Active vs total calories: why do Apple Watch, Oura and Strava differ?

is the energy that you burn through physical activity and exercise, without the resting energy of that time.

is the energy that your body burns at rest, for basic functions such as breathing and circulating blood.

covers 24 hours from 4 AM. Oura starts it from your BMR (basal metabolic rate): the calories that your body needs to keep its vital functions going.

is the total calories burned that the Activity app shows for a workout. It holds both active and resting energy: Apple's developer page tells apps to split a workout's total energy into those two portions.

are the figure that your device or app sent with the activity. When no figure is sent, or you record in the Strava app, Strava calculates its own.

Compare the Move ring on your Apple Watch with Oura's active calorie burn. Workouts that Oura exports to Apple Health, including ones that you add by hand, also add their active calories to the Move ring, so the two numbers can share those calories.

Compare Oura's total burn with the total of another tracker for the same 24 hours. For an Apple total, add the Active Energy and the Resting Energy of one day in Health. To open them, follow steps 1 and 2 below. In step 2, type Resting Energy for the second number. That sum is your own calculation: the Apple pages cited here name no daily total, and they do not say when Health's day starts.

Compare Strava's figure with the same activity on that device. On Apple Watch, use the workout total in the table above.

Oura says that it records only active calories when it tracks activity. It says that other trackers and health apps combine active calories and BMR, so their estimates may differ slightly from Oura's. Use the comparison under "Active with active".

Apple lists new apps and devices at the top automatically. Set your order again, as in steps 1 to 6.

In the Strava app, Send to Health is under Settings› then Manage Apps and Devices› then Health. Look for Strava in the list of step 3. If it is there, drag the device that you want to take priority above it, as in steps 4 to 6. You can also turn off Send to Health. Strava's page lists route information, activity type, distance and time as sent with the calories, so check whether you need those in Health first.

Oura recommends that you add an activity that you did without the ring. Tap the + button in the bottom right of the Today tab of the Oura app. Tap Add an activity. Add its start time, duration and intensity. Tap Done.

At this time, Strava calculates calories only for rides, runs, walks and hikes. Other activity types show calories only when the device or app that uploads them sends calories. For a run, Strava needs your weight. To add it, tap Profile› then Edit Profile in the Strava app. Scroll down to Weight.

On your iPhone, open the Watch app. Tap My Watch› then Health› then Health Details. Tap Edit. Tap the item that you want to change. See "Why the numbers differ" for how Apple Watch uses these details.