Phone Disconnect notification and inaccurate stair count!

The last two weeks, I've noticed that whenever I get more than 10 ft away from my phone, I get a disconnect notification. And then when I get closer, I get a connected notification. I had never received these before and the bluetooth range seems to be severely diminished.

Also, I've had another issue since day one. The stair count feature is useless. I rarely take stairs during the day, but somehow I hit ten floors by lunch most days. I've tried calibrating the altimeter many times. Has anyone found a fix for this?

  • The maximum Bluetooth is about 30 feet/10 meters of range between the S70 and your smartphone. Often the range may be around 15 feet in certain environmental settings, and the range will vary depending on whether you are indoors or outdoors. The effective range is reduced when the signal has to pass through certain objects. Materials like glass, wood, metal, concrete or water can alter the signal strength of a Bluetooth connection. 

    You can disable the disconnect/connect alerts if you would like through the Settings > Notifications & Alerts > System Alerts > Toggle phone connection alerts on/off tapping the switch. 

    For more info, please reference the Garmin Support page linked here: I’m Getting Frequent Bluetooth Connection Alerts on My Garmin Watch


    Regarding the concern you mentioned with the floors climbed activity tracking feature, the Approach S70 measures floors climbed using the barometric altimeter sensor to record a floor based on your change in elevation measured from the baro sensor built into the side of the watch.

    Every 10ft/3 meters in elevation change is considered a floor climbed, so throughout the day changes in air pressure measured by the sensor is used to determine your floors climbed. It is important to consider the factors that may affect the barometric altimeter sensor measuring air pressure, and calibration of the sensor on the watch. 

    For more info and troubleshooting steps for the floors climbed feature, please reference the Garmin Support page linked here: The Floors Climbed Feature Is Not Accurate on My Watch