I got the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 as a gift for a recent birthday, and for the most part I really like it, but there’s one thing that annoys me.
The watch can automatically detect a number of activities, including walking, running, elliptical trainers, rowing machines, dynamic workouts, and swimming. But for some reason they cannot automatically detect cycling.
Older versions of the smart watch up until the Galaxy Watch 3 could automatically track cycling, but for some reason Samsung removed this feature in the Watch 4 and 5 versions.
I can manually select on my watch to track a bike ride, but I often jump on and off the bike several times a day to get around town, and it’s not practical to have to remember to start and stop the cycle tracking every time.
My old Fitbit could auto detect and track cycling. There are various other smart watches from Apple and Garmin that also do it, so it’s not like it’s that difficult to implement. So I’m kind of at a loss why they don’t support it.
People have been complaining about this for over 18 months since the Watch 4 came out, and the only response from Samsung I could find said:
… there were some additional challenges in getting this feature to work to a high standard that was satisfactory to all – hence its absence.
Samsung Community Forum
The lack of action since then doesn’t give me much hope that this is going to be introduced any time soon!