WatchOS7 update problems

Hi everyone, I just dropped off my MacBook Pro for warranty service and asked the "Genius" who was helping me about the

Watch OS7 7.01 Software Problem.... He actually acknowledged the issue and said they were working on a fix for the next Software update release....

It looks it is an issue for watch series 4. tried to unpair and pair again and it didn't work. My watch series 4.0 consumes near to 8% per hour. The new watchOS 7.0.1 made it worse. I got random restarts, Siri issues. the best is to send report to to Apple via product feedback. https://www.apple.com/feedback/watch.html Hope Apple Watch team will fix it a.s.a.p.

Correct! This is the best way to get Apple's attention on this matter.

I have submitted an issue report already. I encourage everyone else to be proactive and please do the same.

https://www.apple.com/feedback/watch.html

That message to update MacOS is because you've not connected since updating to iOS. It's basically extra software to let your Mac talk to iOS 7.

If anyone else is having issues with auto unlock from the watch this solution resolved it for me: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251826134

A few other complaints I have about the update besides the random reboots:

1. The News app used to show pictures for each article before the update. Now it just shows text. My Flipboard app still shows nice photos for each article though.
2. Double tapping the crown brings up the last 2 recently used apps. Before the update it would seamlessly switch between both recently used apps and the watch face. Now after the update there's this animation where it briefly shows all apps via the Grid view and zooms in on the specific app icon before switching to the next app or watch face. This freezes intermittently, resulting in a random experience with glitches when using the double tap feature.
3. One feature I'd often use is to easily turn "Wake on Wrist Raise" off if I wanted to save battery life by keeping the Settings app in the dock. I could simply click the side button, choose the settings app, and switch it on/off. After the OS7 update, the Settings app after a few minutes reverts back to the main menu, resulting several more clicks to get back to "Wake on Wrist Raise", really annoying.

I'm disheartened to see that I'm not alone in believing OS7 was not properly optimized for the Series 3, owners are almost treated like an afterthought. I hope these issues get sorted out with the next 7.x update.

I have watch 5 with os7 and iPhone 11 pro max iOS 14

I've been having many issues:

1. iPhone connection: calls don't come through
2. can't unlock my computer with watch
3. battery drain

Called apple did complete unpair re pair... not resolved repeat restarts makes it work briefly with calls but then stops again. I get txt and everything so far seems ok other than battery. hope there is a fix soon I'm missing phone calls.

Not the same issues as OP but I'm certainly experiencing inconsistent performance since OS7..... even after re-pairing and wiping the thing from scratch on 7.0.1 update.

Some issues I've had:

• Complications (like weather) just say 'Loading..' randomly
• Heart rate while exercising doesn't update consistently
• Music/Podcasts stop playing randomly
• Home app accessories take a long time to get status and perform actions

Note this is even after updating to 7.0.1 and un-paring and NOT restoring from a backup

Interesting conclusion, I too noticed the reboot when away from home. I do have the cellular watch. Was at home all day yesterday and no reboot. Curious if it has to do with apps on the modular watch face. I have carrot for weather on my watch face along with:

• Calendar
• Carrot
• Messages
• Reminders
• World Clock

So here's all the things I have tried in the hopes of correcting this issue:

• Disabling activity tracking (seemed to stabilize it for a bit, but not long term). Since that was the reason I got the watch in the first place, and disabling didn't help, I turned it back on.
• Unpair/Repair/Reset/Restore - I have done this about six times now. It has not helped.
• Unpair/Pair to a different phone - in the interim, I had my phone replaced under warranty. Pairing to a new device did not resolve the issue.
• Uninstall any non-essential apps from the watch - I have done this. The watch has nothing on there but default apps at the moment. It is still rebooting.
• Deselect calendars - I did this. Some 24+ calendars were syncing to my watch, most of them work-related. Slimmed it down to three. It has not helped.

As I write this, I have unpaired my watch from my phone and am attempting to reset my watch. However, the watch is continually rebooting, and I can't reset it due to the reboots.

Here's another update to my Series 3 OS7 issues & troubleshooting. I'm having the frequent reset issues like others on here, using an xR and a Series 3 Nike Edition on OS7.

• Did a phone-free reset (set watch on charger, hold side button until power options appear, hold crown until "factory reset" options appear), and after resetting I set the watch up as new device. It loaded with OS7 and then had to update to 7.0.1 again. After doing this, I was able to go 24 hours+ without the apple logo appearing.
• Changed the watch face from the default, which for some reason was the last Activity face, the one that's predominantly text-based, to a simpler Numerals face with no additional complications added to it. That has seemingly increased stability as well.

By clearing out anything hung up in the watch (phone-free reset with new device setup) and by removing any additional stressors on the hardware (no complications, simple display) I've increased device stability. The more I play with it and observe responses, I think the Series 3 is running into hardware limitations that Apple doesn't want to disclose/didn't properly account for. I say that based on the following observations:

• These aren't full-on hard resets. The numeric passcode is never required. It's almost as if the watch is resetting a smaller component and throws the apple logo up while it does it. Maybe it's just clearing the cache repeatedly?
• My xR is on iOS 14 and—simultaneous to the numerous watchOS7 issues—I noticed my phone was having bluetooth issues. It would show a connection to other devices, but it would not allow any interaction. So, it would show a connection to my earbuds but audio would play through the phone speaker. It showed a connection to my Echo Auto, but audio would come through the phone speaker only and the Echo Auto could not detect the phone. Had to unpair/disconnect everything and reconnect to restore. I wonder if the watch doesn't offload/dump some memory overflow/processing tasks to the phone when busy, and is having difficulty syncing to the phone via bluetooth, and that's causing the apple logos?
• I have hit the side button several times to find the same group of apps (Messaging, Music, Activity) running in the background, even though I've never activated them. If it's pulling default apps to run in the background, that could be unnecessarily tasking the watch and causing memory issues.

I'm not so sure that what we're experiencing isn't due to syncing issues and/or hardware limitations & memory issues that Apple doesn't want to admit to.

This seems to be an IOS 14 and WatchOS 7 combo issue, and not solely a WatchOS 7 issue. The good news is that if you are willing to restore both your Phone and Watch there is a good chance the issues will go away. The bad news is that you will need to reset both your phone and watch.

1. Start by creating fresh backups of both devices
2. Unpair the Watch (once it unpairs and starts up fresh, turn it off)
3. Restore your phone
4. Either restore from a backup or set the phone up as new (the choice is yours)
5. Turn the watch on
6. Pair the watch to your phone (I chose to restore as new, but you can always live dangerously and restore from backup)
7. I chose to simplify my life and stick with the default watch face for now (just in case the new complications are causing some of the issues). Time, weather, calendar, fitness, and battery percentage are good enough for me until Apple gets this sorted out.
8. I also chose to limit the apps installed on my watch to the critical ones I really need and use (MFA, wallet, Spotify, etc.).
9. It has been 3 days since I implemented this solution, and so far, not magical reboots. My battery life even appears to have stabilized.

Good luck, I hope this helps someone else.

I found a way of getting back to watchOS 6...

• Let your s3 watch try and update to OS 7 and watch it die
• send it in to Apple for repair
• let them tell you it’s a “hardware issue” and suggest a repair fee of £124
• question them on what he “hardware issue” is
• go back and forth for a few days
• finally speak to a senior guy who admits because they haven’t been clear enough and the allotted time for repair has passed, a replacement will be sent out
• receive said replacement today, pre-installed with OS6 (yay)
• when asked to turn on auto software updates, press the **** NO* button.

*may have been “no thanks” 😉

The route map issue is not resolved anymore. It only worked yesterday after unpair & repair, and that’s it 😢 Tonight’s walk didn’t have a map, just a pin, and I lost all previous route maps 😭 Yesterday, on a 2-hr walk, I lost 22% of my watch’s battery. Tonight, I walked for exactly 1h26min and I lost 24% of watch’s battery, even though I had it in airplane mode and everything was off. Please do something, this is unacceptable 😞 Btw, my iPhone dropped from 87% to 29% on this same walk. 😢

So I’ve spent the morning talking to Apple who have now put two profiles on my phone to track the watch restarting. Soon as I mention the thousands with the same problem shouting on the forum the subject changes as if it’s only my watch that has the problem. Now I have to try and keep a track of the restarts and email them when it’s shut down a few times. I have the watch 3 Nike version in immaculate condition.

mans as I write this it restarts again. Well done Apple fantastic update

I don’t think it’s Nike watch. Mine is a regular series 3 GPS. The update went seriously wrong. Just as I thought everything’s fine, unchecked the calendars and even got some battery life it just rebooted again. I was fine for two days after un-pairing re-pairing and here we go again. Hope it doesn’t happen to often until the dame update that we’re all waiting for! Apple is in serious trouble. This is history repeating, they did the same with older iPhones once. They want to make you purchase a newer model.