Apple Watch Ultra Heart Rate During Workout

Sorry, little off-topic and may sound like an ad for Garmin (it is not supposed to be).

So, i finally ordered a Fenix7 which arrived yesterday. Boy, thats a completely different league in terms of training metrics. You have any data you can think of, stamina gauges, race time predictions, breathing rate, body temperature and whatnot. I am not a scientist and have to figure out what it all means, but the apple watch software feels so rudimentary compared to that. There are freely adjustable workout screens, custom watch faces etc. - unbelievable.

The only drawback in my point of view is the LCD display - it has a great visibility in direct sunlight and outdoors, but its really not very well readable indoors.

In any case, Apple got some serious homework to do in terms of software and training data and not only for running.

Germany’s leading IT magazine has now picked up this issue:

https://www.heise.de/news/Apple-Watch-Ultra-Erhebliche-Probleme-bei-Herzfrequenzmessung-moeglich-9196733.html

It was interesting to read that they saw the issue on some of their Ultras but not all (2 of 4):

The same person wearing one Ultra experienced the issue, whereas it didn’t occur when the same person was wearing a different one.

That’s a strong indicator that it is a hardware issue 😮

@Apple, anything?

Probably gonna kicked out of the Apple community or the post will be censored, but I’ll try it anyways. I sold my Ultra couple of weeks back and got a Garmin Epix 2 Pro instead. Never looking back. The ultra is a „lifestyle toy“ and not getting any better with watchOS10. The Epix is a serious training gadget, which does basically everything orders of magnitudes better (sleep tracking, training, workout etc.) if you are into sports, there is no reason to keep this crappy device. I’m done with Apple Watches, although I have every other possible Apple device and still love those :-)

im having same issues. Works fine at start of run then 5min into the run the readings stop and magically comes back randomly later. Very disappointed as you can imagine for such a high end Apple Watch. I do believe it’s a software bug and not the hardware sensor doing the reading. I have a feeling it’s to do with the heart rate zone transitions at beginning of runs being steep. One area I played around with and found some progress was to change the workout heart rate zones from auto to manual and just have one zone covering the whole range and check results. I think this will fix it

I've tried everything. Running with the phone, various tightening of the strap, reset with a restore from backup and nothing helped. I have to run with a chest strap to be ok. Half a year saving up for an expensive watch that then doesn't work as it should. I'm really disappointed.

Translated with DeepL (https://www.deepl.com/app/?utm_source=ios&utm_medium=app&utm_campaign=share-translation

I have. I use nike run concurrently with either strava or the activity app. Source is the same so porting over the heart rate seems to work for both those apps when using them at the same time. I've never used 3 apps to track my runs tho

I am having this same problem six months later. The watch just won’t read my heart rate. In a 10 mins relaxed run in mellow or hot weather, it will read only once at 160bpm at some point, and stay grayed out for the whole rest of the time. No idea what zone I was in either. I spent so much, and other Apple Watches never had this issue

edit: also, I’m in latest iOS and watchOS. This is quite unacceptable

So I had around 30 runs since my last post without a hickup in heart rate. Things that I do is make sure watch so snug around 2 finger width above wrist bone.( if you have the ocean strap use it as it stops the Watch from slipping down). Next I changed the workout heart rate zones from auto to manual and just have one zone covering the whole range zone1 max=240 . Hope this helps

I have an Apple Watch Ultra and I’ve tried it all. I’ve used my watch indoors, outdoors cold weather, hot weather, reset the watch, finally asked for a replacement. The replacement is worse! I all occurs when I really increase my heart rate rapidly during a workout. It fades out I stop my workout wait 15+ seconds and it comes back on but my heat rate has dropped. Apple, as usual, not admitting it’s a problem. I am not the only one with this problem. I hate to be a conspiracy theorist but is this some kind of ploy by Apple to send us a glitch in the update to get us to buy a new watch when they come out next month? Does anybody have any solutions I have not tried ?

Is this your first Apple Watch? I had many others, since Series 4, and other similar devices. Never had that problem until now. I'm not sure it's a problem with the Ultra or with a recent update, but it other watches (including apple older gens) never had this problem, and gave readings much faster and much more consistently. I have stretches of 15 mins without readings. This is simply unacceptable and has to be looked at (probably software!), no matter how much corporate talk you can give about Apple new best in the world sensors and blah blah blah.

The point was that i have not found a solution. I had done everything online that. everyone told me and nothing has worked. I’ve called Apple Support I have looked online I had the watched replaced through Apple care and the replacement is worse. It only occurs during workouts. If I move the intensity of my workout up quickly it glitches out 3-4 or more per workout and I have no idea of my heart rate. During cardio workouts where I increase intensity slowly most of the time it is ok but even then it occurs sometimes. I paid a premium price for a product I expect premium performance. I don’t think that’s too much to ask .

I have the same problem. Watch os 10 is better, but not without a problem. I also tried everything and nothing helped. I think the best apple programmers work on apple vision and other systems are not a priority and that may not be worth it for apple. Personally, I am already interested in the competition. Good luck.

If this were the case then it would read well in warm weather or if you workout indoors. Mine glitches out all the time while I am working out indors outdoors warm weather, cold weather. The only common thread I have is that it tends to do it only if my heart rate increases quickly such when during my workout I increase the intensity of my workout. One apple advisor suggested that I hold my arm perfectly still for 10-15 seconds but by then my heart rate has dropped so that IS NOT an acceptable solution. I even had them replace my watch and the new one is worse

I paid good money for an Ultra supposedly a premium watch to enhance my workouts. I am quite surprised and dissapointed Apple has not addresses this issue, if this is a software glitch why has it not been fixed by an update. Is this not important for Apple? This watch was marketed to enhance workouts and yet this problem has happened and is quite widespread. If this is a ploy to get me to but a new watch it's not working for me and the people I know, frankly it is having quite the opposite effect. I will not be buying a new one I wlll be looking elsewhere for a good reliable fitness tracker wth a good heart rate monitor. Any suggestions ?

I had around 30 runs since my last post without a hickup in heart rate. Things that I do is make sure watch so snug around 2 finger width above wrist bone.( if you have the ocean strap use it as it stops the Watch from slipping down). Next I changed the workout heart rate zones from auto to manual and just have one zone covering the whole range zone1 max=240 . Hope this helps

Good luck I went through everything apple support told me looked online still it stops recording during workouts. Finally they sent a new watch it did the same thing…. only worse 😐. It happens every time during my workout when I increase the intensity to get my heart rate up. I’ve tried tightening it loosening it moving it further up on my wrist , lower it on my wrist. I am currently looking at purchasing a non Apple Watch for fitness tracking . I mean I spent $799 for a premium watch that was supposedly geared. for fitness tracking ! Come on Apple you can do better than this. Evidently this is a widespread issue . What do we get from Apple ….. silence or suggestions that are non fixes bad PR Apple. They are evidently not too concerned with current customers problems with a real issue. They safe preparing for their big “event” rather than current customers who have a legitimate issue. Do they know people talk and tell their friends! I will not be buying apple products and begin my shift starting now. I will not buy another product and as the products I have now reach the end of their usefulness I will buy non apple only. Starting with a watch that correctly tracks my fitness any suggestions?