heart rate spikes

I had the same problem. my watched showed random spikes to 198 and one time to over 200. Then one night it showed a drop to 30. Scared the heck out of me, and completely stressed me out. I did everything suggested above, tightened my watch, powered it off, unpared and repared. SO I called my doctor. My EKG was normal, but they had me wear a ZIO heart monitor for 2 weeks and had a cardiologist read the report.. Heart monitor report showed no spikes or drops during that 2 weeks, even though my watch showed some. My doctor said my heart was just fine, and it had to be a glitch with my watch. But it is scary, and it had me checking my watch constantly, every time I thought I felt something, I would check my watch.

My suggest is if this is happening to you, do call your doctor and get it checked out, it's better to safe than sorry. Just know it is very likely just a glitch, so don't stress to much over it.

How is the testing going? I am having the same thing happen with me and wondering if I should see cardiologist? Random spikes for a few seconds. I do have barycardia so the low alerts are consistent and expected but all a sudden I’m now getting random spikes from 60 to 153 while sitting on the couch! When to the primary care dr and he wants me to wear a heart monitor if it keeps happening. Keep me posted!

This is an Apple Watch sensor issue with bony wrists. Body fat seems to be required, particularly when exercising. As an Apple iOS / watchOS developer – you can trust i've done my homework.

Solution: Using an adjustable velcro type band, move the Apple Watch to your mid-forearm... and fasten down before running. snug is fine. you may feel odd sensation when turning arm over to look at wrist - but you'll get used to it, most especially when your Apple Watch performs flawlessly for each run. Zero spikes.

Best regards,

Sean

I just had this issue yesterday on a stationary bike. My heart rate jumped from 90 bpm to 177 bpm for 2 of 10 readings at 6:20PM and 5 of 10 readings at 6:21PM then dropped down to 83 bpm. I don't have a bony wrist.

What series Apple Watch do you have? Mine is series 2. I understand series three is improved. I look forward to the 4th release, and hopefully it will have the algorithm worked out to calculate blood pressure.

I have been using the Apple Watch for running almost daily since it's original release. Currently using AW3 LTE. I have consistently had the HR "spike" issue early in my runs on every watch, every OS. For me, it is usually 8 to 10 readings in the first quarter of a mile. I have tried all the tricks, and now just go in and delete the spikes through HR Data to get accurate run averages and peak HR history. That said, I use a Garmin 235 for runs > 15 miles (battery life, I am old and slow), and have similar issues with the Garmin from time to time. It also uses optical HR. Only real solution at this time I think is to use a Bluetooth chest HR monitor as others said. I used chest HR monitors on Garmin for years pre-Apple watch with near zero spike issues. I choose to live with this issue with AW3 because of convenience of LTE cellphone, and streaming music to airpods. I am sure they will fix this sometime as optical improves.

Rich W

I got really steamed at My Apple Watch 3 and almost heaved her across the room . I looked down while rubbing lotion on my hands and gasp my HR was 228 but I felt calm as a cucumber. It went back to 68. I was irritated so started rubbing lotion on my hand vigorously and sure enough it spiked to 168. But luckily I am wearing an MCOT patch monitor this week to check for SVT and when I called th Doc , no spikes at all . This is a common issue for me when the watch gets bumped or moved while ie doing dishes or sweating outside it slides. I got it for its ability to monitor my heart as well as release me from th Big phone but lately it’s just arm candy .

I had notified Apple Care and the Cardiogram app, in the midst of a heart study. Went to the Genius Bar and had my series two watch replaced. Alas, the spikes do continue, just much less frequently than before. I did get a suggestion to change to a sport loop band which would fit more snugly. I currently wear the watch higher up the forearm until I get the other band.

Take that watch to the Genius Bar and have the dates of those high spikes ready to show from your Apple health app. The tech will report the random spiking to research and development. If more people had their watches evaluated/swapped out, then the next generation of watches will be improved.

I have the same issue often in the beginning of a walking workout. Pulse goes from the 80's up to say 180 for a brief period and then back to the 80's. I've seen it over 200 at times. When this happens, I calmly stop and take my HR the old fashioned way, at my wrist or neck with a watch. I also on occasion wear a Polar HR monitor at the same time, and use a recording program I can refer back to. So far the Polar has shown no such spikes.

That said, just because there is a bug with the Apple HR program doesn't mean that every spike is wrong. Some of the spikes mentioned during sleep (up to say 110) can be quite normal and attributed to dream or awake activity that you may not remember in the morning. There are also arrhythmia's, like SVT and Afib, that can cause momentary spikes into the high 100's or more. The odds are that any spike you get with the Apple Watch is from a bug, but to be sure, I suggest wearing a good second HR monitor at the same time to compare notes, at least from time to time. Of course, counting your pulse the old fashioned way will work as well, as long as you are able to do it quickly enough.

Hi, I have the same issue. Was running on the threadmill when my heart rate shot up to 177 from 128. The first time, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. The second time, I decided to check it on the monitor built into the threadmill and it showed the correct rate. As soon as I did that, the watch corrected itself. It happened again today and I checked the watch reading immediately after taking my hands off the metal part of the threadmill monitor and the rate went from 178 to 144 (which is normal for me when running). Just thought I'd share.

I had the same exact issue. The first time it happened I actually thought something was wrong with my heart and went to the doctor. I used to have Fitbit Alta HR and it provided much more reliable reading than a $500 apple watch.

I am also unsatisfied with my watch 3 which I have been using religiously since January. I have logged 274 “move goal days” already.

I am at the gym about 2 hrs a day and record each workout using the app. I record mostly elliptical and occasionally “other” when I have fitness classes.

Clearly the watch is unable to get the proper heart rate. The problem with the algorithm is that it picks up twice the regular heart rate and will oscillate between the true heart rate (around 100 for me) and go to twice it’s value.

I don’t need Apple’s advice to get an external HR monitor. This is clearly an easy fix which they won’t do. I have had this problem continually in the past but ignored it if it wasn’t too big of an issue. Recently I updated to watchOS 5 and the problem seemed to have gotten worse. So I reset the watch and did a recalibration walking outside. The problem is now MUCH WORSE than before such that an entire workout will be at twice the HR as you can see on this graph.

My strap is on tight but not too tight. I am doing rhythmic exercises so none of the usual disclaimers hold. Simply in my opinion I cannot recommend the AW to others who want to get a sports band to track their HR.

(For what it’s worth I am a professor of computer engineering at a top twenty university worldwide. I have expertise in pitch tracking and know the issues of real-time signal analysis. However this problem should not be a difficult one to solve.)

I have solved issues with heart rate spiking with my Series 3 Apple Watch by no longer using it for workouts. The Polar H1 is more accurate and synchronizes with my iPhone perfectly. Apple was nice enough to replace my defective watch with a new one but I prefer the Polar as do most serious athletes. In the gym I can easily see my heart rate on the iPhone which I leave on the control panel of the machine I am using.

Six months ago I had heart surgery to repair a defect. During my recovery I was required to keep my heart at lower rates when working out. The AW did not track changes in my heart rate reliably and wasn’t nearly as fast as the Polar which seems to have a near immediate reading of my bpm. Aditionally, the large display in the iPhone is much easier to see than a watch on my wrist.

I love the idea of the AW, but a $100 Polar H1 blows it away.

I too have been experiencing spikes at random times, often when doing absolutely nothing but sitting watching tv. I immediately checked my blood pressure usping 2 different cuffs and everything was normal . Frustrating since this hasn’t happened with either versions of my watces until recently. I expect better from Appl, especially with the high prices.