Apple Watch Ultra Heart Rate During Workout

I think the best strategy is to continue reporting the problems and maybe posting data. That will give the bigger chance that apple might solve it. We can of course all find our individual solutions to solve our problems and that is also ok. I put a lot of my money into the ultra and for me it's not economically viable or environmentally responsible to have more than one device. So, I'll stay positive and stick to the hope that apple find a way to make their software work with the huge number of different people out there, all with different sports, habits and physiologies.

Having constantly experiencing several issues with my Ultra as to the dropping out hr measurements , i thought I might record measurements at the same time with my Garmin fenix 7! Not only does my ultra dropped hr measurements during my run but also the reading (when worked) was totally diferrent to what garmin read! So I lost my confidence in my ultra and i decided to use it only when i don’t have any training! Total misleading info from Apple side when advertising the product and and for me this is the crucial point not to buy any products from them from now on!

This doesn't make any sense.

I've been using Garmin for >10yrs in all my running events and independently of being hot, cold, rainy, foggy, indoor...., I've never experienced such a thing related to HR measurements.

Apple needs to acknowledge the problem and fix it to make this watch as a credible alternative to Garmin, Suunto,... I hope it's SW related, otherwise it's really a severe topic for all of us that spent big money in the device.

Hi,

I found a solution that works for me and my friends.

We have been testing it for a week now (all days) and no more problems with heart rate loss (but we are still waiting for a software fix from Apple).

STEP 1 : Enable AFib History

On your iPhone, open the Health app.

Tap Browse, then tap Heart.

Tap AFib History.

Tap Set Up, then tap Get Started.

Enter your Date of Birth.

Select Yes to indicate that you have been diagnosed with AFib by a doctor, then tap Continue.

Tap Continue to learn more about AFib History, the results you may see, and life factors.

Tap Done.

STEP 2: Change the placement of the watch

Instead of putting the watch on top of the wrist, put it inside the wrist and tighten it properly.

STEP 3: Heart Rate Reading

Before starting an exercise, open the Heart Rate application and wait for a value to be displayed.

This is the time to start an exercise and the heart rate will finally be measured without any loss!

Good luck :)

I have tried all these steps too, for me it didn't make a bit

difference.

Plus wearing the Ultra on the insight I found annoying.

Kakinou wrote:

STEP 1 : Enable AFib History

On your iPhone, open the Health app.

Tap Browse, then tap Heart.

Tap AFib History.

Tap Set Up, then tap Get Started.

Enter your Date of Birth.

Select Yes to indicate that you have been diagnosed with AFib by a doctor, then tap Continue.

Tap Continue to learn more about AFib History, the results you may see, and life factors.

Tap Done.

Careful, I think once you enabled this there is no easy way back in case you want to get rid of AFib again. So you will get notifications that your HR variance hasn't changed the last week (assuming that you don't have HR variance) and you loose the warnings. I had to reset and unpair the watch to get rid of the feature.

I have had the problem on the series 5 and the series 7. I just figured that Apple would have addressed the issue with the Ultra. Both my Fenix watches (3 and 6) have never had this issue. It has to be a software problem with the Apple Watch. I hope someone is listening.

Hi all, I exercise around 95 % indoor and I have problems with heart rate is not accurate at all. With my old model serie 7 I think was it not any problem.

So why not face it that there is a problem with ultra?

Best Regards

Same here, Garmin Fenix 3,6,7 no issues. I just bought a Garmin Epix to replace this faulty Ultra….it works brilliantly. My Apple Watch Series 6 worked fine. I believe the bigger square design just doesn’t sit on the wrist consistently well. $800 wasted. No luck getting a remedy through Apple so far.

After updating to os 9.5.. had a run again wearing both Garmin 7x Saphire Solar and Ultra! Although heart rate reading was steady on Ultra (wearing a ocean watchband) there was a HUGE difference between Garmin and Ultra in terms of heart rate reading! So I shall probably use Ultra just for casual ocassions but not for sport! Totally lost my trust in Ultra as a sport watch and I consider Apple advertisment on it as absolutely misleading! Absolutely gutted…

Let me ask you the following question - what Apple Watch Ultra band are you using when this HR reading issue happens? I have the Alpine Loop and the Trail Loop. This issue only happens when I wear the Alpine Loop, not with the Trail Loop. Also check if you purchased the right band size. For me with the Trail Loop I can control how tight the band is. The Alpine Loop is a bit loose and I have noticed that when the watch is not in full contact it doesn’t track the HR well. During an activity I think you can recognize when the watch is not tracking - in my case the HR is greyed out and not changing at all. In normal situations the HR recording is colored. Do you see the same in your cases?

Never tried Alpine loop, but I did try Trail and Ocean band! It seems HR reading improved a bit with Ocean than Trail but not too much! However, even if the reading is working, there is a huge difference with HR reading on Garmin ! Somewhere between 10 to 40 bpm difference which I think it tells a lot… Best way is to be equipped with HR chest band!

maavan wrote:

Let me ask you the following question - what Apple Watch Ultra band are you using when this HR reading issue happens? I have the Alpine Loop and the Trail Loop. This issue only happens when I wear the Alpine Loop, not with the Trail Loop.

For running I only tried Trail Loop and I tried it real tight, normal, loose; problem was always the same.

During an activity I think you can recognize when the watch is not tracking - in my case the HR is greyed out and not changing at all. In normal situations the HR recording is colored. Do you see the same in your cases?

Yes and no: When I get no recording, then yes, the HR is grayed out during the activity. However when I get wrong recordings, I do see a HR, but it is clearly wrong. E.g. I see 157 when just starting too run and then after 3 min or so it suddenly jumps down to a more normal 142.

I have done comparisons with Garmin Fenix. When the Apple Watch Ultra is recording normally, then it is them same as Garmin +-1. When it is off, there's a difference of up to 20.

I just don't know when the Ultra is showing it wrong, unless the readings are clearly off.

Yes, this is exactly the same that happens with me (@maavan). The HR is greyed out and not changing when the problem is happening.

I've already did a running activity after upgrading WatchOS to 9.5 and everything went fine, but I've also changed the band used. I was running with the Apline Loop and very frequently with problems.

Now, I've purchased a rubber band from Spigen that is more adequate for sweating sports and the combination with 9.5 was successful.

This band is definitely less lose than the Alpine one.

I will keep an eye on this and let you know.

PS: regarding the accuracy of the measurements, when compared to Garmin, I don't see any issue. I still have my Epix 2 and I did a couple of running activities with both watches and the measurements were quite spot on.

I have tried about 10 different watch bands, Apple and 3rd parties. From lose to extremely tight there is no difference. It is definitely not related to the tightness of the band. I have noticed watchOS 9.5 somewhat improved it, but still totally unreliable (and wrong readings, jumping to 150 right after started running or stays at 120 during sprints).

I ordered a COROS Apex 2 Pro and had none of those issues. I did not particularly like the design, I am going to try a Garmin Fenix 7 and will probably stick with it.

My only hope was waiting for watchOS10, but i do not want to wait until October.

The only thing that really makes me struggle to get rid of my Ultra is the „integration“ in the Apple ecosystem and Siri. Also I have to admit the design really beats all other watches.

But technically and from software point of view, its just not really good and not what I expect from a company such as Apple.

I really do not understand why Apple is not addressing or at least acknowledging this issue!

WatchOS9.5 had some fancy new faces as key features nothing mentioned about any bugfixes. That‘s what apple is putting focus on. Great job.

T2NTCN wrote:

My only hope was waiting for watchOS10, but i do not want to wait until October.

The only thing that really makes me struggle to get rid of my Ultra is the „integration“ in the Apple ecosystem.

Same for me, however I could do without. I tried running with the Fenix, and the only thing I missed is the Cellular service when running through forests.

Rumors have it that Epix/Fenix will have cell service in the next model to be announced next month. If that's true, that's probably the point in time for me to jump off the Apple Watch wagon.