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.


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Apple Watch

Posted on Sep 18, 2020 10:42 PM

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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.

695 replies

Sep 20, 2020 5:32 PM in response to Tjay64

I’m also having issues with my Apple Watch series 3 ever since I updated to the watch OS7

before I updated everything was working fine and smoothly but after I updated the new Watch OS7 software and I would wear it outside and take my daily walk it would turn off and turn back on, on its own and I feel like the battery also drains a little bit faster then usual. Also I only had this watch for only a month this is a brand new watch I just bought it from target recently so I hope apple fixes this issue as soon as possible because it’s not fair for the people that buy apple products and then there already having issues with there brand new devices.

Sep 21, 2020 6:06 AM in response to Tjay64

I've had no end of issues mainly sync issues between my watch, the activty/fitness app and apple health

After removing and re-pairing a number of times my initial issues are resolved but now my routes don't track when running, heart rate charts aren't generating even though my heart rate is being tracked and the step count between my watch and apple health is way off.


When uploading my run to strava a 4km run is now apparently 0.23km .

I've spent most of my weekend on the phone to apple support and been waiting on the line for 20 mins for my scheduled call back.



Sep 22, 2020 9:34 AM in response to Tjay64

Hi, I had updating issues - had to release memory / unpair to get it loaded then it took around 4 hours to install. Repaired from the backup, now my credit cards won't add and the phone has come back with random cards "on file" that aren't mine - luckily I can't add them as I don't have the full detail. I'm not sure if this is to do with the watch os7 or the ios14 update on the phone. Not happy though.


My wife's updated perfectly - now it locks out every few hours.


We've both sent a few hours with apple support with no resolution - I'd guess another update is on the way soon.


Good job the consumers are there to do the beta testing.... :-(



Sep 26, 2020 7:17 AM in response to Tjay64

Series3,cellular with no plan, battery at %100, 9.9 available memory, uninstalled all 3rd party apps, I’ve had the watch for over a year with no problems. Problems started with the 7.0 update, reboots 5-8 times a day. Was hoping 7.01 would fix but it didn’t, thought that Spotify may have been the culprit but it wasn’t because problems continue after removing from iPhone. Watch now sits on my dresser waiting for a fix. Was gonna sell so I could get the new watch but that plan is on hold maybe permanently. Sad that Apple releases bad updates that are untested.

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