Incorrect Elevation Gains Apple Watch

[RonHuizenga]

Hi All,

I use Strava on my Apple Watch Series 6.  For the past few weeks (since last OS update), elevation gains (outdoor ride) have been way off, reporting at least double what they should be.  Is anyone else experiencing the same?  I removed and reinstalled Strava on my watch and phone, but that hasn't made any difference.

[RonHuizenga]

Jane - what is the ETA for this update to be in the Apple store?  The most recent Strava update was Dec 22 based on anything I can see. 

[CDparks]

What update are you referring to? There is no update available to the Strava app or the Apple watch itself.

[RonHuizenga]

Hi Jane,

I don't see an available update yet (Canadian app store).  I assume there's a bit of lag before it gets posted there?

[Jane]

Hello,

Sorry to hear of the errors with elevation and thanks for posting about this.

Firstly, please note that you can swap the elevation data stream over from your watch hardware over to our server-side calculation which should look more accurate.

To correct your elevation:
 

• From the activity page click on (◦◦◦) the more options menu > Correct Elevation.
• From the pop-up, click "Correct Elevation."
• When the status changes from "Calculating" to "Updated," refresh the page.

I see Apple has also recently published an article with steps to calibrate your watch hardware if there are issues with data acquisition: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204516 

Please let us know if these troubleshooting steps are helpful.

[AndyB-UK]

I just had to fix some elevation data that my device recorded incorrectly (750m elevation gain when it was more like 100m). On looking at the profile, it was fluctuating wildly (unsure why, as it is normally OK).

The  "Correct Elevation" option wasn't available to me so, to fix it, I exported the gpx file from strava, deleted the activity, edited the gpx file to remove all the <ele> entries, then imported it as a manual activity. This preserved all the original data (including segment times) but replaced the elevation with something calculated by strava (which is far closer to the truth than my device data in this case).

Removing the <ele> tags can be done quickly in the vim text editor using this command:

:%s/<ele.*ele>//g

Any other text editor that can delete things based on regular expression matching will also be fine and should be able to remove all the <ele> tags in bulk.

Hope this helps others who can't find any other way of fixing elevation information.

[RonHuizenga]

I responded by email as well, but copying here for the benefit of the others that are experiencing the problem:  

I’ve already fixed the posts with the server side calculation. However, that doesn’t address the underlying problem. The watch is also calibrated correctly. I have verified that in the compass application.

There are several other users here that have already chimed in indicating that they are experiencing the same problem. Rather than trying to deflect the issue, you should be looking at your code to see what could be causing the issue, whether it’s in your own code or something that has happened due to recent OS updates. Either way, you should be regression testing to ensure it is working properly.

[RonHuizenga]

I just got an email from Hank in Strava Support, acknowledging that there is a problem they are looking into:  "Moving forward, we are investigating an issue with how the watch derived elevation is being synced and displayed in our system. Previously, we would use solely the Basemap elevation data (derived from Strava) for watch activities. Now, we use the elevation data coming directly from the watch and this is leading to issues with how the elevation data is displayed on our end. Your patience while we work to resolve this issue is very much appreciated."

[RonHuizenga]

I reported by email as well.  I also found that if I go onto the Strava website and click the 3 dots to the left of my activity, there is an option to correct the elevation.  By clicking that Strava calculates the approximate elevation gain based on the database.   Then to make matters even more confusing, the elevation gain recorded on my ride yesterday seemed to be fine.

[Onkelonken]

Exactly the same problem. I have a trip with 500m, since a few days it calculates 600 to 1300 meters. The graph is ok, but the calculation is not correct.

[Gezer]

I have the same problem. Around double what I’m actually doing