You've probably been there. You just finished a brutal 45-minute HIIT session. Your Apple Watch is showing a glorious ring closure, and you’re feeling like a fitness god. But then you open MyFitnessPal to see how many calories you have left for dinner, and… nothing. The exercise isn't there. The steps are stuck at zero. It’s enough to make you want to throw your watch across the room.
Does MyFitnessPal sync with Apple Watch? Yes. But honestly, it’s not as straightforward as a simple "on" switch.
Unlike some other wearables that talk directly to the app, the Apple Watch and MyFitnessPal relationship is more like a long-distance romance. They need a middleman to pass notes. That middleman is Apple Health. If that connection is glitchy, your data just sits in your watch, lonely and unshared.
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Why Your Sync Might Be Broken (And How to Fix It)
Most people assume that installing the MyFitnessPal app on their watch is enough. It's not. That watch app is basically just a remote control for your phone. The real magic—and the real frustration—happens in the background permissions.
To get things moving, you have to go into the Apple Health app on your iPhone. Tap your profile picture, find "Apps," and then "MyFitnessPal." You need to make sure "Allow MyFitnessPal to Read" and "Allow MyFitnessPal to Write" are both toggled on for every single category. If you miss even one, like "Active Energy" or "Workouts," the sync will feel broken.
The "Steps" Trap
This is the one that trips everyone up. You can have your workouts syncing perfectly, but your daily steps still won't show up. Why? Because you have to manually tell MyFitnessPal to look at your watch for steps.
- Open MyFitnessPal on your phone.
- Tap More (those three little dots).
- Find Steps.
- Select Apple Watch.
If you leave it on "iPhone," it only counts the steps when the phone is in your pocket. If you’re walking around the house while your phone is on the charger, those steps are basically invisible to the app. Selecting Apple Watch fixes this instantly.
Real Talk: The Calorie Adjustment Confusion
One thing that confuses a lot of users is the "MyFitnessPal Calorie Adjustment." You’ll see a number like $+214$ or sometimes even a negative number if you have that setting enabled.
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Basically, MyFitnessPal predicts how many calories you’ll burn in a day based on your "Activity Level" (like Sedentary or Active). Your Apple Watch, however, tracks what you actually do. The adjustment is the difference between what MyFitnessPal guessed and what your watch measured.
If the watch says you moved less than MyFitnessPal expected, you won't get "extra" calories to eat. It feels like the app is being stingy, but it’s actually just trying to keep your data accurate.
Dealing with Sync Delays
Sometimes the sync is just lazy. You finish a workout, and it doesn't show up for twenty minutes. A quick tip: go to the Diary page in MyFitnessPal and pull down to refresh. This usually forces the app to ping Apple Health and grab the latest data.
Also, keep an eye on your battery. If your iPhone is in Low Power Mode, it often kills background syncing to save juice. If you’re wondering why your steps haven't updated in three hours, that’s probably why.
What Data Actually Moves Back and Forth?
It’s not a perfect mirror. Information flows in specific ways:
- Workouts: These move from Apple Watch -> Apple Health -> MyFitnessPal.
- Steps: These go from Apple Watch -> Apple Health -> MyFitnessPal.
- Weight: This can go both ways. If you log your weight in MyFitnessPal, it usually updates Apple Health, and vice versa.
- Food/Nutrients: This usually goes from MyFitnessPal -> Apple Health. You won't see your specific "Turkey Sandwich" on your Apple Watch, but you will see the total calories and macros in the Health app.
Interestingly, Apple is reportedly beefing up its own native food tracking for iOS 26.4. While MyFitnessPal is still the heavyweight champ because of its massive food database (we're talking over 20 million items), the integration is becoming even more vital as Apple tries to compete in the nutrition space.
Troubleshooting the "Ghost" Workouts
Ever had a workout show up twice? Or not at all? It usually happens when you have multiple apps connected. If you use Strava to track a run, and Strava is connected to Apple Health and MyFitnessPal, you might see the same run listed twice.
The fix is simple: only let one app write workout data to MyFitnessPal. Usually, letting Apple Health be the "source of truth" is the cleanest way to handle it.
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If things get really messy, the nuclear option is often the best. Uninstall MyFitnessPal from both your phone and watch. Restart both devices. Reinstall. It’s a pain, but it clears out the "cache" issues that cause those weird data hangs.
Actionable Steps to Perfect Your Sync
Stop guessing and get your data aligned today. Here is the checklist you actually need:
- Audit your permissions: Go to iPhone Settings > Health > Data Access & Devices > MyFitnessPal. Turn everything on. Even the ones you don't think you need.
- Set your step source: In the MyFitnessPal app, go to More > Steps and make sure "Apple Watch" is the selected device.
- Update your apps: In 2026, API changes happen fast. Ensure you are on the latest version of MyFitnessPal and watchOS to avoid "handshake" errors between the software.
- Check your Time Zone: If your phone and watch aren't on the exact same time zone (common during travel), the sync will fail because the data "belongs" to a different day.
- Force a Sync: If data is missing, open the MyFitnessPal app, go to the Newsfeed, and swipe down to refresh. Then check your Diary.
By following these steps, you ensure that every calorie burned and every step taken actually counts toward your goals, rather than disappearing into the digital void.