Best practice is HR sensor off when display is off, so HR only measured when you check your watch?

[nplagman]

Learning how to code my own Versa 3 watch face. I just got to the part where you add the HeartRateSensor. The lacking information in the dev forum says the best practice is to conserve battery by turning the HR sensor off when the display is off.

So HR wouldn't be tracked at all during the day, except when you check the time? Or at night, since the display is off when you're asleep?

This makes no sense. Could someone please provide more detail? My Versa 3's display is off, but the green light is still going strong. Does that mean my common, fitbit-made clockface didn't use the best practice for the HR sensor?

[Forbidden-Duck · Accepted solution]

Your device goes by its own best practice. When you stop the heart rate sensor for your clockface it does not prevent fitbit from recording your heart rate.

When developing clockfaces turning off the sensor when the display is off helps prevent over power consumption. As your clockface would continue to update your heart rate even though the display is off.

[Gondwana]

I agree with Forbidden-Duck. I think the terminology is a bit misleading: you can't actually turn the sensor off in your code; what you're really doing is removing your subscription to its data feed.

[nplagman]

THANK YOU! That is an infinitely better explanation. Vague, incomplete instructions that can only be understood by people who already understand them infuriate me, and developers are the worst offenders.