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.

[David-N]

Hi Jane, 

The problem still exists. There has been no improvement sincce I logged this issue. For example, today I went for a 26km ride. I recorded it with my Garmin 830 and my Apple Ultra 2 watch. The ride metrics between both devices were slightly different, but not concerning - except for the ascent data for the Apple Ultra 2, The Garmin 830 recorded a 419m ascent while the Apple Ultra recorded a 410m ascent. When the rides from these devices were imported to Strava the ascent figures for both devices are as follows. Garmin 830 has a 419m ascent (no change), while the Apple Ultra 2 shows a 446m ascent (increase of 36m or 8.8%). This clearly shows that Strava is modifying the Apple Ultra data upon import, but not the Garmin import data. Modifying the data is clearly unnecessary and throws the accuracy of Apple devices out by a significant margin. It means that you cannot trust the ascent data from Apple devices in Strava, but you can trust this data on the Apple devices. Note: this issue is not limited to the Apple Watch Ultra 2. I have found the same issue when I have recorded activities with my iPhone. Given Apple devices are how I typically record my activities I am considering not renewing my Strava membership unless this issue is resolved ASAP. 

[David-N]

Just letting you know that this issue has not been fixed. Surely the fix is simply to not modify the imported data from Apple Watches?

[David-N]

Hi Jane, on 22 Dec 2023 I recorded a ride with Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Garmin Edge 830.

Apple Watch workout recorded 569m altitude gain. Garmin Edge 830 recorded 566m altitude gain.

Both recordings were imported into Strava.

In Strava App the Apple Watch workout showed 694m altitude gain.

In Strava App the Garmin Edge 830 showed 566m altitude gain.

The Apple Watch import shows Strava (incorrectly) increased the altitude gain by 125m.

Also, I am unable to adjust the elevation to fix any incorrect altitude readings for the workouts imported from my Apple Watch, but I am able to adjust the elevation of the correct altitude gain readings from workouts imported from the Garmin Edge.

[Onkelonken]

Yes it seems to work. Data is displayed again as before.

Thanks very much!

[RonHuizenga]

So in other words it's a fix on the back end when posting rather than a fix that is downloaded to the code on the watch (and/or the phone the watch is paired to).  A little more detail in the explanation goes a long way.

[Jane]

Hello Everyone,

Thanks for your patience with this.  A fix has been rolled out in the latest update.  If you haven't done so already, please update your watch and let us know if you continue to have any problems after that.

[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.