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Flights climbed wrong. Problem with barometer on specific models?

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plantoschka

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 23, 2015
36
3
I've an Apple Watch Series 4 since December 2019.

In Januar I noticed that my Flights climbed value in the Activity app was way too high. It was between 100-200 even at days where I did no activity at all. Also the training minutes were way higher than before this problem happend. Probably because the watch thinked I worked out way more than before.

Before that my watch showed a value between 5-15 for the flight climbed which was pretty accurate.

I then called Apple and send in my device. They run a check and noticed no problems and send it back to me. After setting it up as a new watch I still had the same problem. On my second call I was promised a replacement and got one a few days later.

The new watch worked fine from Januar to mid of April when the exact same problem happend again! I tried to recalibrate everything and reset it but the problem wouldn't go away. I don't do anything extrem to the watch. Just some running, swimming and a job in an office.

So I called Apple again on Monday and today I should get my second replacement watch. I looked around the web and noticed some people have the same problem. Maybe it's somehow specific to the Series 4 SS version? Is this a more widespread problem or are there people here who have a Series 4 44mm SS Watch for more than a year and don't have issues like that?

This issue makes the Watch worthless to me because I use it mainly as a fitness device. Besides this issue I'm perfectly happy with the Series 4.

Now I'm afraid to keep this replacement because I think the same issue could happen again in a couple of months and then I'm out of warranty. So I am currently thinking about selling the new replacement and getting myself a Series 5.

Did I just have extremly bad luck or is this a more widespread issue?
 
Im on my 3rd AW4 and the barometer sensor is effed again. They replaced it twice under the warranty but now, im on my own... so i just don't use it, since it pisses me off when i look at it and it says 200 flights climbed. I wanted to get the AW6 but i just might be done with smartwatches (or i,ll just go with samsung or huawei).
 
Keniutek said:
Im on my 3rd AW4 and the barometer sensor is effed again. They replaced it twice under the warranty but now, im on my own... so i just don't use it, since it pisses me off when i look at it and it says 200 flights climbed. I wanted to get the AW6 but i just might be done with smartwatches (or i,ll just go with samsung or huawei).
Click to expand...
Do you have a SS version or the regular one?

I've received my 3rd AW4 last Friday and started using it. For now everything works perfectly fine. It's way harder to reach my activity goals with the correctly functioning barometer.

I still have warranty till September and hope this does not happen again.
 
Nike version. I put it on today... woke up at 8am (it's 10.10am right now) and it shows 83 flights climbed and some BS distance as well. Done with it :rolleyes:
 
Same issue here. Series 4 Aluminum. My norm was about 8-12 flights per day. Ever since April 13th I’m averaging about 90-140 per day. My warranty is coming up so Ill have to contact Apple soon. Guess I’ll have to send mine in for them to send out a replacement? Sucks since Ill then loose the progress on the activity ring streaks.
 
My AW4 had the same problem. I have not had the problem since I upgraded to AW5.
 
Same problem with my last AW4. The Barometer became erroneous after 1 year.
Now on AW5, all is fine up to now.
 
Yeah, when i lost the ring streak the first time, i was pissed. Looks like with AW4, you need 2. Backup to use, when one goes for the repair.
But hey... at least the excersice ring and calories fill up like crazy🤣
 
Anybody ever find a solution to this short of buying a new watch? My wife’s series 4 she bought in January of 09 started doing this a week ago out of the blue. Went from 2-10 flights to like 100 flights per day.

Did all the usual un-pair and re-pair and reset calibration and all of that and nothing. This really sucks. Still on 6.2.8 and was working fine until now. It must be a real problem with the barometers on series 4. They must just crap out. Maybe there will be a repair program in the future we can hope.
 
I still have this issue after it first cropped up back in April/May. Went through the necessary steps of troubleshooting with Apple over the phone where they determined the watch was broken and needed to be sent in for service and be replaced. Sent the watch in only to have it sent back to me with a note stating the watch is in working order and nothing is wrong with it. I can assure you though that I am not climbing a daily average of 86 flights per day. My watch is now out of warranty so I guess I am stuck with it.

43B05342-2FD9-40D3-81E7-992F08CE912D.jpeg
 
Just started having the same problem as you guys. I love to hike, so I used the barometer app in my AW4. Normally there was no difference in pressure of my AW4 and IP7. It's normally about 1010 hPa (atmospheric pressure). But from this month, my AW4 showed 1200 hPa and my IP7 still is around 1010 hPa, as shown in the attached figures. 200 hPa difference here is like my AW4 is 2 meters underwater! And my average Flights from the Health app showed I climbed 700 floors last week.

The good thing is the altitude (60-70m) indicates about the same as before. Maybe, the AW4 just needs a calibration.

Does anyone here know how to disable the AW4 barometer, or at least make the Health App stop reading Flights data from AW? It's really annoying.



IMG_3445.PNG
36F1209A-0B05-4449-9754-26C1FF914ABB_1_102_o.jpeg
 
Same issue, starting June/July 2021 (around the time we moved to 7.5 watchOS version) my AW4 started counting way too many flights per day from an average of 8 to a current average of 47 :) My AW4 is out of warranty so I will have to live with it until I buy a new version next year. I read that some water trapped in the watch might be the culprit, it is possible the hermetic seal around the AW4 is flawed.
 

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I purchased a series 5 in April of 2020 and everything was fine until about 4 months ago when my battery dropped one day from 75% to 30% for no reason. I recharged it, but noticed the next day my Battery health was 86%. It had been 95%. Concurrent with that my "flight climbed" jumped way out of proportion. Steps and other workout information seem to be alright, but I usually recharge the watch for 10 minutes or so after my morning workout. Since I am out of warranty I will stick with it. Flights Climbed is not something I tracked anyway.
 
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After Telephone support confirmed the issue I sent in my series 4 for replace/repair that was under warranty only to have it returned noting that there was no issue. WTH? I just ended up getting a new series 6 shortly after though and it's been great. Kinda ****** of Apple but it just wasn't worth the effort for me to keep calling and or going in to press the issue.
 
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webbga said:
I purchased a series 5 in April of 2020 and everything was fine until about 4 months ago when my battery dropped one day from 75% to 30% for no reason. I recharged it, but noticed the next day my Battery health was 86%. It had been 95%. Concurrent with that my "flight climbed" jumped way out of proportion. Steps and other workout information seem to be alright, but I usually recharge the watch for 10 minutes or so after my morning workout. Since I am out of warranty I will stick with it. Flights Climbed is not something I tracked anyway.
Click to expand...
Not very reassuring to know the issue is not only limited to AW4 - Apple should do something about it
 
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