Apple Watch May Display Incorrect Altitude Readings in Unusual Weather Conditions

[nightpilot]

Yes! This is exactly what has happened to me. In late December, I flew from Northern California to Santa Fe, New Mexico- so, from about 150ft elevation, to around 6,500 ft. Out of curiosity to see what the airplane cabin was pressurized at, I opened my watch compass app. After I landed, my watch was forever stuck at least 1,500ft above my actual elevation. Device restart, restore from backup, and factory resets did not fix the issue. Next, after multiple calls with Apple care, they had me do some steps to try to “re-calibrate” the watch this involved setting the workout app to run, walk, or hike mode, and going for one of those activities for 30+ minutes, multiple tiles throughout the week. They said this should help the watch re- calibrate. It didn’t work. Finally they sent me a new watch. This weekend, I traveled to Santa Fe again. Once again, I repeated the same process on the airplane, wanting to see if I could replicate the issue on a new device. my watch is now off 2,500ft. Saying I am at 9,050ft, when in reality, I’m at about 6,500. It says I have an accuracy of +/- 530ft.
Not sure if this is a hardware issue or a software issue, but I’d sure love to be escalated to a senior engineer so we can get this figured out. I’m an avid hiker, and love tracking my altitude overall as well as altitude gained/ lost. This is a big issue for active outdoor use cases.
Has anyone had any luck resolving a similar issue?

I went thru a similar exercise with Apple customer service. They offered to replace the watch, but I ended up keeping the original.
It is too bad there isn't an option to set the altimeter to a known altitude and/or pressure. I bet this is a software problem. I'm an airline pilot, fly 6 of more segments every week. The first week I used the altimeter, it got lost and was off by about 2000 feet (showing a +- 1650' margin in the compass app). I just kept monitoring the altimeter, and after a couple of weeks, it seem to have 'learned' to keep more accurate altitude. I haven't seen if off by more than 200 feet in months. Most of the time it is within 40 feet.
My biggest disappointment was how clueless the Apple customer service people were.

 

[ELman]

I have had an issue with my altimeter being off since I purchased my watch in October. Multiple calls to support and sending log files to them and still no fix. Because so many others are having the same issue it seems like a software issue. Unless it's a faulty design they don't have a fix for. In this case I'm sure we will see a class action lawsuit at some point.
Somedays my altitude displays correctly on the watch. Most days it's usually off 200-900 feet.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I have had an issue with my altimeter being off since I purchased my watch in October. Multiple calls to support and sending log files to them and still no fix. Because so many others are having the same issue it seems like a software issue. Unless it's a faulty design they don't have a fix for. In this case I'm sure we will see a class action lawsuit at some point.
Somedays my altitude displays correctly on the watch. Most days it's usually off 200-900 feet.

I don't think I've ever looked at mine to see if it's off or not. Now I'm curious. Do I check it on a mapping app?

EDIT: I have an AW4. How do I get the elevation to show on a 4?

EDIT: I used the Travel Altimeter and Elevation app, and it's spot on. I wonder if it was using GPS instead of the barometric altimeter. Hmm...

 

[nightpilot]

I don't think I've ever looked at mine to see if it's off or not. Now I'm curious. Do I check it on a mapping app?

EDIT: I have an AW4. How do I get the elevation to show on a 4?

EDIT: I used the Travel Altimeter and Elevation app, and it's spot on. I wonder if it was using GPS instead of the barometric altimeter. Hmm...

Probably using GPS. I think the barometric altimeter was introduced with series 6 and SE.

Use the Compass app on Apple Watch

The Compass app shows the direction your Apple Watch is facing, your current location, and elevation.

support.apple.com

 

[ELman]

I don't think I've ever looked at mine to see if it's off or not. Now I'm curious. Do I check it on a mapping app?

EDIT: I have an AW4. How do I get the elevation to show on a 4?

EDIT: I used the Travel Altimeter and Elevation app, and it's spot on. I wonder if it was using GPS instead of the barometric altimeter. Hmm...

AW 6 has the altimeter

Third party apps on the watch that show elevation work fine. I think the reason for this is the elevation is coming from your phone.

 

[827538]

Yes! This is exactly what has happened to me. In late December, I flew from Northern California to Santa Fe, New Mexico- so, from about 150ft elevation, to around 6,500 ft. Out of curiosity to see what the airplane cabin was pressurized at, I opened my watch compass app. After I landed, my watch was forever stuck at least 1,500ft above my actual elevation. Device restart, restore from backup, and factory resets did not fix the issue. Next, after multiple calls with Apple care, they had me do some steps to try to “re-calibrate” the watch this involved setting the workout app to run, walk, or hike mode, and going for one of those activities for 30+ minutes, multiple tiles throughout the week. They said this should help the watch re- calibrate. It didn’t work. Finally they sent me a new watch. This weekend, I traveled to Santa Fe again. Once again, I repeated the same process on the airplane, wanting to see if I could replicate the issue on a new device. my watch is now off 2,500ft. Saying I am at 9,050ft, when in reality, I’m at about 6,500. It says I have an accuracy of +/- 530ft.
Not sure if this is a hardware issue or a software issue, but I’d sure love to be escalated to a senior engineer so we can get this figured out. I’m an avid hiker, and love tracking my altitude overall as well as altitude gained/ lost. This is a big issue for active outdoor use cases.
Has anyone had any luck resolving a similar issue?

I was told by Apple to do a factory reset of the watch which fixed the issue. A bit irritating as I fly quite frequently.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Probably using GPS. I think the barometric altimeter was introduced with series 6 and SE.

Use the Compass app on Apple Watch

The Compass app shows the direction your Apple Watch is facing, your current location, and elevation.

support.apple.com

NO! The 4 and 5 have them. They were 'dropped' by Apple for some reason. Hard to imagine that it could have been because physical altimeters that would fit into an Apple Watch could be 'inaccurate'. I was surprised to see that mine was so close. (Does make me wonder if the app I downloaded is actually using a geolocation service instead of the altimeter sensor)

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

AW 6 has the altimeter

Third party apps on the watch that show elevation work fine. I think the reason for this is the elevation is coming from your phone.

Apple said the AW4 does have an 'altimeter'. What they call an altimeter is what's possibly interesting. Could the GPS be called an 'altimeter'? Hmm...