today it said 650m for a 500m swim. I have done a factory reset but the issue is still there. I have the latest update, watch ui 8, is the software the reason for this issue? I haven't been swimming since the spring due to shoulder injury, and just started again, that's why I haven't noticed it earlier. 

[nullandvoid]

I have no idea whether my lap or distance count is accurate on my watch, as no one seems to know the length of  my community pool - I am quite sure it's about 3 yards short of the minimum of 25 yards.  I swim by time only, my hr and calorie count appear accurate, but I have no clue as to the accuracy of the distance, since the watch relies on the user to set the pool length rather than go by GPS or self measuring.  Even if I did know the length of the pool, if I swim in different pools of different lengths, I would have to change the pool size each time.  Unless you are  in serious training and need to know an accurate distance, I suggest that you do as I do and just ignore distance.

If it really is an issue for you, put in an error report after your next swim session.

[TheRabbi]

Your calorie count is inaccurate, as it's calculated by your heart rate and distance measured. While you may not care about distance, the watch thinks you're swimming twice as fast as you actually are, inflating calorie calculations. My Galaxy Watches regularly measure 300-400 calories than the Garmin (which measures distance correctly) I wear on the opposite wrist.

[nullandvoid]

I dont care about the calorie count either, but at a cursory glance it looks to be accurate to me. I have a watch 7 running 8.0. the calorie count and hr measurements appear to be on the proper range for my pace - comparable to the historical measurements in my history on the various watches I've had. Perhaps this new anomaly only affects certain watches, just as certain software glitches only affect certain phones, while others with the same model have no issues.

[TheRabbi]

Fair enough. But then I'm not sure how insight into an issue you have no idea about and wouldn't care about even if you did is helpful.

Freja asked what the issue is. It's not him; it's the software. No amount of resetting or any other troubleshooting is going to help until Samsung actually fixes it. They're not working on a "my device" issue; it's a software bug.

[nullandvoid]

From what I've read here, this problem seems to surface mostly on ultra model watches. I don't know why it would affect some models and not others, unless because of the different features of the watches, some part of the software is interfering with others.  I only know that it is not happening with *every* watch model (or even every watch of the same model).  I don't know if the fix was de-prioritized by the developers just because an instant fix wasn't issued.  It takes time to analyze all the logs of complainants, find the common denominator and work on a fix that doesn't break the rest of the functions. It is also not the only issue they are working on. They could also be working the fix into the next update rather than produce a "hot fix", since it's (in their eyes) not a critical issue.  It's an annoyance for sure for those for whom the metrics are important, but it really doesn't affect the basic functioning of the watch.

[TheRabbi]

The basic function of a watch is to tell time. It's a weird flex to claim that a smartwatch doesn't need to do the "smart" stuff.

Again, you're offering a lot of conjecture which is pretty irrelevant aside from making excuses on behalf of Samsung. There's no need to do that, as it's an acknowledged issue. Your advice to "just ignore" the problem is, ironically, the only thing anyone can do for now, but not because people shouldn't care as you don't; they simply have no choice.

The facts are: it's a software bug in Watch OneUI8. It's been acknowledged by Tech Support. They've been working on it for at least four months. There is no time frame of when a fix will be issued.

For now, any Galaxy Watch running OneUI8 is simply not a swimmers' watch. There's nothing wrong with their particular watch. They don't need to troubleshoot anything. They don't need to return their watch for a refund. They don't need to send it in to a service center. They just need to be patient.

[nullandvoid]

When I say not "critical", I meant that it's not a critical error that the distance is off.  If the distance calculation is not affecting maps or other GPS features, it's not critical.  It's an error, for sure, but not something that requires a hot fix. Yes, the basic function of a watch is to tell time, but you can buy a Timex if all you wanted was to do that.  

They are working on it.  Neither you nor I are programmers, and because of that we don't know how long it takes to identify the problem, create a fix for the problem or what the heck they are doing.  I am guessing that because this anomaly is a) not affecting the large majority of watches (or not affecting people who don't use that function), b) it is not a critical issue to the functioning of the watch, c) there are other issues also with some things in the update; that they are working on an update that will encompass all the fixes.  Now, this error could be an issue with the actual 8.0 update or an update to the watch's health app, I don't know.  As I said, I am not a programmer, nor am I part of the development team.

Identifying a problem and fixing a problem are two different things.

[TheRabbi]

I suggested to them that the quickest fix is to just use the algorithms from anything before OneUI8 .The tracking was flawless until then. They're probably over-thinking it though. 😂 My concerns at this point (both of which your conjecture have alluded to) is that a.) it's a simple bug but they don't care enough about it, or b.) they introduced a complex bug that they can't figure out quickly. They already missed one major update, so unless they issue a hot fix, we'll be waiting until AT LEAST March 2026 for the next regular update. With the emphasis they'll be giving OneUI9, this will likely be put on the back burner.

We'll see, but as you said, the only thing to do for now is ignore it and wait.

[nullandvoid]

I didn't say it was an issue they didn't care about, I said it likely wasn't the highest priority because of the small amount of users/devices affected and it did not interfere with the other functions of the watch.  Because it is not a critical issue, they may feel that it doesn't warrant a hot fix.  As I said, it's likely has less to do with OneUI8 than it does with the health app for the watch, and they may fix it when they update that app.