heart rate spikes

I bought a Series 4 Apple Watch back in November of 2018. At first, no issues. The HR seemed overall accurate in comparison to my old Fitbit readings. However, it's March now and I have noticed random spikes. One time my HR showed on the display as 185, which was impossible because all I did was walk. My walking HR also shows as 146 or up sometimes, which I know cannot be correct. The sudden dips in HR really scared me at first- it would go from 60s to 130 in half a second, when all I did was stand up or just walk around. I have owned both Firbit HR 1 and 2 series and I have never had such a high walking HR, only during exercise. Seeing that this has been a recurring issue with different Apple Watch series, makes me think there has to be a software error. Also, it would be nice if Apple Watch offered continuous HR monitoring like Fitbit.

I tried , using a Polar H7 sensor with its strap and the result is the same...!!! spikes and erratic high values at start during 10-15 minutes...

I have a Series 2 watch and my watch started alerting me during the night (waking me up) that my heart rate was spiking @ 120+bpm versus the usual resting rate in the low 50's. Quite disconcerting and definitely didn't facilitate a restful remainder of the nocturnal hours.

The watch is less than a year old - fitted correctly - with reasonable battery - latest OS - so I can only assume it's the latest version glitch everyone else is talking about. Not ideal - here's hoping it gets fixed asap.

Place your iwatch on a desk and select the heart rate. Strange my desk is alive and well at 72 and then it spikes all over the map, so when your watch is not making contact the readings are meaningless and go all over the map causing concern for many.

Apple Engineers please insert a few lines of code to validate if the current t reading is within reason compared to the last couple of readings, and if not look at the next reading to see if the spike is continual. If it is then it’s a valid reading, but if not you need to suppress these spikes as they are garbage and are of no value to anyone. A simple validity check will resolve these spikes and provide us all a useful heart rate monitor.

Currently in my opinion the iwatch heart monitor is of no value to me and should be ignored until it’s addressed with a validity check.

I noticed it would spike at random times but could never figure it out until one day I turned on the heart rate complication on the face of the watch. I sit on my hands sometimes at work and found this was the cause of the spikes. I can see why sleeping with it on would cause the same spike issues if you happened to be sleeping on your arm or hand.

I have the exact same unsettling experiences almost daily . I do have the watch for health reasons as I have SVT but it is rare but I like to know what my heart rate is if it goes up over 140 and doesn’t come down. That aside this faulty readings are makes me a nervous wreck with the alerts , i do feel they are relate to erratic arm movements cos really I would know if my heart was 156bpm, I’d feel it .

I’m close to getting rid of the watch as it has become the friend that turns on you from time to time lol

I am using an Apple watch Series 4 44mm Nike edition and I get anormal and erratic readings of my heart rate when starting to jog o run at a slow pace... usually it takes 10-15 minutes reading erratic values and then it starts more uniform values ( note : I jog at the same speed all time, so there i no reason for High heart rate values )

In Apple's terminology, the original Apple Watch range is referred to as "Apple Watch (1st generation)".

There is no such model range as "Series 0".

Apple offers the following resource for identifying Apple Watch models:

Identify your Apple Watch - Apple Support

To check your Apple Watch model - along with any remaining service and support coverage - you can also enter the serial number here:

• Check Your Service and Support Coverage - Apple Support
• Find the serial number for your Apple Watch - Apple Support

I decided to return to use my Polar V800 heart rate monitor instead of this inaccurate Apple watch... it does not help to use it, it is better the Polar....!!!

Yes I’ve had apple 3 watch for over a year with consistent heart rate readings. But in last week I’ve had multiple readings over 150! Then it goes back to normal 65-90 range

similar issues with data readings spiking with my series 3.

I can be lying flat with a HR around 70bmp, and then get 1, 2, or 3 abnormal readings for no reason at all at over 140bmp, over 170 bmp, or on several occasions gotten 210bmp. No exertion on my part to explain the spikes. I've also had drops down to 39bmp on the same day as the spikes during the day while sitting up!

I am owner of a Series 4 Nike Edition , and no matter how tight the band is , at the start of my training it always show abnormal values ( very high ) and after some minutes of erratic values it start to give good readings.

I started using a Polar Heart rate sensor to see if the problem continues and , yes, I get erratic values when starting my training.

What can I do ?

If the problem continues I will prefer to continue using my Polar V800....

Any solution ?

I have had the same issue. My heart rate spikes when I sleep. It says it will go from 60 to 160 bpm if it was getting that high I'm sure I would wake up. One night it said it lasted almost 1 hour and the other night it said 5 minutes. It doesn't happen every night but like two times per week. It was causing some anxiety but I realized if it's happening at night it would be happening during the day. There was a couple times it said my heart rate was 35 during the day. There is no way that's correct maybe if I was in REM sleep but not awake and moving. Maybe I'm just one of those people who won't get a good reading. I almost wondering if me moving around in my sleep. I don't know I was thinking about asking my doctor to let me use a heart monitor for a week to make sure it's not doing that' but I really think it's the watch cuz like I said 160 is a high and I believe it would wake me up and it would happen during the day.

Same for me !

I have the brand new Apple Watch Nike Edition (no cellular) and i have many spikes during my run.

I also noticed that the hr is anormaly high during the first minutes of my run (around 170bpm, i'm sure i'm not that high !) and then go down near 140bpm, which is correct.

Of course i wear my watch correctly, not too tight or too loose...

I had the same issue with my previous watch nike serie 2.

It's very bad not to have a reliable hrm when you want to run depending on your bpm 😟