10 Common Apple Watch problems

Like iOS, watchOS is a stable and robust operating system, but sometimes it can happen to have some problems. Here are the most common, and how to solve them.
Ten Apple Watch problems and how to solve them

Like iOS, watchOS is a stable and robust operating system, but it can happen that for various reasons the user is not able to perform certain operations, tasks and solve problems from which he does not know how to exit. We have compiled a list of ten of the most common problems and indications of how to solve them.

Apple Watch does not pair with iPhone

The Apple Watch connection problem is one of the most common that users face. Here is what to do when you are unable to match watch and iPhone:

  • First try turning off and activating Bluetooth on the iPhone;
  • if the first method did not work, turn the airplane mode on and off on the iPhone.
  • finally, if you have not yet reached the result, restart Apple Watch. Doing it is very simple: long press the side button and when the scrolling option is displayed, take the slide to turn off the clock. Next, turn on the smartwatch by long pressing the side button.

The Apple Watch display does not reactivate

You can activate and reactivate the Apple Watch display in three ways:

– Raising the pulse: when we lower it, the Apple Watch display is dimmed again.
– Touching the display or pressing the Digital Crown.
– Rotating the Digital Crown upwards (Apple Watch Series 2 and later models).

To enable the latter option, you need to open the Apple Watch app on the iPhone, tap “Apple Watch”, go to General> Activate screen, then activate “Rotating the crown upwards”.

If you do not wake up Apple Watch, make sure you have selected the correct orientation of your wrist and Apple Watch. If Apple Watch does not reactivate when we touch the display or press or rotate the Digital Crown, it may need to be charged. Also check that the “Show” mode is deactivated (if it is active, the icon is shown with the two masks on the screen). This setting activates the Silent mode and darkens the screen until we touch or press a button. To deactivate the “Show” mode simply open the Control Center, scroll and check the settings.

The battery does not last long

The Apple Watch battery charge should guarantee about a day of use. If the battery charge is drastically reduced during the day, some particular problem setting may be active.

You can instantly check the battery from the watch face, from the Control Center or from the Night mode. scrolling the dial to open the Control Center it is possible to see the percentage of the battery, touch the battery percentage and drag the low-power mode slider to use “Low consumption”. This option allows you to display only the time on Apple Watch (by pressing the side key) reducing battery consumption. In this mode, Apple Watch and iPhone do not communicate and the other functions of the watch cannot be accessed.

Notifications are a possible source of consumption. Open the Apple Watch app on iPhone and, from the Notifications section, deactivate those that are not of interest to you.

When you run or walk, activate the energy saving mode to switch off the heart rate monitor: open the Apple Watch app on the iPhone, tap Apple Watch> Training and activate “Energy saving”. Remember that when the heart rate monitor is not active the calculation of calories burned may be less precise.

For longer workouts, you can use a Bluetooth chest strap instead of the integrated heart rate monitor. To match it to your watch, make sure the band is in Pairing mode, then open Settings on Apple Watch, choose Bluetooth and select it in the “Medical Devices” list.

If you move your hands a lot and the clock display turns on more often than necessary, you can make sure that this does not happen every time you raise your wrist. On Apple Watch, open Settings, select General> Enable Screen, and disable “Activate the screen when you raise your wrist”. When we want to activate the display, simply touch it or press the Digital Crown.

Keep in mind that the Apple Watch battery runs out more quickly if we turn off Bluetooth on the iPhone. To optimize the energy consumption of communications between devices, keep Bluetooth always on.

Remember, finally to adjust the brightness. Open the Settings app on Apple Watch, then “Brightness and text” and touch the Brightness controls to adjust it or the slider, then rotate the Digital Crown.

The Apple Watch does not update

It is essential to update the software to the latest version. To see if there are updates, open the Apple Watch app on the iPhone and tap Apple Watch> General> Software update. If an update is available, connect the iPhone to a Wi-Fi network, connect Apple Watch to the charger (check that it is at least 50% charged) and perform the wireless update.

If the Apple Watch does not update, restart it: just keep the side key pressed until the switch-off cursor is displayed; drag the shutdown slider. After the Apple Watch has shut down, hold down the side key again until the Apple logo appears. If the installation or download does not even start after rebooting, open the Apple Watch app on the iPhone, tap General> Usage> Software update, then delete the update file. After deleting the file, try downloading and installing watchOS again.

If it doesn’t work that way either, restart the paired iPhone and try starting the update again.

Apple Watch only works when not worn

The watch works well when not worn. It may seem a curious or even inexplicable, but not impossible. This behavior, in fact, indicates that the electronic circuits could present a defect. One of the factors that cause the problem is the Apple Watch temperature rise, due to the heat transmitted by the wearer’s body.

In these cases there could be problems with the electrical circuits, which could be faulty or present false contacts. When the watch is not worn, in room temperature conditions, all contact points and circuits work properly.

However, when the watch is worn, the body temperature causes a slight increase, as well as small expansions of the components, interrupting the circuit connections.

Apple Watch must be brought into service.

Apple Watch does not show notifications

Another common problem concerns the impossibility of reading notifications on the smartwatch. Here are the solutions that could solve the problem:

  1. if an access code has been enabled on the watch, remove it.
  2. enable the pulse detection function.
  3. restore the factory settings of the device, going to Settings >> General >> Restore >> Delete all content and settings

Hey Siri does not respond

Hey Siri, it doesn’t work on Apple Watch. In this case, if it is not a hardware problem of the microphone, which therefore requires an assistance check, you can try these simple steps.

  • just try rebooting the device;
  • update the watch’s operating system
  • if none of the solutions described above work, try to perform a factory reset

Apple Watch remains locked on the Apple logo

It may happen that Apple Watch remains stuck on the Apple logo. The problem may be of a hardware nature, therefore it can be solved only in a service center, but also in a software nature. If so, solutions to the problem are not lacking.

  1. First of all, you can try a forced restart of Apple Watch. To do this, simply press the digital crown and the side button simultaneously for a maximum of 10 seconds. As soon as the Apple logo appears, both buttons must be released.
  2. If the method described above did not work, try restoring Apple Watch. Here’s how you can do it. Open the Settings app, General -> Reset -> Clear all content and settings. If requested, enter the PIN and confirm the operation by pressing “Delete all”.

Apple Watch does not unlock the Mac

Among the functions of Apple Watch also that of being able to unlock your Mac without having to enter any password. If the system does not work, here are the possible solutions.

Solution 1: turn off Bluetooth

If Apple Watch fails to unlock your Mac, there may be a connection problem. And because the Mac and the watch are connected via Bluetooth, you need to check the Bluetooth connection. To do this, on Mac, you need to click the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar, then you can click on “Turn off Bluetooth” and “Turn on Bluetooth”. On Apple Watch, on the other hand, you can ask Siri to activate and deactivate airplane mode, a choice that will also affect the watch’s Bluetooth.

Solution 2: restart iPhone, Apple Watch and Mac

If the above didn’t work, then a healthy reboot of all iOS and macOS terminals could help. To restart iPhone press and hold the power button until the cursor is displayed to turn it off. To restart Apple Watch, long press the side button until it is turned off using slides. To restart the Mac, click on the Apple logo and choose the appropriate option.

Solution 3: change the Wi-Fi

Sometimes, the problem can also be caused by the Wi-Fi connection. All you have to do is change the Wi-Fi connection on Mac. To do this, click on the Wi-Fi icon in the top menu bar, select the desired Wi-Fi from the list and enter the password for the new network.

The touch screen does not work

It may happen that Apple Watch does not respond to any of the touches on the display. Also in this case the problem could be of a hardware nature, but if not, here are the possible solutions to the problem.

Solution 1: Soft Reset

Sometimes a soft reset is enough to solve the problem. To do this it is sufficient to maintain the pressure of the side button for a long time until the cursor appears to turn it off. After that, turn the clock back on and try to see if the problem has been solved.

Solution 2: Restore from backup

Another way to solve the problem of the broken Apple Watch touchscreen is to reset the clock. To do this, go to the iPhone, open the Watch app, select Apple Watch from the list and click on the “Associate Apple Watch” option. From here, choose the “Restore from backup” option and select a backup to restore Apple Watch from. Accept all terms and conditions and enter your Apple Apple ID and password when prompted. If 2-step verification is active, it is sufficient to complete the verification process.

Solution 3: reset all settings

If the non-functioning touchscreen problem persists, only one option remains, which is to restore all the Apple Watch settings. All data will be lost. To do this, on the iPhone launch the Apple Watch app and click on the Clock button. From here go to General >> Restore and select the “Delete Apple Watch content and settings” option.

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