Apple earlier this month unveiled Apple Watch Ultra, the tech giant’s highest-end smartwatch to date. The premium smartwatch carries a starting price of $1,099 and is geared towards extreme athletes and adventurers.
Apple Watch Ultra is designed to be the perfect companion for when you’re far away from civilization, whether you’re below sea level or atop a mountain. That being the case, Apple Watch Ultra comes with many new features that make athletes’ and explorers’ lives easier (and safer).
For example, the Compass app can now add waypoints to mark specific locations. It also has a new feature called “Backtrack” that records where you’ve been so you can retrace your steps in case you lose your bearings. Backtrack is automatically enabled when the user enters a low signal or Wi-Fi density area.
However, YouTuber DC Rainmaker highlighted a “super scary bug” with the Backtrack feature in his recent in-depth adventurer’s review of the Apple Watch Ultra.
When he took Apple Watch Ultra hiking in the Alps for his review, the YouTuber found that the Compass app no longer showed his Backtrack data after his trail became significantly long around 6-8 hours into his hike.
In reality, the data didn’t disappear — it just takes really long to populate after some time. Even so, the YouTuber noted how concerning this behaviour was, especially while he was in the middle of nowhere and relying on the Backtrack feature to find his way back.
Apple has said that this issue is a known bug, and it will be fixed in the next watchOS release for Apple Watch Ultra. The tech giant started releasing watchOS 9.0.1 earlier this week, which included a fix for another Apple Watch Ultra bug that resulted in distorted phone calls.
The YouTuber was also less than impressed by the Apple Watch Ultra’s complete lack of native navigation functionality. You can use a third-party navigation app on Apple Watch Ultra, but he said that built-in navigation is pretty much a staple for hikers, adventurers, and others who make up the majority of Apple’s target audience for this device.
Apple officially launched Apple Watch Ultra on Friday. You can click here to order yours today!
