Apple Watch Series 4 Stuck in Boot Loop After Reset

I suggest running the watch battery down so that it is shut down completely

then put it on the charger and unpair it

then set it up as new

I had to do this with my series 3 to get watchos 7 installed

Mine is solved I guess, but not solved at the same time. I haven’t had a boot loop in months. I worked with Apple Advisors and it was determined that the issue was related to an app. Specifically in my case the “Wyze” App. It is an app linked to my security cameras I have that when motion is detected it would send notifications with pictures to my phone/watch. I guess the pictures create an issue with the watch, and it would “freak out” and cause the boot loop. I simply turned off the notifications from the app and I haven’t had a problem. It sounds like an Apple software issue, but I wonder if it is also just an issue with the Wyze app or any security camera type of app. Maybe they could fix something about the type/size of the image that is sent as a notification.

Long story short, I think the boot loop issue is related to issues with notifications with photos in them. I think people would find help if they looked into that on their watches.

it’s a bummer that I had to turn it off, as it should just work, but I hope and I give them the benefit of the doubt that I hope they can fix it.

The Watch is a great product otherwise.

Yes I think you are onto something there. I saw another thread here about the same issue. That person turned off all 3rd party app notifications and the issue had stopped, they came back after a week or two and their watch was still working correctly.

I have had my watch up and running for the past 4 days with no rebooting at all with most of my 3rd party apps turned off after dealing with this for 5-6 months.

I was told 2 months ago the engineers were aware of an issue but still have yet to come out with a fix for other series other then the 3.

The person in the other thread did say they had a security camera and the notifications were off for it on the watch and experienced no issues. They did not say what brand.

I also have wyze cameras and my notifications are off for it on my watch. So maybe the wyze camera notifications are causing the problem after all. But I also agree, the notifications did not seem to be related to the power cycling.

I'm going to turn on one other app notification every couple days and leave the wyze to last and see how it goes.

Idk about anyone else, but I feel VERY confident it was in fact related to my Wyze app and the camera updates. Ever since turning off those notifications I have had ZERO boot loops. Well, I should say, not that I have noticed. Hard to know for 100% certainty when you aren’t looking at the watch every minute of every day. I just hope Apple can get this fixed as I miss seeing those notifications on my wrist.

Do your think Apple, this is still an issue, FIX PLEASE!

You are going down the exact same road as I did. They wanted me to note down 3-5 times the reboot happened after installing the profiles. They wanted times down to the second if possible, I gave them 15 times so they could look exactly when in the logs it was happening. After 4 months of going thru this issue well before iOS 14 and watchOS 7. My advisor, after discussing w the engineers only could come back and tell me they were well aware of the issue which is a software issue and there was nothing more we could do other then wait for apple to come out and update watchOS with a fix. So far they have only come out w a fix for series 3. It’s been going on 2 months now I’ve been waiting for an update to fix this issue and 6 months I have not been able to use my watch at all.

I took mine to the Apple store and got there early for the walk ups. Not all stores offer this and you need to be EARLY. They took it for a week and ended up sending me a new one. I was still under warranty, so no cost. I don't think there is an easy fix, unfortunately.

I can assure everyone that this is definitely an apple issue and they are well aware of the problem. This happened to my series 4 watch while still covered under apple care+. I have been dealing with apple over this issue for the past 4 months. I had my original watch replaced only to have the same issue happening within days. I have spent hours talking to apple text support, chat support, and 10+ hours on the phone w half a dozen senior support advisors and numerous emails and phone calls with a senior watch support specialist. I've sent over half a dozen pictures and videos of my watch stuck in a bootloop all of which was forwarded to the engineering team ( neither you nor the support specialist speak to the Engineering team directly, they only communicate w support via email) only to be told in the end that they are well aware of the issue and the numerous people are having the same issue and they hope to fix it with an update at some point ( no idea as to when that will happen) my watch has gotten so bad I can't even check for updates in the watch app on my phone.

Force restarts, unpairing from phone, setting up as a new watch, or letting the watch sit dead for days on end does nothing to fix this issue. This issue has been going on well before watch os7 was even released. Our watches are just expensive paperweights until apple decides to get their acts together and fix it.

It’s been working for me after leaving it dead for about a week. It seems like it’s recovered but I’m still skeptical.

Im on 6.2.8

I haven’t heard of Wyze so didn’t have it on my phone / watch. But my issue seems different to a lot of you in this forum. Mine would be in a boot loop after turning it off and trying to turn on on again later. Didn’t randomly reboot on its own.

mine would reboot all day and all night until the battery died. And apple had to reset it for me under warranty.

No, it seems the 7.0.3 update is only available for s3. It's telling me my s4 is up to date w 7.0.2. No need to send your watch back, they won't be able to fix it. You'll have to wait for them to put out a software update for the rest of us. I'm going to email my senior watch support advisor and see what she says.

I sent my watch back three weeks ago. The rest it somehow and sent it back working. This was just before warranty expires so I was lucky. I’m guessing they will do the same again, rather then resolving the issue. I’ll keep sending it in while I have the option. This is crazy!!! I guess many of us have learnt to delay updating no matter how nice the new OS looks. For iPhones and iPads too.

So I just found this discussion and would love to add to this. My wife and I (both have Series 4 Stainless steel watches, and iPhone 11’s) have been experiencing this issue on and off for months as well. We have tried dozens of things, and even got replacement watches sent to us as our watches have Apple Care+. There is something going on with software on the watch, or the phone, maybe both. I also have talked with people (not Apple) that work with development kits etc, and they think it could be health data that gets corrupted and causes the watch to power cycle. My wife’s watch never gets as bad as mine. Her’s will power cycle a few times throughout the day, sometimes it will power cycle 5-8 times in a row, but then stabilize. Mine does that too, but then I have days where the watch will get into a boot loop which it can never get out of. It will go OVER AND OVER AND OVER. When I call Apple, they can’t run a diagnostic or anything because the watch doesn’t stay on. There is seriously something wrong with the software that is causing this issue and it needs to be RESOLVED NOW!

I am currently working with a senior advisor and we are working with collecting data and getting data points of when this is happening so they can access logs within the software to see what the watch does that causes the boot loop. Luckily my wife’s has been stable enough that I was able to load the profile information required to do this, but mine has been in an infinite boot cycle today. I was FINALLY able to get the watch unpaired from my phone (you can usually brute force it) and I am going to see if that helps me stabilize for a while. This is just actually insane, and isn’t fully related to iOS 14 or Watch OS 7. I have had this on and off from before the release of both of those updates. It just seems to have gotten worse with 7 and 14.

I will keep you guys posted if I hear more or learn of any fixes. I am hoping we can all fix these issues, because like you have all said, it is NOT a user created issue. This is software, and this is BAD. I have had it on both my original and replacement watch. So even if I were to go out and buy myself a brand spanking new watch, I would still have this issue. Sometime is seriously flawed.

Definitely could be related. I also had the Wyze cam notifications coming in. Now that I recall it was definitely having issues with those. Idk if the watch couldn’t handle the notification and crashed the “springboard” and caused an infinite boot loop.

Thank for pointing out that coincidence. I removed the notifications after I recovered my watch from that state and my watch has not had those same issues ever since.

Did you ever get a resolution?! I have tried several attempts to restart it. Even did a factory reset on it. Updated to the latest version after it fought me several times. Worked for a about a day or so and now it’s back to doing the same thing!! It started fairly recently. What is going on?