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Apple watch erase all content and settings loop

Hello

I have Apple watch series 1 38mm, and just updated to the latest watchOS 2 days ago (with my iPhone 6s)

Tonight after charging it for sometime, when I took it, the side button was unresponsive and the watch restarted by itself. It gave me the Erase all content and settings option, and it failed every time I tried.

It always stuck at around 75% from completion


I've tried unpairing it from my iPhone and remove from Find My iPhone, no luck.

Apple Watch

Posted on Dec 30, 2019 8:00 AM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Apr 5, 2020 2:21 AM

I'm trying to press Cancel button over 10 times and it loops again and again

And the watch must be place on the dock to display messages. Otherwise, it shows white apple and turnoff display

Did you have the same problem like me ?

40 replies

Apr 4, 2020 10:32 PM in response to Pranto98

I seem to have found a way to jump out of the loop, but there are still some problems in jumping out, but I can enter the initialization interface as follows.

  1. click erase

2. Wait for 75% of the rotation, pop up and ask if you want to erase it. Don't click. The machine will restart later

3. Restart the white apple and ask if you want to erase it. Click cancel all the time

4. Enter the initial interface,

...

n. Stuck at setting languages... If you shut down, you will enter a new death cycle

Jun 11, 2020 12:37 AM in response to ho66

You can try my way:

1. Put the watch on the charging cradle

2. Click "Delete all content and settings"

3. Select "Yes"

4. Wait until the loop reappears

5. Put the watch in the cupboard, wait for the battery to drain completely (maybe 7-10 days). Temporarily forget about it and don't touch it

6. Remove the watch and put it back in the charger. Temporarily not touching it again for about 2-3 hours (I leave it overnight)

7. If you're lucky, the watch can skip the loop after fully recharging

My watch is now working properly. But I'm not sure when it will fail again :(

Feb 1, 2020 6:24 AM in response to MoonJ.

May be you didn’t get him.. i have the same exact problem. The watch don’t start and stuck at a loop saying ‘ erase all content and settings ‘ . No matter how many times you select erase all content an settings or cancel it goes on with the procedure but after about 75% being completed it restarts again and shows the same thing to erase al content and settings.. here are some photos to help you make understand. And looks like a lot of people have the exact issue with out any solution.

Thank You

Feb 1, 2020 10:49 AM in response to MoonJ.

thanks but looks like you didn’t get me.. the window saying ‘erase all content and settings’ shows in a loop.. it keeps on showing again and again no matter how many times i tap erase all content and settings. And looks like my side button is unresponsive. Only the crown is working.. whenever i tap on erase all content and settings the procedure starts but after 75% or so it stops and the watch shows the same erase all content and settings window.

Jan 2, 2020 4:30 PM in response to Pranto98

Hi Pranto98,


Thank you for contacting Apple Support Communities. Based on what you stated, it seems like the Apple Watch is not responding and you are not able to restart it.


"Force restart your Apple Watch

Don’t force restart your Apple Watch if you're updating watchOS. After you see the Apple logo and progress wheel on your Apple Watch, leave your Apple Watch alone until the update finishes.

You should force restart your device as a last resort and only if it's not responding. To force restart your Apple Watch, press and hold both the side button and Digital Crown for at least 10 seconds, then release both buttons when you see the Apple logo."


How to restart your Apple Watch


Please don't hesitate to let us know if the steps resolved your issue or if you need additional assistance.


Cheers.

Apr 5, 2020 12:53 AM in response to Pranto98


I can’t believe it. I ’ve upgraded it, now it is syncing, and I ’ll be online untill resolve this bug. Because of the new crown virus, I ’m bored at home to start researching this. I guess every time this clear button appears, it is encountered in the startup script. My watch has been upgraded to 6.2 at present. If it can be turned on, it is really a blessing. We could work together to solve this problem. I went to the genius bar yesterday. They told me that they could not solve it...

Apr 5, 2020 1:37 AM in response to Pranto98

In my opinion, the error I encountered may be an exception crash during inital. The prompt that watchOS encounters this exception is to earase all content. You keep clicking cancel button and it seems that the program can continue to run. finally you can finally see it enter the new watch setup interface, although it is easy to get stuck when setting up, once stuck, you have to come back again, I tried it several times before successfully upgrading it to 6.2

Jul 14, 2020 6:02 PM in response to rahnuma112

The only way to get out of the Erase all content and settings loop is to wait for the battery to completely die off. By that, I mean even when you press the crown, there are no images, squiggly line showing the battery charge, etc. The watch battery must completely die down. I believe this erases the memory from the ram.


After that, place the watch to charge with phone nearby. You should be able to set the watch up again.

Aug 5, 2020 9:46 AM in response to Pranto98

i have the same issue way back 2 years ago, mine is series 1, which is a gen 2, i have done everything but cant get off the loop, back in a month ago, i take it from the box and try to charge again, surprisingly it finish the wheel progression and let me set up again the watch, and it was working fine for the last month but today i forget to take the watch out of the charge dock after one day charged and the loop happen again, it so annoy and i think let it drain out battery and charge again seem to be a good work around, if anyone face this issue you can try it.

Apple watch erase all content and settings loop

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