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Apps Altimeter Complication?
- Thread starter Rocko99991
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There is one, I saw it at least a few times but never installed. Just search for Barometer and the first one is for Barometer and Altimeter with AW support.
Hope it works for you.
Barometer and Altimeter Pro. I have that but it has no complication unfortunately.
I have demo'd a bunch, including barometer apps. I have two on my phone that I paid for, Altimeter+ and Up High. Altimeter+ is interesting on the iphone, but I see I don't have it installed on my watch. the complication/app doesn't refresh quickly enough to be useful to me as a watch app.
But Up High is really interesting and so you should try that one. Up high seems to refresh when running the app on the watch continuously, so it will change in real time using the barometer on the watch (so this works even without the phone). Turning on the complication, it gives me my altitude instantly. But I don't see that refreshing (I am sure it will refresh periodically, just not in real time or in any way useful). So the complication is probably mostly for launching the app. The font on the complication is too small for me to read if I was moving anyway.
The other app to consider that we discuss here is WorkOutdoors. It is not an altimeter app, it is mapping, but it supports tracking of elevation and saves that data, so you can review your elevation track for a hike. So I highly recommend getting that one too.
[doublepost=1519410241][/doublepost]I also have the app Barometer and Altimeter Pro on my phone. I don't remember using that as an altimeter app, so those features may have improved or changed. I have used that to track barometric changes over time.
I installed that app on my watch and it does seem more like Up High in that it appears to refresh the barometer part continuously. But that may not be true for altitude. I have a hard time figuring this out, but these apps may use GPS location to set the initial altitude (they must use GPS for this?). But how often they use GPS and whether they use that to calibrate or track altitude in combination with the barometer is going to impact the readings. I think Workoutdoors for example is GPS corrected in some way when it measures elevation change (I don't know this, so that is a guess, smoothing of the barometer pressure changes over the route). It does not have a complication as noted above.
So the example for this difference is in a building, GPS will often report your elevation at the ground level, and may not report changes in floors. So using Barometer and Altimeter Pro to track my relative altitude inside this building by going down a flight of stairs, the barometer part showed instant changes, but I did not perceive the altimeter readout on the watch reflecting that change in altitude.
In contrast, while Up High will grab your initial altitude from GPS (since somehow it knows this info), Up High will continuously adjust my altitude on stairs, up and down. Up High altitude varies by 1-3 feet all the time (and sometimes more) just sitting still, so that must be the measurement error built in to the sensor.
But Up High is really interesting and so you should try that one. Up high seems to refresh when running the app on the watch continuously, so it will change in real time using the barometer on the watch (so this works even without the phone). Turning on the complication, it gives me my altitude instantly. But I don't see that refreshing (I am sure it will refresh periodically, just not in real time or in any way useful). So the complication is probably mostly for launching the app. The font on the complication is too small for me to read if I was moving anyway.
The other app to consider that we discuss here is WorkOutdoors. It is not an altimeter app, it is mapping, but it supports tracking of elevation and saves that data, so you can review your elevation track for a hike. So I highly recommend getting that one too.
[doublepost=1519410241][/doublepost]I also have the app Barometer and Altimeter Pro on my phone. I don't remember using that as an altimeter app, so those features may have improved or changed. I have used that to track barometric changes over time.
I installed that app on my watch and it does seem more like Up High in that it appears to refresh the barometer part continuously. But that may not be true for altitude. I have a hard time figuring this out, but these apps may use GPS location to set the initial altitude (they must use GPS for this?). But how often they use GPS and whether they use that to calibrate or track altitude in combination with the barometer is going to impact the readings. I think Workoutdoors for example is GPS corrected in some way when it measures elevation change (I don't know this, so that is a guess, smoothing of the barometer pressure changes over the route). It does not have a complication as noted above.
So the example for this difference is in a building, GPS will often report your elevation at the ground level, and may not report changes in floors. So using Barometer and Altimeter Pro to track my relative altitude inside this building by going down a flight of stairs, the barometer part showed instant changes, but I did not perceive the altimeter readout on the watch reflecting that change in altitude.
In contrast, while Up High will grab your initial altitude from GPS (since somehow it knows this info), Up High will continuously adjust my altitude on stairs, up and down. Up High altitude varies by 1-3 feet all the time (and sometimes more) just sitting still, so that must be the measurement error built in to the sensor.
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Complications are limited to ~15 min updates unless you run the app by opening it on the watch. This makes altimeter complications kind of lagging if you are trying to see recent altitude or barometer, unfortunately.
I think that means Watch Altimeter Pro. I don't have this app, it costs money, but to me one of the key considerations for any of these apps is do they use the GPS to determine altitude or the barometer? I can't tell for sure, but my guess is this uses the GPS. Wasn't the barometer new with Series 3 (and so any app that works the same with S2 is using GPS?). GPS is ok, but is not going to be nearly as accurate for changes to altitude as the barometer.
As for working independently of the phone, 2 of the apps mentioned already, that I have, do work independently. So Up High and Barometer and Altimeter Pro work separately from the phone.
I went back out to my hill and ran up and down it 4 times to retest these 3 apps and so edited the info above.
Altimeter+ is a cool iphone app. Useful for hiking on the phone. Offers GPS, Aster and barometer for tracking. But does not work independently on the watch and is not really useful in my view as a primary watch app.
Barometer and Altimeter Pro: is a cool iphone app for a barometer. It can track trends over days and weeks, but only if you use, so the data points on the phone are only for when you check the barometer on that day/time. It does work on the watch but two key things: first it does not maintain focus, meaning the watch will return to the clock display each time, so you have to navigate back to this app. Also #2: I think this app just uses the GPS for altitude; the barometer readings don't mean anything to me, but the altitude seems to bounce around up and down, just like the variation I see on a GPS. So the bottom of the hill is sometimes higher than the top.
Up High: when I turn on tracking of relative elevation, it maintains focus and tracks elevation, but only change from that starting point, and so not cumulative elevation gained in any way. Up High works independently on the watch and refreshes the altitude within 1-3 secs at a glance, so more than fast enough to be useful at a glance. My only wish was that the font was bigger or I could swap the barometer reading with the altitude (since the B reading is in large font).
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I took a look at the interfaces Apple currently supports, but Altimeter data looks to only be available while an app is running on the watch. So unfortunately, Fenix like functionality looks like it can't be done standalone on the watch with the current Apple APIs. It would be possible to pull that data from the phone, I believe, but might require a background app running there as well (I didn't look in to that.)
There's a ton of altimeter apps, but does anyone know of any that offer a complication? My AW replaced my Casio Triple Sensor and the thing I miss the most is the at-a-glance elevation kroger feedback.
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Complications have a ~8 min max update rate, which limits this kind of data display.