Activity Move Mode

Activity Move Mode identifies the metric used by the red Move ring: active energy burned or Apple Move Time. It is a current HealthKit characteristic, read through HKHealthStore.activityMoveMode(), rather than a stream of activity samples. Apps can read it with permission but cannot write the characteristic.

The codes identify modes; averaging them has no useful meaning. A calorie goal and a movement-minute goal also cannot be converted with a fixed multiplier.

No. Apple Move Time counts full minutes when the watch detects active, full-body movement. Apple Exercise Time is a separate metric used by the Exercise ring. Treating Move Time as brisk-exercise minutes would mix two different quantities.

Apple documents Move Time primarily for younger users: under 13 use movement minutes, ages 13–18 can choose between movement minutes and active energy, and adults over 18 track active energy. This is not a general switch that every adult can use to replace calorie tracking.

Read the mode stored on each daily activity summary when comparing historical Move progress and goals. A current characteristic value does not establish which mode applied on a previous day. Keep the corresponding energy or time goal with the day's measurement; a change of units can otherwise look like a sudden change in activity.

PulsHealth stores daily ring summaries separately from sampled quantities. Their recorded move_mode provides daily context, but is not a saved history of this characteristic. The current characteristic itself is not in the sample sync catalog or profile storage.

Active Energy Burned and Apple Move Time explain the two possible Move metrics. Apple Exercise Time explains the separate Exercise ring. Compare progress using each metric's own units and goal, rather than treating mode codes as a fitness score.