I did try airplane mode workouts before with no success using the Apple Workout App. Using the WorkOutDoors App have me correct figures for the activity but didn’t make any difference to Compass App elevation accuracy. Above 1000 mbar my accuracy has been good regardless of mode and self correcting on a regular basis but below 1000 mbar the accuracy is getting worse again as StumpyBloke has observed. I’ll nip out in a while and try your exact routine and see what happens. I can’t imagine that Apple intended it to be like that. Why the Compass App can’t re-calibrate on it’s own using location GPS/WiFi/4/3G once the accuracy exceeds a certain point I don’t know.
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Series 6 Altimeter Discrepancies
- Thread starter StumpyBloke
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Maybe the barometric pressure in Cupertino never drops below 1000 mbar. I’m definitely getting the same inaccuracy that you observed below 1000 mbar. When I bought the watch a couple of weeks ago the barometric pressure was much lower than 1000 and I was getting ridiculous readings. Looks like I’m headed that way again.
Spookily, just had a follow-up phone call from Apples senior technical support confirming that the engineers have determined an issue with the user interface (as they put it) and that it will be fixed in an upcoming update but that is no ETA for it.
All of the suggestions to fix it do not work, end of. There is an inherent issue with the software and only Apple can address it. So I guess we just have to play it by ear and wait.
All of the suggestions to fix it do not work, end of. There is an inherent issue with the software and only Apple can address it. So I guess we just have to play it by ear and wait.
since i'm doing all my outdoor walks now in airplane mode on the watch, the gps tracks, elevation, speed, pace data is perfect. As a side-effect of that, the compass app on the watch shows always exact elevation, +/- 5 or 10m, even days afterwards. Heck, even VO2 data started to appear for all my walks
procedure: go outside (with phone or not doesn't matter), watch settings-airplane mode-make sure it disables BT as well besides Wifi, back to homescreen, slide up, select airplane mode, watch workout app-outdoor walk, 3-2-1-go, wait 4-5 seconds, start walking. At end of walk wait 2-3 seconds, press end workout, press crown go to homescreen, disable airplane mode, go back to workout app-click DONE.
Thanks for the suggestions, but with the greatest of respect, they do not work. As the Americans say it’s just a Band-Aid, it does not address the inherent fault with the coding. We just have to wait for Apple to fix it.
Thanks for that. I did just nip out and check the suggestion again of airplane mode etc etc and as expected it didn’t work - same as when I previously tried it a couple of weeks ago. Even if it had I cannot believe Apple intended the user to faff about to get the elevation to work correctly. Totally agree - we just have to wait for Apple to fix it properly. In the mean time I’ll forget the Compass App elevation and use WorkOutDoors which works perfectly. Thanks again StumpyBloke.
Here’s something I was wasn’t expecting - my local barometric pressure has continued to fall - currently 993 mbar. At some point in the afternoon the Compass App elevation re-calibrated and is currently correct for my house at 60 mtrs + / - 5 mtrs. I didn’t do anything to make it happen and it wasn’t set as a complication as I was fed up looking at it. My last GPS activity was late morning so this happened well after that.
Another thing that needs sorting is the updating of the elevation values when used as a complication on the AOD - it doesn’t update unless the screen is refreshed unlike battery % or temperature etc etc. If it doesn’t update without refreshing the screen then there’s not much point in having it as a complication. Whoever thought complications could be so complicated ?.
It looks very frustrating, what I don't get is if it's a sw problem, each AW6 sold should be affected. Now it's 2 weeks that mine is perfect and weather has changed a lot of times with pressure varying from 1000 to 970 mbar. If the behaviour is impossible to replicate, how can Apple address it?
It should be pretty easy to address as when I use WorkOutDoors App or Strava App my elevation is very accurate. My Compass App elevation works but it’s just not reliable enough. I can live without using the Compass App until it’s sorted. The fact that it doesn’t refresh when used as a complication is also either not correct or not particularly useful - it should refresh the same as battery % etc when on AOD otherwise it’s not doing what was advertised as a USP.
yea, well for me i wasn't really interested in checking compass app elevation accuracy, but more to have accurate GPS tracks of workouts, which i know AW6 is capable of. Well, it is, if it's not using the phone GPS, which mario-karts it and cuts corners all over the place.
So accurate, constant compass elevation values are a nice byproduct of having accurate gps tracks.
Until Apple fixes this crap, airplane mode is the way to go for me.
So in your opinion the watch if not airplaned uses the phone GPS? Are you sure of it? Have you made some tests, with and without the airplane mode on same track to see differences? Interested because if so I have to exclude the phone too...
yes.
airplane mode or without having the phone nearby yields the same effect: perfect gps track and workout metrics.
when using phone gps the track is "looser", less accurate and mario-karts around corners. Looks like it's also polling the gps less often, meaning graph is either extrapolating trajectory between less gps readings or it's simply less accurate (which i doubt).
do some outdoor walk tests yourself and see the difference.
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Thanks that is very stupid to use the internal gps, more accurate even, only in backup...for sure it needs a fix from Apple
they should just give the choice to use either built-in watch GPS (at expense of battery but much more accurate) or tethered GPS from iPhone (less battery impact on watch but also less accurate).
or just fix their algorithms to make both work properly, or at least the same way.
the best example of it not working properly is the altimeter (elevation readings during outdoor walks for example). If you use phone GPS, the readings can suddenly go completely wrong, while if you use only watch GPS, they remain correct throughout the workout....and even days later if checking the elevation in the compass app on the watch.
I had cases when walking with phone in my pocket when i was at 84m and then all of a sudden at -20m. Those values were recorded also in the elevation info in the workout statistics. Clearly the phone GPS has a bad influence on the watch readings right now.
I use my phone GPS during an activity as the battery drain is less - typically 3 or 4 % an hour when using WorkOutDoors which I think is excellent. The GPS track will occasionally round corners off (not always) but it is generally ok, especially when trail running. I always run with my wife and she wears a Garmin Vivoactive 4. Our activity distances are always close, often within 10 mtrs and our tracks are nearly identical when uploaded to Strava. If we both wear our Garmins there’s always a small discrepancy. My elevation is always very accurate and if our activity is linear ( there and back ) my return leg elevation is a mirror image of the outward leg. My AW 6 elevation is a lot more accurate than her Garmin ( and my Garmin 5x too ). I wear my watch overnight on Airplane and Theatre Mode and have noticed it will still correct the elevation overnight with changes in Barometric pressure. Elevation variation accuracy tends to be more so above 1000 mbar and not so when below 1000 mbar. Below 1000 mbar it can vary by quite a lot before it corrects itself but it’s still better than any of our Garmins. Off activity it doesn’t particularly bother me now and it’s only occasionally. The elevation when I’m running where it does matter to me, is very accurate.
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Altimeter should be based on barometer and not gps, both for watch and phone therefore it should be accurate always. Instead the use of phone Gps if less accurate reflects on accuracy of trail recording and dem data when exporting gpx. I noticed some inaccuracy on the horizontal position (and that could be the phone gps) but not on the vertical elevation
the altimeter cannot be based solely on barometer. If there's a windy day when walking, or you're drying your hands under a high pressure air-dryer, you don't want to be placed 200m up or down within a matter of seconds. Barometric altimeters do use air pressure, but not only that, it checks other sensors such as accelerometers, even GPS. That's where the algorithm smartness comes in, to make sense out of the data.
Well it is obvious that barometer must be calibrated, with gps or manually. I wrote based on and you correct me reporting I said "based on only", I didn't say only or solely...
could be an option, didn't test that.
you'd have to re-enable it so the watch faces & fitness can plot the gps track properly in the workout statistics.
I tried. I disabled the phone gps and started WOD. It asked me to enable the gps on the watch. That is good. After the workout I noticed that the phone gps was automatically re enabled and the watch gps stayed enabled...that means that if you want to save battery you have to remember to disable it
As expected, air pressure has dropped substantially and my altimeter readings are 180m out. Like clockwork.
Barometric pressure where I live is currently 958 mbar, the lowest since I bought my AW 6 and it dropped quite dramatically over the last 24 hours. Elevation via the compass app has corrected / adjusted at various intervals as the pressure dropped. The Barometric pressure dropped further overnight and I now have an elevation of 102 mtrs (should be 60 - 65) so nothing like the inaccuracy when I first got my watch ( 3 or 4 hundred mtrs ). My last GPS (linked to phone) activity ( used Apple Workout ) was yesterday morning - the elevation trace was spot on from start to finish and the compass app elevation was spot on after the activity. The elevation of my AW 6 is now far more accurate than both my Garmin Fenix 5x and Vivoactive 4. The heart rate tracking however is not as accurate. The AW 6 appears to be affected by very cold weather ( reduced blood circulation) and it works better on my right wrist but still not as good as either of my Garmins. Not a lot I can do about that as it’s probably more me than the watch (although the Garmins work really well). Fortunately I have a Polar H10 which gives a perfect trace and links seamlessly with my AW. The AW heart monitor works fine throughout the day but struggles while I’m running in extreme cold conditions. I’m pleasantly surprised by battery life - approx 40 hours using AOD and approx 60 hours without AOD and only just over an hour to charge. There’s been a few quirks to get used to but so far I’m really impressed by my first AW after several years of Garmins.
A couple of hours after my last post just back from a GPS walk using WorkOutDoors where the elevation trace was spot on and after I got back the compass app had recalibrated for the drop in Barometric pressure and is reading exactly correct at my house. After nearly four weeks of use I’d say that for me the AW 6 elevation is working really well and better than any other smart watch / fitness tracker that I’ve had. For those that still aren’t having any luck with the elevation, give it a chance as seems to have worked better and better as I’ve done more GPS activities (using different apps).