Cardio on Apple Watch with Method: what the Watch app records and how it reaches your history
Method's Watch app is for cardio only. This page lists what it records, how it talks to the phone, what becomes a split in your history, and the edges, so you know exactly what to expect before you strap it on.
ExplainerUpdated 3 min readMarkdown version
What the Watch app is for
Cardio wants the watch on your wrist, not the phone in your hand. Method's Watch app covers that one job. Everything else, programs, strength logging, history, stays on the phone and the web.
What it records
- Any of the 20 cardio activity types. Outdoor run, outdoor walk, indoor run, indoor walk, outdoor ride, indoor bike, stair stepper, elliptical, row, HIIT, pilates, boxing, kickboxing, yoga, barre, core training, flexibility, cross training, mixed cardio, jump rope. Distance and pace apply to the nine distance types; the rest carry duration, heart rate, and energy.
- A live workout session. Heart rate and active energy from the watch sensors, with start, pause, resume, and finish, and a discard if you started the wrong thing.
- Manual laps. Tap a lap and it becomes a split in the activity's history. Imported Apple Health workouts never carry splits, so this is the way to get them.
- Split alerts. A configurable split distance with haptic and audio cues when you reach it.
- Units. Distance, load, and energy units follow your preferences.
How it talks to the phone
While you train, the Watch streams live metrics to the phone, and the phone can send commands back. When you finish, the completed activity is packaged as a durable envelope and queued on the Watch. The phone uploads it to Method when it is reachable. Nothing is lost if the phone is at home or the gym has no signal; the queue waits.
Once uploaded, the activity appears in history and analytics beside your lifting. The workout session itself is saved to Apple Health by the Watch, as any watch workout is, and Method recognises its own workouts so they are not imported a second time.
Launching from Apple Fitness
If you start a workout in Apple's Fitness app, Method's Watch app can pick up the workout configuration and run it, and it registers for background wakeups so that an Apple Fitness walk can relaunch it. This is the path for people who are used to starting activities from the Fitness app and want the record in Method.
What it does not do
- No strength logging. Sets are logged on iPhone.
- No programs or calendar on the wrist. Planned cardio sessions are started from the phone; the Watch records activities.
Requirements
The Watch app needs watchOS 26.1 or later and is embedded in the iPhone app, which needs iOS 26.0 or later. It installs alongside the phone app; there is nothing separate to buy. See where Method runs.
Common questions
- Can I log lifting on the Method Watch app?
- No. The Watch app records cardio activities only. Strength sets are logged on the iPhone app.
- Which activities can I record on the Watch?
- The same 20 cardio types as the phone: outdoor and indoor run, walk, and ride, stair stepper, elliptical, row, HIIT, pilates, boxing, kickboxing, yoga, barre, core training, flexibility, cross training, mixed cardio, and jump rope.
- Do I need the phone with me?
- The Watch records on its own. Completed activities are queued on the Watch and uploaded through the phone when it is reachable, so you can leave the phone at home for the run and sync when you are back.
- Do Apple Watch workouts recorded in the Fitness app also reach Method?
- Yes, through Apple Health. Method imports them on the phone in the background, including heart rate and, for outdoor run, walk, and ride, the route. Recording in Method's own Watch app adds manual laps as splits and live metrics on the phone.
Try Method
Write your program on the web, log every set on iPhone, and keep the whole history in one place. Free to start.
Related reading
Apple Health workout sync in Method: what imports, what writes back, and what does not
Method imports workouts from Apple Health in the background, including Apple Watch and Apple Fitness workouts and anything Strava or other apps write to Health. This page lists the activity types, the fields, the timing, and the edges.
Where Method runs: iPhone, Apple Watch, and web
A plain list of the devices Method runs on, the minimum versions, what each surface is for, and what Method does not support, so nobody installs it and finds out the hard way.
Offline workout logging: what a tracker has to get right when the gym has no signal
Basements, steel-framed gyms, and airplane mode are normal training conditions. This guide sets out what an offline-capable logger must do, and shows how Method saves drafts on the phone, syncs when it can, and never discards your work on a conflict.
Exporting your training data from Method: CSV and PDF, exactly what is in each
Your training log is yours. This page lists the exact CSV columns Method writes, the three PDF documents it produces, where each export lives, and the limits on range and size.
Method writes and maintains this page. Every statement about Method is checked against the shipped product. If something here is out of date, email contact@methodapp.net. For general references, link to the Method homepage.