Level 1

50 points

WatchOS7 update problems

My series 3 completed an auto update overnight to Watch OS7. Today it has shut itself down at least 3 times, locked itself while on my wrist about 4 times, failed to load complications on multiple faces (weather, activity rings, date etc), disconnected from my phone at least twice. It has also dropped to less than 50% battery in about 8 hours, normally it is still in the 80’s. Is anyone else having these issues? This has been the buggiest upgrade I have seen.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Apple Watch

Posted on Sep 18, 2020 10:42 PM

Top-ranking reply

RealNickHamner

Level 1

4 points

Posted on Oct 5, 2020 7:41 AM

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.

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695 replies

Oct 17, 2020 3:27 PM in response to deskisamess

If you don't want to, continue with your apple watch with reboots all day. I simply found a solution for many people who do need it. and when you want to stop having it, simply delete the profile and continue with normal updates. is so easy

Oct 18, 2020 11:39 AM in response to Zoomie61

This morning, before leaving my house, I turned off the WiFi on my Watch 3. I was in a church I'd not been to before, then out to eat, and also made a trip to the grocery store. My watch functioned perfectly all morning, and so far this afternoon. I used the Stocard app and Apple Pay at the grocery store, all without a problem.

It never locked on my wrist nor rebooted. The weather info updated correctly as I was changing city locations. I've not turned the WiFi back on.

Oct 18, 2020 5:36 PM in response to deskisamess

I did the same thing, turned off WiFi on Series 3 and went out to town for about 7 hours and no rebooting or locking on wrist, functioned perfectly all the time. I usually have 3-4 reboots a day after installing iOS 7. Will try again tomorrow. Apple people please fix this annoying bug, we have given you a lot of clues already.

Oct 20, 2020 7:22 AM in response to wzaatar

I've experienced it before with issues clearly affecting many many people in these forums and yet being denied by Apple official support channels. I generally don't bother taking the time to report them any more because I know there isn't a resolution until a fix is out.

Every major release I know I shouldn't upgrade for a couple of months until the bugs are ironed out....but I usually relent as I want to play with the new features.

It's disappointing - but then that's the tech world we live in. Would it be better if we didn't receive updates at all? Personally I'm prepared to put up with the occasional issue so long as they keep supporting the product.

Getting angry about it is a fruitless waste of energy, just need to be patient for fixes - or hold off upgrading....which still means being patient 🤪

Oct 20, 2020 10:13 AM in response to John Baughman

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

mk2ja

Level 1

9 points

Oct 20, 2020 10:55 AM in response to Tjay64

Upgrading to watchOS 7.0.3 has not resolved the issues with uncommanded reboots and false dead-battery indications.

An example that occurred even after 7.0.3 was installed: I wore watch to bed and woke up to the watch in a power-off state that showed the connect-to-power image when I attempted to start it up again. Once connected to power, it booted and reported battery level was 74%.

Nov 26, 2020 12:55 PM in response to Tjay64

I’m having some similar issues as well. I have the series 3, and ever since I updated it I can’t even get mine to pair with my phone. I’ve tried all the troubleshooting guides I could find, but none have been helpful. My battery that use to last me two days with full charge, now barely lasts 8 hours. I got this watch Christmas 2019, brand new. So, it’s very disappointing that I paid for something that’s barely lasted 11 months. Hopefully they get this fixed soon.

Sep 19, 2020 1:37 PM in response to saritg1

Sry mb , i did a hard reset and i thought that i was back to os6 but it seems that u cant get backwards 😭 hopefully apple fix this soon

mnow

Level 1

4 points

Sep 20, 2020 10:15 AM in response to Tjay64

If you disable Blood pressure (puls on danish) under privacy in the watch app on your iphone, it wont crash anymore.

i disabled it today, and havent had any crashes after that.

mnow

Level 1

4 points

Sep 20, 2020 1:32 PM in response to Tjay64

Sry i mean Health rate. Disable it until fix, and your Watch will not reboot anymore. It’s Working for me.

Tim-Fin

Level 1

30 points

Sep 21, 2020 10:32 AM in response to mabizeid

Unfortunately you can’t. Apple will not let Apple Watches downgrade to older versions.

Sep 22, 2020 6:25 AM in response to Tjay64

Hello, same here, 2 days ago it has shut down 2 times, today only once for now. There is also huge problem with synchronization between aps in watch and iphone ( workout for example)

Sep 22, 2020 5:54 PM in response to Tjay64

I’m having the exact same issues.

Sep 22, 2020 6:50 PM in response to series3on7

Sorry but thats not the cause. Ibe had irregular heartbeat on since i got my watch in April. Still rebooting simce i updated to os7

Hero1979

Level 1

5 points

Sep 22, 2020 11:15 PM in response to Tjay64

We all did a mistake with updating to OS7 on Series3.... :-(

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WatchOS7 update problems