Apple Watch Ultra - Heart Rate during runs does not work - spikes and stays high

[2004powerbookg4]

I bought the Apple Watch ultra for fitness and specifically running. The heart rate during rest appears to be fine. However, every time I go for a run it will spike to say 170 and stay there for the duration of the run.

I tried unpairing, resetting, making sure settings were correct, and the issue persisted. Apple phone support sent me to the store, the store would not send the watch in for repair, and sent me back to phone support. Today a senior director in the health department called me and said "this is aknown issue. It is a software issue and there is nothing we can do. We are working on an update." They provided no timeline on the software update or any other options. I asked the man in the department to escalate this to his manager and he said there was no one to escalate to.

They said the watch is beyond the return policy, and I can not return it. And so there is nothing to do. I asked if its is affecting everyone then? And they said no. So I do not understand why they won't let me try another device. I even paid extra for apple care.

I paid $1000 for a fitness device that provides highly inaccurate sensitive health information and there is nothing apple can do? Has anyone else experienced this? Please help.

[Sharing photo of me wearing my friends Garmin on my other arm, and my heart rate (Apple BPM: 172, Garmin BPM: 125)]

 

[chrfr]

My Ultra is accurate when I wear it while cycling– it's comparable to a chest strap, with some minor variations on occasion. Have you tried making the band a little tighter?

 

[2004powerbookg4]

It only does not work for me for runs. Have you ever tried it on Runs? Using Apple App, nike, and Strava

 

[chrfr]

It only does not work for me for runs. Have you ever tried it on Runs? Using Apple App, nike, and Strava

I ran a couple of miles, once with the Ultra on, and had no issues but I can't say that's especially useful data.

 

[Howard2k]

At the risk of asking a stupid question, is it tight enough? I notice that it needs to be quite tight during a run to get a good reading. I'm not using an Ultra, my experience is with the S8 and the previous SE.

 

[2004powerbookg4]

At the risk of asking a stupid question, is it tight enough? I notice that it needs to be quite tight during a run to get a good reading. I'm not using an Ultra, my experience is with the S8 and the previous SE.

No stupid questions! I tried tighter, looser, higher on wrist, lower on wrist, and a friend! I also messed around with a ton of settings based on google searches and what apple support suggested. I reset the watch, paired, unpaired, etc.

 

[2004powerbookg4]

I ran a couple of miles, once with the Ultra on, and had no issues but I can't say that's especially useful data.

Sounds good, not giving you homework here, but if you do run again check in haha thank you!

 

[rmw49]

I bought the Apple Watch ultra for fitness and specifically running. The heart rate during rest appears to be fine. However, every time I go for a run it will spike to say 170 and stay there for the duration of the run.

I tried unpairing, resetting, making sure settings were correct, and the issue persisted. Apple phone support sent me to the store, the store would not send the watch in for repair, and sent me back to phone support. Today a senior director in the health department called me and said "this is aknown issue. It is a software issue and there is nothing we can do. We are working on an update." They provided no timeline on the software update or any other options. I asked the man in the department to escalate this to his manager and he said there was no one to escalate to.

They said the watch is beyond the return policy, and I can not return it. And so there is nothing to do. I asked if its is affecting everyone then? And they said no. So I do not understand why they won't let me try another device. I even paid extra for apple care.

I paid $1000 for a fitness device that provides highly inaccurate sensitive health information and there is nothing apple can do? Has anyone else experienced this? Please help.

[Sharing photo of me wearing my friends Garmin on my other arm, and my heart rate (Apple BPM: 172, Garmin BPM: 125)]

I've had the same thing when cycling outdoors as well. It suddenly shoots up to between 170 add 190 BPM and stays there for a few minutes. I think I have my watch tight enough on my wrist, but will try it really tight and see if that makes a difference, but it's happened three times recently and only with the ultra watch. I've sent in a report and so will see if it is just a software problem.

 

[2004powerbookg4]

I've had the same thing when cycling outdoors as well. It suddenly shoots up to between 170 add 190 BPM and stays there for a few minutes. I think I have my watch tight enough on my wrist, but will try it really tight and see if that makes a difference, but it's happened three times recently and only with the ultra watch. I've sent in a report and so will see if it is just a software problem.

Please keep me posted on this. Worth noting that everyone I spoke to in the Apple Store says they have barely seen any Apple Watch ultras needing repair because it is so new. Also, the generic customer support on the phone is going to run you through the same tests: Wear it higher on your wrist, tighter, looser, go into your settings is heart rate turned on, pair, unpair, factory reset etc. They will even tell you to put it on someone else!

You will need to get to their health department, because heart rate is a sensitive health related metric (HIPAA). If it is the same as me, they will eventually get back to you saying it's a known issue, but they can not help. Hoping it is not the same.

Thank you.

 

[stiligFox]

Strangely I have a similar issue with my Series 7… it struggles for half of a ten minute walk to get my pulse (it’ll just sit there trying to get it) and then it’ll find it once, and it’s stuck there for the rest of the walk, the little thing spinning while it’s trying to get the pulse again. Seems wildly inaccurate if it can’t capture my pulse for 75% of my walk workout…

 

[BenGoren]

The rare times I’ve had problems with the heart rate during exercise I’ve found that cleaning the back of the watch has fixed it. Just rinse the watch under running sink water, maybe with a tiny dab of soap.

Of course, be sure to wash your wrist well at the same time.

If it’s a software bug, then it’s most likely that the subsystem responsible for heart rate monitoring is crashing in one of the many ways that software crashes. These sorts of crashes tend to become more likely / frequent the more different things you have demanding their attention. As an experiment, I’d recommend turning off every heart-related setting you can find. If it persists and you have non-Apple software that does anything heart-related (including workout apps, even if they’re not active during your run), uninstall it from the watch, even if you think it shouldn’t matter. (For the latter step, “should” is irrelevant.)

Consider that a temporary workaround, of course. Or a first step in troubleshooting. If it fixes it and you have time and patience, a process of elimination can possibly identify what’s going on.

And if you’ve got somebody at Apple saying that they know about it, it’s quite likely that there’ll be a fix before the end of the year. Indeed, they almost certainly already have the fix implemented, but it takes time to make sure that the fix doesn’t break anything else, that there isn’t anything similar that they haven’t yet spotted that needs a similar fix, and so on.

b&

 

[zblomstrom]

Strangely I have a similar issue with my Series 7… it struggles for half of a ten minute walk to get my pulse (it’ll just sit there trying to get it) and then it’ll find it once, and it’s stuck there for the rest of the walk, the little thing spinning while it’s trying to get the pulse again. Seems wildly inaccurate if it can’t capture my pulse for 75% of my walk workout…

I've noticed this recently on my Series 7 as well. I figured it was my braided solo loop band being too loose after it stretching out after a year of wear but I switched to a sport band and have it as tight as possible and during Apple fitness workouts it does the same thing that you described.

 

[pbrace]

I bought the Apple Watch ultra for fitness and specifically running. The heart rate during rest appears to be fine. However, every time I go for a run it will spike to say 170 and stay there for the duration of the run.

I have had several versions from 3-6 and they all have the same problem. I don't think the Ultra has a different HRM. I use a chest strap instead. I don't know how this could ever be construed as accurate. My HR will not even go to 170.

 

[Botts85]

Mine's been bang on with my Garmin's chest strap while running.

I've had it make mistakes before, but those have usually been related to sunscreen or other oils on the back of the watch case.

 

[PabloLASF]

I just bought Ultra. Today was first run. Only 3 miles. For much of the run heart rate was blank. For about half the run it was accurate. For a good portion of about 10 minutes it said 170s. I'm 69 and my max heart rate is 158. So bummed.
I had Apple Watch 7 before and never had problems. 6 months ago I switch to Garmin due to battery life and I was going to run marathon. Afraid Apple Watch wouldn't last. Garmin was awesome but I missed many basic Apple features since I'm in apple ecosystem. So, yesterday I decided to go back to Apple Watch and with all the hype of the ultra, I went back. I am really bummed with the heart rate problems. Plus screen keeps disappearing while I'm looking at it during run. I have to get used to it I guess. Now to buy a heart rate chest strap or wait for a fix. Any recommendations for heart rate chest straps that work well with Apple Watch without interfering with headphones?

 

[PabloLASF]

Mine's been bang on with my Garmin's chest strap while running.

I've had it make mistakes before, but those have usually been related to sunscreen or other oils on the back of the watch case.

so Garmin chest strap works will with Apple Watch without any Garmin software installed?

 

[Botts85]

I just bought Ultra. Today was first run. Only 3 miles. For much of the run heart rate was blank. For about half the run it was accurate. For a good portion of about 10 minutes it said 170s. I'm 69 and my max heart rate is 158. So bummed.
I had Apple Watch 7 before and never had problems. 6 months ago I switch to Garmin due to battery life and I was going to run marathon. Afraid Apple Watch wouldn't last. Garmin was awesom

Are you using the cloth band?

I wonder if that's part of it. The sport bands definitely stick the watch in place better during workouts. I usually pop my sport band into my Ultra before workouts.

so Garmin chest strap works will with Apple Watch without any Garmin software installed?

I wear one watch on each wrist 🤣

I prefer Garmin's run sharing feature.

 

[PabloLASF]

Are you using the cloth band?

I wonder if that's part of it. The sport bands definitely stick the watch in place better during workouts. I usually pop my sport band into my Ultra before workouts.


I wear one on each hand 🤣

I was really thinking of doing that. LOL. The Forerunner 955 was awesome for running. But I kept trying to tell it to "remind me to buy tofu" and things like that before I realized it wasn't Siri. I was hoping the new Apple Watch would catch up to Garmin in running dept. But I'm afraid not yet. Makes me feel better, though, that other people have the heart rate problem too. Guess I will but a chest strap.

 

[Botts85]

Have you tried using a sport band? My Ultra's been bang on with it. I find with the included Alpine Loop, I can't find an ideal tightness between loops and the fabric has less friction than the sport band.

I'll have to try a run with the Alpine Loop and see if it stays accurate.

 

[PabloLASF]

Have you tried using a sport band? My Ultra's been bang on with it. I find with the included Alpine Loop, I can't find an ideal tightness between loops and the fabric has less friction than the sport band.

I'll have to try a run with the Alpine Loop and see if it stays accurate.

I only have the Alpine loop. I will try sports band. But still thinking about chest strap. I just am afraid of adding more add-ons. Sometimes that causes problems too. I don't rely heavily on heart rate when I'm running BUT it p[sses me off that it is so inaccurate. Useless data.

 

[An-apple-a-day]

Interesting. Most reviewers (even good, impartial ones) didn't report any heart rate measurement issues while running. I wonder if a recent software update broke what was working early on....

 

[chrfr]

so Garmin chest strap works will with Apple Watch without any Garmin software installed?

If you have a chest strap that supports Bluetooth rather than just ANT+, then yes, you can pair that with the watch and use it without any additional software.

 

[PabloLASF]

Interesting. Most reviewers (even good, impartial ones) didn't report any heart rate measurement issues while running. I wonder if a recent software update broke what was working early on....

I now recall that during the first few minutes of running with my Apple Watch 7 I would sometimes see higher heart rates for a few minutes. I wouldn't notice them until looking at the data later. I was thinking that maybe my heart rate was actually jumping up during the first few minutes of running as my legs were suddenly demanding more oxygen. But it would jump to numbers below my maximum heart rates. So I would see maybe heart rate of 140s for the first 3 or 4 minutes of a run. Then for the rest of the run the numbers would be reasonable, in the 120s and 130s for me. But with the new Ultra I see many periods of no heart rate at all and then 170s for 10 minutes in the middle of the run. I never had that with the Apple Watch 7. Either I have a defective watch, which is what I was thinking before I read this post, or there is a new issue that Apple needs to address. In the meantime I'm ordering a chest strap. Still irks me that the Garmin which I used for a few months and which cost several hundred dollars less, never had any problems with optical heart rate.

 

[imaginex20]

I now recall that during the first few minutes of running with my Apple Watch 7 I would sometimes see higher heart rates for a few minutes. I wouldn't notice them until looking at the data later. I was thinking that maybe my heart rate was actually jumping up during the first few minutes of running as my legs were suddenly demanding more oxygen. But it would jump to numbers below my maximum heart rates. So I would see maybe heart rate of 140s for the first 3 or 4 minutes of a run. Then for the rest of the run the numbers would be reasonable, in the 120s and 130s for me. But with the new Ultra I see many periods of no heart rate at all and then 170s for 10 minutes in the middle of the run. I never had that with the Apple Watch 7. Either I have a defective watch, which is what I was thinking before I read this post, or there is a new issue that Apple needs to address. In the meantime I'm ordering a chest strap. Still irks me that the Garmin which I used for a few months and which cost several hundred dollars less, never had any problems with optical heart rate.

I notice for my runs I am getting that spike for the first couple mins too. The run I posted just now is from my Apple Watch Ultra but I went back and looked and it happened on my AW7 too. 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[Tevosn]

Strangely I have a similar issue with my Series 7… it struggles for half of a ten minute walk to get my pulse (it’ll just sit there trying to get it) and then it’ll find it once, and it’s stuck there for the rest of the walk, the little thing spinning while it’s trying to get the pulse again. Seems wildly inaccurate if it can’t capture my pulse for 75% of my walk workout…

I had similar issues with both S4 and ultra. Like in the beginning of the run it won’t detect pulse, and then it will find a pulse ex. 134bpm and stay on that value static for a couple of kilometers, and a good while after that the HR monitoring seems to start working with no issues. Very weird and annoying.