Red circle with ! in it - Apple watch Series 1.

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davpar1944 Author

Level 1

4 points

Red circle with ! in it - Apple watch Series 1.

Apple series 1 watch with red circle and !. Seemed to appear after a software upgrade. I tried a number of suggested fixes including - power off and power on, force restart, un-pair and pair with new setup. Each attempted fix failed when the watch was put on the watch charger and the dreaded ! red circle appeared after some time. The above attempts were done at least 6 times, all with the same red circle result. Also, the digital crown did not work. The Watch sent to Apple for repair as requested by apple support. However, the watch was returned following an email that stated "Your product arrived at our repair center, but our technicians weren't able to process your repair request. We’re sending the product to you along with a letter that provides more information. If you have questions about the letter, feel free to Contact Apple Support to review your options. Be sure to use the same Repair ID. We apologize for any inconvenience."

Strange thing is, I was able to setup and pair the watch correctly, place it on the charger to recharge with no ! in a red circle seen. Situation for the last 3 days has been ok. I assume the watch had been repaired by the 'technician' in some way. There was no letter included with the returned watch to explain. The watch paired and did a basic setup faultlessly. It has been working ok and is able to power off and on. The crown now works correctly.

What did apple do to fix the watch as the red circle no longer appears? Obviously, the 'technicians' were able to process my repair request as the watch now appears to work faultlessly. But is the red circle lurking in the background and waiting to strike again later? The red circle is supposed to be an indication of a major hardware/software fault only repairable by an apple technician hence the red "www.apple.com/help/watch" message. Why the statement about the inability to process the repair when the red circle is such a serious issue. I only ask because the watch had not been used, was in new condition and is supposed to be fixed by apple when this ! red circle fault appears. What happens next time the red message appears?

Apple Watch Series 1, watchOS 5

Posted on May 27, 2019 5:46 AM

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Answer 1

Philly_Phan

Level 7

20,731 points

May 27, 2019 8:11 AM in response to davpar1944

You might want to wipe it clean and start all over again.

What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Apple Watch, or buy one from someone else - Apple Support

Don't load the backup. It will be a minor PIA reconfiguring the watch but the data is safe (it's duplicated in the iPhone).

Set up and pair Apple Watch with iPhone - Apple Support

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Answer 2

rcosta887

Level 4

3,604 points

May 27, 2019 6:15 AM in response to davpar1944

The Red !-circle is the Apple Watch screen that indicates a fatal software error and can only be fixed by Apple's repair center. Something simply got corrupted and it wasn't anything you did.

Apple's repair people including that letter is simply a mistake on their part that they obviously didn't note they had to apply a software repair so the next person checking out the hardware couldn't find a hardware problem or something along those lines. For example, I received a totally confusing letter back with my Apple Watch repair before that clearly didn't apply to my situation.

It shouldn't happen again, and I wouldn't worry at all.

However, in the unlikely event it does you'd need to get it sent in for software-service repair again. And if it, hypothetically, keeps happening and needs to be repeatedly re-repaired you'd want to talk to them about an actual hardware replacement under the warranty.

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Answer 3

davpar1944 Author

Level 1

4 points

May 27, 2019 9:46 PM in response to rcosta887

I hope it does not happen again as it was quite an exercise getting it repaired. The red circle ! seems to be a software fail after an update which is impossible for a user to fix. Hence, the i site red note. Makes me feel useless and wonder if it will happen again after the next update (many instances of red circle ! fail can be seen on this site for a number of years). However, I am glad apple did fix the issue but would have liked feedback on the cause, rather than a 'no issue found, all ok". Glad that I did nothing to bring on the fail. Lesson is that red circle ! can only be fixed by apple and is resultant from either an update or a bug in the watch OS. It is likely that apple will always fix such an issue under a software (?) warranty 'to do no harm'. So dont throw the watch in the garbage. Good apple support is encouraging as the fail could happen again with the next update and a user cannot prepare self or watch to guard against it. At lease the repair/reset is quick at the apple end.

10 stars to apple for this user support as they could have done nothing as the email stated. Imagine my surprise and delight when the watch worked properly, as it should after getting that misleading email. It was an unused watch in new condition given as a xmas present and now functional.

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Answer 4

davpar1944 Author

Level 1

4 points

May 27, 2019 9:52 PM in response to Philly_Phan

I expect apple cleared it in order to reload the OS and I set it up again from scratch, knowing the issue may be regenerated without doing a clean install. Thing is I did a setup and pair no less than 6 times before giving up and searching the net for a solution. However, there is no solution because any repair must be done by apple. Luckily, I was able to have a cause for fail that apple will fix.

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Red circle with ! in it - Apple watch Series 1.

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