Apple Watch 8 occasionally makes huge error in flights climbed

To count stairs climbed, the Apple Watch combines data from its barometer (for atmospheric pressure) and accelerometer, which senses motion. Without the accelerometer, any change in elevation (like an elevator) would be interpreted as stairs. It counts about 10 feet elevation gain as one flight of stairs.

When you get the anomalous readings, do they occur during changing weather conditions? For instance if the air pressure goes down (clouds or rain moving in) the watch, not knowing about the weather, might think you just went up a couple of flights stairs. But 22 flights of stairs seems like a lot!

AppleBJ2016 wrote:

No significant climatic changes. And the os is up to date. Every time it’s done this, the number is ridiculously high - 20- 22 flights.

If this matters to you, you can investigate further by looking inside the Show All Data option within the stair climbing metrics section of the Health app (on the iPhone). It shows the precise time and number of stair flights recorded for each day. You can also see which device (Watch or iPhone) recorded the flight of stairs at specific times. That may provide more insight. Note that an elevation change of 10 feet is recorded as a flight of stairs. 10 feet is not a lot.

AppleBJ2016 wrote:

My Apple Watch 8 (current os) occasionally miscounts flights climbed with a ridiculous number. On my outdoor walk (0 flights), it reported 22 flights climbed! This has occurred at least 3 other times in recent weeks. What’s up?

I've had that happen before, though not for a while. There was absolutely no apparent reason for it. I think I unpaired the watch and re-paired it.

Also, make sure you're updated to the current point release of watchOS.

AppleBJ2016 wrote:

It’s even worse now. Hardly any walking at all yesterday, and only 3-4 times going up stairs, and my watch thinks I did 22 flights!! Come on Apple, please fix this.

Apple is not here. Even if it is a bug, fixing one that is intermittent, non-life-threatening, and only affects a small number of people is 1) going to be hard and 2) not going to be a high priority. It is also possible that there is something wrong with your hardware. You might want to make an appointment with the local Genius Bar.

Meanwhile, unpair and re-pair the watch.

steve626 wrote:

To count stairs climbed, the Apple Watch combines data from its barometer (for atmospheric pressure) and accelerometer, which senses motion. Without the accelerometer, any change in elevation (like an elevator) would be interpreted as stairs. It counts about 10 feet elevation gain as one flight of stairs.

When you get the anomalous readings, do they occur during changing weather conditions? For instance if the air pressure goes down (clouds or rain moving in) the watch, not knowing about the weather, might think you just went up a couple of flights stairs. But 22 flights of stairs seems like a lot!

I had a weeklong span back in 2021 where I was seeing numbers in the twenties. Then it dropped back to normal. I happened once again about two years later. I don't think I have ever able to correlate it to weather conditions or anything else. At the time, I remember a couple of other people complaining about it.

Does your Outdoor walk include changes in the altitude, compared to the altitude of your starting point? That would explain the flights of stairs counted.

AppleBJ2016 wrote:

Thanks IdrisSeabright. I’ll try again.

It can't hurt and it doesn't take to long, so, nothing to lose.