Apple watch S4 call failed

My latest is that I have provided video of the watch failing to connect when using Siri and several diagnostics too. It was elevated to engineers at the beginning of last week, I have a call scheduled with an update for this Friday coming (3rd January).

Likewise I have been unable to use the full potential of my watch/iPhone SE combination at all since updating to WatchOS6 when it first came out, so around 4 months IIRC. I have given up trying to use any app on the watch that requires to access the internet through the iPhone.

I will update here when I get an update but to be honest I'm not hopeful of them finding a solution unless they are working on another update that fixes it. I dare say it will be time for me to buy a new phone before this is resolved!

Do not be fooled, that is what Apple intends, that we buy new phones and keep deceiving us. They called me yesterday to explain the problem, after missing an hour they told me that if I gave them permission to install a profile on my devices so that their engineers could monitor my activity, I flatly refused, I don't want to be their tester, They spend their money paying their equipment well to do their job well.

Given this blog series is titled S4 call failed - is everyone writing here have a S4? As I stated in the other post, I got a S5 as a gift and just paired it with my new iPhone 11 Pro this last weekend. I too had the call fail issue but again, tried the recommendation I found and posted here and it “does” work. Siri works. I turned WiFi off and made a call from the house phone to cell phone and the watch will take the call without issue. Could there really be something so different between S4 & S5??

Yes. There’s some confusion. I try to explain (sorry for my “English”).

the issue definitely affects iPhone SE AND Apple Watch (4 in my case but also other as someone here reported) An advisor told me they are aware about the issue with iPhone SE and Apple Watches. If you have iPhone SE there are NO solution till now. Other iPhone may have similar issues but as other here have reported for other iPhone some tips fix the issue.

but for iPhone SE users (like me) no way: since 4 months we are “out of order”

I find your statement about the SE and 6S+ having similar internal hardware interesting. I have been looking around the discussion threads and I find it odd that I cannot find a similar large base of comments as seems to surround the iPhone SE in relation to the watch. Why do you suppose that is? My personal guess is that lots of people have held on to their SE for its size and that there is not as large of a user base that have jumped on the Apple Watch that own and use a 6S+. Curious as to others thoughts.

Hi illusion513!

Let's hope that if Apple releases a successor to the SE, is size is very similar to the original as I believe size (and price) were the two biggest attractors to the original SE.

iOS 13.3.1 is rumored to see its public release early this week. Time will tell, but it will be interesting to see if Apple committed any resources in this update to resolving the cellular connectivity problem.

I've suspect that when the time comes to finally retire your beloved SE, it will deserve a framed enclosure and a prominent display location in your home!

Got AW5 today for my birthday. And here iam sitting and reading 14 pages of this forum. I'm using SE 13.3.1 and Aw5 6.1.1 (Pending update 6.1.3)

Calls Failed issue seems to go away when

1. Phone is unlocked

2.Handoff is disabled

3.Phone is switched off

4.Bluetooth is off

However this issue still persists and I'm afraid to update to 6.1.3 .Not ready for new bugs.

Any word on whether this affects Apple Watch battery life? My Series 4 went from great "18 to 24 hours" worth of battery life daily to about 12 hours maximum for the last few months. I initially thought it was just the battery going bad but this thread has me thinking the watch is putting more work in trying to maintain a bluetooth connection and is thus draining the battery more quickly.

Set up an express replacement through AppleCare, so we'll see soon whether it's just an issue with my current watch or not, but it's certainly discouraging nonetheless.

Hi all,

I’ve finally found a solution! Last year I bought an Apple Watch 4 and an iPhone SE for my mother. Since iOS13 the calls via Apple Watch failed.

Here is the solution:

At night my mother is shutting down her Apple Watch to save battery. In the morning she turns on her watch and here is the key. You need to unlock your watch with your iPhone SE instead of dialing the pin code in your Apple Watch!

I can’t believe it but it works. My mother played around a little bit to find this solution. Please try it and reply if it also works for you!

Best regards

Kevin

Sorry to say that but, no! Even the last update hasn’t solved the Issue. Even more: I called “my” apple advisor (I’m in contact with apple support since September). As we know, Apple is aware about the issue. The advisor was really clear today: the engineers say they will fix the bug “sooner or later“, but right now they have no news (literally) about “WHEN” or even “IF” they will fix it. As someone wrote here, Apple will never solved it anymore. The new iPhone SE is out now, we are a minority with this issue, at least not enough to become a pr issue. Personally I’ll use all my voice to make this case known: I’m a visually impaired. This bug has an huge impact on the features for which in bought my Apple Watch. It’s a shame for a company who speaks about rights and diversity to abuse of its power by trample the rights of their clients.

[Edited by Moderator]

I can confirm what Ergosum and others are reporting; no improvements with the latest WatchOS, and the workarounds proposed don't work.

I have again been asked by Apple to do some test and submit diagnostics files, which I will do today. I don't expect much from it as I started submitting diagnostics / log files months ago and others here already got involved in that earlier - but so far that did not lead to a solution. But I'll cooperate, as you'll never know...

That's good to know, Ergosum. I mean, good from a data point perspective. Not good for using your Watch! It will be interesting to see if anyone is having this issue with a Cellular enabled Apple Watch using the SE.

I discovered a quick and easy "fix". More of a work-around perhaps, since this should not happen in the first place.

Go to Settings on the iPhone, and turn off bluetooth. Wait a bit, then turn it back on. Presto!

From what I read, this fix works only if bluetooth is turned off and back on using Settings.

I haven't done exhaustive testing, but it did work to get Siri to respond quickly and without whining.

I’m curious where you’ve noticed the problem when not at home. I don’t get out much, especially now with Covid.

In all my years with computers, I’ve seen stuff most people wouldn’t want to know about. Ignorance is bliss! When working for an insurance company years ago, I commented to one of my coworkers that I was glad we weren’t responsible for more critical systems that could kill people. She enlightened me with her reply. “Our code decides who gets medical care and who doesn’t.” Like I said, ignorance is bliss!

A while back I was talking to Apple tech support. Some of the things they were telling me to do didn’t seem related to the problem, at least on the surface. But then after I thought about it for a while, I realized the kind of crazy convoluted spaghetti code that must exist in even the most modern devices. To be perfectly honest, I’m surprised things work as well as they do.

“If architects designed buildings the way coders write programs, the first woodpecker to come along with destroy civilization.”

I second that. All the workarounds I have posted here seemed to be short lived and I thought maybe this was intermittent too and at some point It would fail.

Thanks for your feedback mate. This update has certainly resolved the issue and I can see the processing of the data a lot more quicker too eg when I’m making some request via Siri.