Time in Daylight not working?
Usually it’s something boring: one setting, a coat sleeve, a watch on the charger. Sometimes it’s the model, and sometimes the number is right and the day really was that dark. Answer a few questions and this finds which one you have. It won’t give you a daily target, because Apple doesn’t set one.
Once the number is sorted
SunshinePal turns the same minutes into an answer about today
- Fix the cause here first. SunshinePal reads this same sensor through HealthKit, so it can’t repair a zero. It starts where the raw number stops.
- Then it counts on its own. With a Series 6 or later there’s still no start button. Your daylight gets a 0–100 score against a goal you set yourself.
- No watch, or an older one? Tap once and the outdoor timer runs on your Lock Screen, or let it estimate days from the walks, runs and rides your iPhone records. Estimates are labelled.
How this works
It’s the troubleshooting table in our guide to how Apple Watch measures time in daylight, asked as questions and taken in the same order: the model first, because no setting helps a watch that doesn’t make the number. Then Motion Calibration & Distance, because Apple states it must be on. Then the physical causes: a covered sensor, a watch that wasn’t worn, light that was never outdoor light. The 15-minute test comes last. If the minutes show up, the sensor and settings are fine and what’s left is habit.
Two of its answers aren’t faults at all. A window doesn’t count because a bright room is a small fraction of outdoor light, and a zero on a desk day can simply be correct. Most people who work indoors find their workdays come back close to lightless, with the week’s total earned at the weekend.
What the check adds to the guide
The guide lists the model as the cause when the category is missing. If you have a supported watch and it’s still missing, the check points you to watchOS, because the metric arrived with watchOS 10, and to wearing the watch for a day. That step is our reading of those facts, not a line from Apple. The same goes for a watch that logs minutes on other days but missed your test: we say to run it again in open daylight, since Apple hasn’t published the light threshold or how often the sensor samples.
If every published cause is ruled out, it says so and sends you to Apple Support rather than inventing another reason.
No target, on purpose
Apple sets no goal for this metric, and what daylight does for you depends on latitude, season, skin type and which effect you care about. So the check never tells you how many minutes you should have. The better move is to wear the watch for seven days, change nothing, and set a goal slightly above your own baseline. The one figure on this page, 80–120 minutes, is the International Myopia Institute suggestion Apple cited for children, and it only appears if you ask about a child.
- How Apple Watch measures time in daylight — the full guide: the sensor, the models, accuracy, and tracking without a watch
- Vitamin D sun check — which months the sun can make vitamin D at your latitude, which daylight minutes can’t tell you
- SunshinePal vs Apple Health — what goals, reminders and trends add to the same data