Elevation not working on Apple Watch Ultra 2

One more update today. I called Apple support and was on the phone with them for a bit over an hour. The did a lot of remote diagnostics on both my phone and my watch including testing the components of the watch and everything seems OK including the barometer. They are working on the problem and want me to take a screenshot of my watch face when the elevation disappears-maybe I will do a short run on Wednesday. So at least it seems like Apple support is trying pretty hard to understand what is going on. I gave them a lot of information about when the elevation works and when it drops out. They will call me on Thursday.

The elevation gain appears to be working but is not shown on the elevation screen as the altitude is missing. This is very annoying as I use elevation and gain for running and SkiMo. I am in Colorado and have a clear view of the sky, my GPS track is fine.

Sad to say that today my replacement Apple Watch Ultra 2 started dropping elevation just like my old watch. After two runs with no problems, the third run was not good. Constantly dropping the elevation display. It has to be some design flaw. Love my Apple watch for everything except this, but I am done using this watch for running. Too frustrating. From now on I am going to use either my Coros or Garmin watch and start carrying my iPhone. When the next big update comes out with the revamped workout app I will try it again. No plans to buy another Apple Watch though.

I have the same issue, on almost every run the altitude is dropped. I was running iOS 11 betas and reported this to Apple as a bug. I do not think this is a hardware issue and BT on or off does not matter. Occurring on an Ultra 2 often. Will likely file a support request.

Updated my Ultra 2 to 11.1 and went for my usual run. Thought it was fixed until 3.5 miles when the elevation dropouts returned. Have spent around 2 hrs with Apple tech support and a data dump was sent to Apple about 2-3 weeks ago and since then nothing. Again, I have had the same issue with two different Ultra 2 watches and it is not location specific. Not sure Apple is ever going to respond. The tech support person I am working with said he would contact me when he gets a response from Apple. I am using my Coros watch now for running and carry my iPhone with me. I have also used my wife's non-cellular Apple Watch 9 three times and no problems. This problem with the Ultra 2 is now into its second year.

Hope you are right. I have the identical problem. It has persisted through many OS upgrades including iOS11.

First elevation gain cannot be as simple as beginning and end. Routes are complex and have many ups and downs so you are incorrect on this. Second, fitness shows a perfect altitude profile so there is some issue with the display of data but not recording. Yes I have AppleCare.

Apple Workout app uses GPS to determine change in elevation from start of workout to end of workout. Ultra watches use dual band GPS, but will use stride if GPS is unavailable.

Altitude is calculated by using barometric pressure and limited use of GPS.

Just not sure if any of that information helps or what the exact issue is.

I would like to receive your feedback. My Apple Watch Ultra 2 has an issue where the altitude does not change; it is fixed at a certain value. This occurs whether I am going up or down stairs or taking an elevator. Only after walking for about 30 minutes in an outdoor area with a good GPS signal does the altitude reset, but when it will show a fixed value again is unpredictable. I have also noticed that even if the altitude reading is incorrect (such as indoors without GPS), starting an outdoor running workout will immediately correct the altitude reading, but once the workout stops, the altitude no longer changes. I sought help at an Apple store and was told it might be a software issue, but the problem still exists even after using the latest iOS and watchOS versions.

I finally called Apple tech support and explained my issue and they sent me a new watch. I returned my old one. I have Applecare+ for the watch. The first short run I did, it was good on the trails and dropped out twice for about 10 seconds around some traffic lights. I did the full trail run today and it never dropped out anywhere. So it seems there was some issue with my original Ultra 2. Maybe the barometer was on the low end of engineering tolerance or something. Hoping my replacement watch will keep performing well.

Tried the watch again after updating to OS11 and no change. What drives me nuts is there is probably someone at Apple who knows exactly what the problem is whether it be hardware or software, but all of use are left in the dark. This watch is great, but far and away the most frustrating watch I have. My guess is that once the accuracy of the elevation gets out of spec the elevation stops displaying until it gets back in spec. Also strange is that the replacement watch worked OK for a short time then ended up just as bad as the original I bought. Go figure. Once again back to Garmin and Coros for running. Those watches NEVER fail to give accurate elevation displays.

Yes, I found that once the error margin becomes ±25 meters, it quickly turns into a fixed number that is a multiple of 5, regardless of whether you go up or down stairs. The Ultra 2 starts with an error margin of ±5 meters, then changes to ±10 meters, ±15 meters (this value will start showing a ~), ±20 meters, ±25 meters, and ±30 meters (where it becomes a fixed number). However, for another Series 8 at the same location, even if the error margin is ±25 meters, it will eventually change to ±20, ±15, ±10, rather than becoming a fixed number. Even with a large error and inaccurate values, at least moving up and down stairs or taking the elevator will still vary based on the barometer.

Did my usual run this morning with my Ultra 2 and once again with my wife's 9. Once again hers was rock solid and elevation never dropped out. It never has using her watch. Since I knew already that I had issues with my watch using Outdoor Run in the Workout app, I tried using Outdoor Walk instead. No difference. Still got the dropouts as usual, but I noticed one very informative thing. At one point the elevation reading came back and was similar to the reading on the 9, but then the reading on the Ultra 2 started to decrease for no reason and then the dropout occurred. That makes me think that when the barometer reading exceeds a certain threshold for instability then the reading defaults to --ELEV. Anyway my conclusion is that either I have two Ultra 2 watches with bad barometers or the Ultra 2 has some design issue. One would think that the Ultra 2 should outperform the 9 for any kind of navigation or elevation but that is not the case for me. I am going to call Apple again and see if I can get a 3rd watch. If that one does not work I will have to conclude that it is a design problem.

I've this issue since Apple watch ultra 1. It's a very interesting and frustrating bug because I consistently have my elevation go 'haywire' after around half hour of running. But it seems only some people have this issue, or else it'll be a lot more widely reported. It's not a hardware problem because after I come home and connect to the phone, the issue will solve itself.

I reported having dropouts with my watch as well. I am running an 18.2 Appleseed beta and the dropouts have largely or completely disappeared. I am doing a 3h trail run today that has no cell and I’ll put the phone in Airplane mode. I’ll report back on any dropouts.