Wrong Passcode, Try Again in X Hrs

My Apple Watch showing wrong passcode, try again in 5hrs, then when 1 min left, show try again in 8 hrs, I didn’t touch it to changed passcode, maybe I mistakenly touch it, what will I do now

I was wearing my watch (and had not changed the face in weeks) when I saw it rapidly doing things on its own, including inputting numbers for the passcode. Of course they were the wrong numbers and it kept locking me out for longer and longer periods of time. I tried intervening several times to put the right passcode in, but it wouldn’t respond. A few hours ago it said I was locked out for 3 hours, but just now it said 8 hours so I reset it and will set it up as a new watch. What a pain.

I will repeat the instructions

Put Apple Watch on its charger.

Press and hold the side button until you see the screen with the power button in the upper-right corner, then let go of the side button. If your Apple Watch has an earlier version of watchOS, you see the Power Off slider instead of the power button.

Press and hold the Digital Crown until you see the red Reset button.

Tap Reset, then tap Reset again to confirm.

After Apple Watch unpairs completely, you can pair again. Remember that you'll need the Apple ID and password that were used to set up the watch. Set up as New Watch.

The bad code that caused the multiple touch effect was corrected in OS10.4 according to the release notes.

With the latest today left the Ultra2 on a shelf during a massage and got the locked screen (was fine when I took it off as was checking heart rate)... noticed it was locked when putting watch back on... then when about 3min is up it went back to 3hrs... only guess is the shirt I'm wearing must be interfering, though it's a overshirt I wear a few times a week and never had this issue.

"stuff happens, unfortunately"... that's what Apple users (including me) tell non-Apple folks and why we pay a premium... for "stuff happens, unfortunately" I can buy from Temu at 1/10th the cost... Apple should be transparent, responsive and over the top supportive given their prices, margins and profits... over the past 5 or so years my loyalty has slowly been slipping.

Interesting. I'm hoping this was an isolated incident. If it happens to me again I'll check back in on this thread - hopefully with some more info to share.

Yes I had to delete and the pair my watch again. It was a time consuming process and very inconvenient. It shouldn't just randomly lock me out.

I also have this. Latest OS and watched it keep saying wrong passcode entered.

Ultra 2.

Am resetting - but people saying that this is fixed in 10.4 are wrong.

I have had the same or similar problem twice on my Ultra 2. Here is my work around. The software that handles touch input has become corrupted. This is likely just a runtime issue. First, you need to power down the watch, but you won’t be able to do this with the touch screen. Hold the crown and the right side button down for 10 seconds, then release. You should see the Apple logo. After your watch restarts, the touch input should be working. Now you have to wait for the lockout to end, which was 8 hours for me. When the wait time is over, you should be able to unlock with touch input normally.

This issue is likely a software bug that comes up after the watch has been on for an extended period of time. To prevent this in the future, you could restart your watch every week.

While not ideal, I have experienced glitches in many of my computer based devices from different manufacturers. Work-arounds seem to be part of life on the leading edge. Hope this helps!

I agree with most of what you've suggested here, up until the end, where you say "Set up as New Watch." I actually called Applecare (my Ultra is only 4 months old), and when we got to the set up stage, they told me to choose between Restore and Set Up As New Watch. I didn't want to go through the tedious hassle of re-setting all my custom settings, so chose Restore. And it worked. And today it is still working, so you might want to think about changing that last bit of direction. Thanks

It's a bug in 10.3 on s9 and U2 watches.

Update phone to iOS17.4.1 and watch to watch OS 10.4

If a hard reboot does not fix it because you are in a passcode loop then you have to Wipe Watch and set up again then update

Put Apple Watch on its charger.

Press and hold the side button until you see the screen with the power button in the upper-right corner, then let go of the side button. If your Apple Watch has an earlier version of watchOS, you see the Power Off slider instead of the power button.

Press and hold the Digital Crown until you see the red Reset button.

Tap Reset, then tap Reset again to confirm. 

After Apple Watch unpairs completely, you can pair again. Remember that you'll need the Apple ID and password that were used to set up the watch.

I will repeat the instructions for this lockout

Put Apple Watch on its charger.

Press and hold the side button until you see the screen with the power button in the upper-right corner, then let go of the side button. If your Apple Watch has an earlier version of watchOS, you see the Power Off slider instead of the power button.

Press and hold the Digital Crown until you see the red Reset button.

Tap Reset, then tap Reset again to confirm.

After Apple Watch unpairs completely, you can pair again. Remember that you'll need the Apple ID and password that were used to set up the watch. Set up as New Watch and update phone to ios17.4.1 and watch to OS10.4

Or read page 2 of the thread

I can only see the apple loogo

How do I reset Apple Watch

Wrong passcode try again in 7 hours