gooner1969

Q: Haptic not working on Apple watch messages

Haptic works for phone calls but not messages on my Apple Watch sport. Tried a reset, re-pairing, spoke to apple chat and we still couldn't solve the problem. I'm awaiting a call back from an Apple advisor but just wondering if anyone else has the same issues. I have all the settings correctly set because I get a haptic tap for sketches and heartbeats but not messages. Phone calls tap me as well as the person calling showing up on home screen but I get nothing with a text. The texts do appear on the watch but only if I go into messages I'll see them.

iOS 8.3

Posted on Apr 24, 2015 11:52 PM

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Q: Haptic not working on Apple watch messages

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  • by sachiwaschi,

    sachiwaschi sachiwaschi Apr 25, 2015 2:21 AM in response to gooner1969
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 25, 2015 2:21 AM in response to gooner1969

    i have same sort of problem. mail messages not giving haptic. generally finding the haptic way too light. got it on max setting and still don't feel much. wondering if my watch is faulty. can feel it if i'm sitting still and focused on it...

    let me know if you work it out.

    thanks.

  • by gooner1969,Helpful

    gooner1969 gooner1969 Apr 25, 2015 4:24 AM in response to sachiwaschi
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Apr 25, 2015 4:24 AM in response to sachiwaschi

    Hi there I have finally got mine working but yours might be a different issue to mine but try what I tried anyway as you're probably pulling your hair out like I was.

     

    Turn off wifi and Bluetooth on any iPad you're using and sleep the iPad.

    Turn off any Mac you are using too.

    Close all the apps on the iPhone (double tap home button and swipe apps away).

    Turn off wifi and Bluetooth on iPhone.

    Turn iPhone off and back on again and then turn wifi and Bluetooth on.

    Erase watch and all contents and then re pair it with the iPhone again from new.

    When asked to install apps select ok and let it finish.

    This worked for me.

    Also make sure your phone is closed/locked and not open to receive haptic for text messages or they won't work.

    This issue may not be the same for mail but its worth a try.

    Turn prominent haptic on in the settings in the watch app on the iPhone, its gives a stronger buzz on your wrist.

    I hope this works for you and anyone else with a similar problem.

  • by albertofromnewhall,

    albertofromnewhall albertofromnewhall Apr 26, 2015 10:22 PM in response to sachiwaschi
    Level 1 (65 points)
    Apr 26, 2015 10:22 PM in response to sachiwaschi

    HHad the same issue I turned off and on my watch and it worked fine after that

  • by sachiwaschi,

    sachiwaschi sachiwaschi Apr 27, 2015 1:47 AM in response to gooner1969
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 27, 2015 1:47 AM in response to gooner1969

    All seems to be working ok now. Generally speaking i still find the haptic a bit weak even with the 'prominent' feature enabled. But at least i'm getting feedback for all messaging...

    thanks for your suggestions.

  • by MavisDraculasIphone,

    MavisDraculasIphone MavisDraculasIphone Apr 27, 2015 11:27 PM in response to gooner1969
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Apr 27, 2015 11:27 PM in response to gooner1969

    Yeah, mine is not working either. I did the whole restart thing. It worked briefly, then it went back to not working. I'm so frustrated with this watch right now, I'm very close to just returning it and telling everyone the Apple Watch is horrible.

  • by iMacoo7,

    iMacoo7 iMacoo7 Apr 28, 2015 3:34 AM in response to gooner1969
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPhone
    Apr 28, 2015 3:34 AM in response to gooner1969

    This worked for me!When I initially set it up, I forced it to turn off because i thought it was bootlooping for some reason. At any rate resetting it cleared the issue for me (I didn't turn off all my macs, iPad, and other phones and this trick worked for me)

  • by Casey Fitzgivens,

    Casey Fitzgivens Casey Fitzgivens May 2, 2015 7:43 AM in response to gooner1969
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 2, 2015 7:43 AM in response to gooner1969

    This happened to me as well.  I unpaired and did a reset.  Worked for a day and text taptic quit working again.

  • by huynh van du,

    huynh van du huynh van du May 2, 2015 1:41 PM in response to gooner1969
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 2, 2015 1:41 PM in response to gooner1969

    When you go to the Watch app on the iPhone, then in Sounds and Haptics, when you change the haptic strength settings, does it run a sample on the watch? I don't feel anything on the watch when I changed around the strength.. is that normal?

     

    Also, what is "Prominent"?

  • by jmartiuk,

    jmartiuk jmartiuk May 3, 2015 5:38 AM in response to sachiwaschi
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 3, 2015 5:38 AM in response to sachiwaschi

    do either of you have tattoos and do you have the password set on your watch and if you do have the password set on your watch do you have to unlock it everytime you roll your wrist to check the time? the only reason i ask this is because i have a tattoo on my left wrist and because of this the wrist detection on my watch won't work which causes it to not send me my alerts and all. I switched to my other wrist where i have no tattoos and now i have no problems i get all my alerts heart beat sensor works great and i don't have to keep unlocking it unless i take the watch off. I was also reading something about the watches coming out of china having a haptic feedback issue.

  • by patrickh40,

    patrickh40 patrickh40 May 3, 2015 12:00 PM in response to gooner1969
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 3, 2015 12:00 PM in response to gooner1969

    While my Apple Watch notified me (e.g., sound, and wrist tap) of emails, the iMessage was not working.    After ensuring that the iPhone and Watch settings had the appropriate notifications turned on, I reset both devices (but did not unpair), as recommended in this thread.

     

    All is working now after the simple reset.

     

    I also bumped up the taptic, which provides a bit more force/touch on your wrist.   Seems to be user preference and what gets your attention enough to lift the watch.   I also upped the alerts to notify me 3 times of any unread text message (i.e., if you don't respond, it'll tap your wrist again).  

     

    Still experimenting, but if the Apple Watch serves as a 2nd display to your iPhone, then it serves the purpose well.   Instead of pulling your phone out of your pocket, unlocking, and going through buttons to see emails and texts, the Watch does well to provide the same "glance" information by lifting your wrist.

  • by gooner1969,

    gooner1969 gooner1969 May 4, 2015 2:01 AM in response to gooner1969
    Level 1 (13 points)
    May 4, 2015 2:01 AM in response to gooner1969

    Its been over a week now and mine still works fine. It did take me 3 resets to actually get it working and did only work after doing everything i'd suggested. Generally it should work after a reset or re-pairing the watch and phone again. Haptic set to prominent is much better. What annoys me is you won't get watch notifications on things like whatsapp and facebook unless you have banners set to on in the phone settings and notifications do not go to the watch if your phones homescreen is open. I hope they change that banners issue in the update because I turn banners off for a reason as they are annoying on the phone.

  • by jubilee1818,

    jubilee1818 jubilee1818 May 5, 2015 6:26 AM in response to gooner1969
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 5, 2015 6:26 AM in response to gooner1969

    I'm having the same problem also.  Mine stopped working over the weekend and did not work Saturday-Monday.  I called Apple Support on Monday and a restart fixed the haptics.  Then Tuesday morning it stopped working again.  Another call to Apple Support, another restart.  I think the problem comes and goes, I feel iMessages strongly now, but emails, Activity alerts, and other things seem rather weak - even with prominent on.  Bummer that the watch is not working as expected! I really hope this isn't a daily issue!

     

    Julie

  • by kit0,

    kit0 kit0 May 9, 2015 10:52 AM in response to jubilee1818
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 9, 2015 10:52 AM in response to jubilee1818

    Hi everyone,

     

    Here is a simple thing which happened to me.  Maybe you will also find it helpful.

     

    A text came in to my phone, but I didn't receive a haptic on my wrist.  So I realized I had the watch notifications on mute.

     

    I was thinking originally to mute the sounds, but seems it may also mute the haptic, as well. 

     

    When I turned off the mute, then I wanted to test, so I sent a text message or two to myself: nothing.  But that's by design!  Turns out the haptic doesn't signal if you're already looking at the phone.  Sending a text message to myself thus didn't signal the haptic b/c the phone was already open.  Lock the phone, carry on with your day, and new messages will haptic on arrival.

     

    One other observation: I'm in a few separate conversations by text message at the moment.  Some of them haptic on arrival & some don't.  The ones that do signal a haptic on arrival are the conversations from which I've already sent at least one message from the watch.  To test it out, I sent a reply from the watch to the conversation that wasn't signaling the haptic on arrival and sure enough: the next reply was haptic indeed.

     

    So, to summarize:

      - unmute the watch notifications

      - lock the phone & put it away

      - send a text to someone from the watch

      - receive a haptic on their reply

     

    Thanks!

  • by colorado hiker,

    colorado hiker colorado hiker May 9, 2015 1:49 PM in response to sachiwaschi
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 9, 2015 1:49 PM in response to sachiwaschi

    I had the same problem and took my watch to the Apple store. The "geniuses" there knew absolutely nothing about the watch or it's workings, which was a surprise to me.

    They finally brought out a watch that they knew was working and compared the pulse to my watch. All agreed that mine was virtually non-existent. So, they sent my watch off to repair, sort of like sending it off to "the black hole of Calcutta." Once it goes there, there's virtually no way to speak to anyone to find out how the repair is going, are they going to replace it or try to fix it, when will I get my watch back, etc.

    Here's what I learned: Early failures are being replaced, albeit on Apple's timeline. Typically, that takes 3 -7 working days. I got mine back in 7 days, but only after raising quite a pronounced stink - never rude or mean, just letting them know that I wasn't going away without some useful information The Apple store manager stepped up and went to bat for me with Support, trying everything he could to get an approximate ship date. Then, finally, I got a message that my watch had been shipped to me. Now, it was a matter of waiting for it to surface at the store. It showed up at days after I turned it over to Apple and within 1 hour of arriving via FedEx..

    Here's a critical piece of info: The haptic pulse will not work unless the iPhone is in locked mode. You'll still l get the message on the watch in text form, but no haptic pulse or buzz.

    My hope is that this will be a fix in the next software or firmware update.

    Good luck if you send your watch out for repair, and don't hesitate to be persistent in your inquiries. Squeaky wheel, etc.

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