Altimeter Variometer (Wear OS)

Review by eFreeware

Most altimeter apps for watches are general-purpose tools that happen to show height above sea level. This one is different in kind: it is built specifically for people who leave the ground on purpose, with dedicated skydive, wingsuit and paragliding modes, a variometer, and a set of alarms that exist because falling silently is not something you want to do.

That focus makes it easy to place. If you jump, glide or fly a wingsuit and you already wear a Wear OS watch, this is the sort of tool that fits the way you already work. If you are looking for a hiking altimeter or a weather-barometer widget, the app is not built around those uses, and its $18.99 price reflects the niche rather than the general market.

One watch, three flight profiles

The app organizes itself around three modes, and each one rearranges the screen and switches features on or off. In skydive mode, altitude sits in the center of the display, the variometer moves to a secondary field, altitude is zeroed automatically, the voice warning system is active, and swoop measurement is on. The vario beep and the glide measurement stay off, and the vario graph is hidden.

Wingsuit mode works much like skydive mode, with the glide measurement added to the picture. Paragliding mode flips the emphasis entirely: the variometer takes the center of the screen, altitude drops to the secondary field, the vario graph appears, and the audible vario beep is enabled.

What I like about this arrangement is that it removes a layer of fiddling. You choose the discipline, and the app decides which numbers deserve the most space and which sounds you hear in the air. A jumper and a paraglider pilot do not need the same screen, and the app treats them as different jobs rather than the same job with different labels.

Alarms that assume you are busy

The alarm set is the part that tells you who this app was written for. It covers breakoff, pull, AAD near-fire and hard-deck alerts, which are the checkpoints a skydiver or wingsuit flyer needs called out rather than watched for. In skydive and wingsuit modes, a double touch on the screen switches the altitude readout into thousands, matching the convention used by standard digital skydive altimeters.

For wingsuit pilots, the Voice Warning System goes further. Paired with earbuds, it speaks altitude information and alarm sounds, along with vario audio, so the numbers arrive as sound rather than as something you have to look down at. The developer positions the app as user friendly, intuitive, accurate and responsive, and the voice layer is the clearest expression of that idea: information delivered without demanding your eyes.

I would treat the audible variometer as the quieter counterpart. In paragliding mode the vario beep runs continuously, which is the traditional way thermal-hunting pilots read lift and sink without staring at a screen. Between the spoken warnings and the tone, the app leans heavily on audio, and that seems like the right instinct for sports where a glance costs you.

Navigation, swoop measurement and logged tracks

Beyond the numbers, the app offers distance and direction to a reference point, with a dropzone given as the example. That turns the watch into a simple steering aid on the way back, pointing you toward a known location rather than asking you to estimate. Swoop measurement, enabled in skydive mode, speaks to pilots who care about the distance covered during their final approach.

Flights can be exported as GPX files and shared through a mobile email app. That is a modest feature compared with the in-air toolset, but it matters after the fact: a track you can move off the watch is a track you can keep, share or review later. The developer lists these as core functions rather than extras, and they round out the app into something you use before and after a flight, not only during it.

What it needs, and what it will not do

Two requirements shape the experience. The first is a Wear OS watch, since the app is built for that platform. The second is the barometric sensor the app relies on. Since the altimeter works on barometric pressure, it is not meant for use inside a pressurized cabin. That rules out using it as a cabin-altitude toy on a commercial flight, and it is worth understanding before you buy.

The developer is also explicit that the app is an in-flight aid only and not a primary information source, and that certified instrumentation takes precedence during operation. I read that as a sensible boundary rather than a hedge: a wrist computer is a convenience, and the app's own alarms and voice prompts are there to support your training and your gear, not replace them.

The practical trade-offs are the price and the audience. At $18.99 with no ads and no in-app purchases, this is a straightforward paid tool rather than something you try for free. That combination points to a small, specific crowd of pilots rather than a broad consumer audience, and the app is priced and shaped accordingly.

The pilots this fits

The clearest fit is a skydiver or wingsuit flyer who already flies with a Wear OS watch and wants altitude, alarms and vario feedback on the wrist, with the option of hearing them through earbuds. Paraglider and glider pilots get their own mode, centered on the variometer and its graph and tone, which is the information those disciplines live by.

I would expect the voice warning system to be the deciding feature for wingsuit pilots, since it is the one capability that changes how much attention you spend on the screen. For anyone whose flying is purely recreational walking or hiking, the app has nothing to offer that a general altimeter would not, and the discipline-specific modes and alarms would go unused.

A specialized instrument worth its price for the right pilot

Altimeter Variometer is a narrow, deliberate app, and that is its strength. It takes three flight disciplines seriously, gives each one a sensible screen layout, and layers alarms, voice warnings and audio cues on top so the important numbers reach you without a look. The GPX export and reference-point navigation add useful bookends to a flight.

The caveats are honest ones: it needs a Wear OS watch, its barometric sensor rules out pressurized aircraft, and it is positioned as an aid rather than a primary instrument. At $18.99 with no ads or in-app purchases, it is a purchase you make because you fly, not because you might.

The app concentrates on flight sports such as skydiving, paragliding and wingsuit flying.

What's new in version 4.4

Compiled with API 36