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

samtee

Level 1

4 points

Oct 11, 2020 1:44 PM in response to deskisamess

I have made an observation that may or may not help in this discussion. I have an Apple Watch 3 coupled with an iPhone 7+ with the ios updates 7.01 and 14.01 respectively. What I have noticed is when I am at my home under my WiFi network my Apple Watch 3 does not restart or ask for the pass code. I am in one general location under my WiFi network. I have no problems with my watch, everything seems normal. Now that being said, when I am not under my WiFi network that is when the Apple Watch 3 restarts and periodically want the pass code entered. I do play a lot of Golf so I am on a golf course frequently. My watch constantly restarts and I need to re-enter the pass code often. I do have an LTE capable watch. My observation is basically when under WiFi at home everything works as it should, but when I am out and about (Golfing or moving around the city) the watch goes wacky. Has anyone one else observed this same situation.

Oct 11, 2020 5:51 PM in response to Alsan2020

I am sure it is a Wi-Fi problem. No wonder Apple don't find any problems when people send their Watch 3's back to get checked, because the Apple people probably (do) have Wi-Fi and they can't replicate the problem, the watch works fine. Mine only reboots when not connected to Wi-Fi, then it will ask if I want to connect to my wife's iPhone? which never came up before this upgrade. Why it wants to connect to that I don't know. Why doesn't it ask to connect to my iPhone?

Oct 11, 2020 6:54 PM in response to thiskiwicanfly

To: thiskiwicanfly

Absolutely! You have stated the issues well. This is not just a problem with a faulty software upgrade. It is a total failure of Apple internal and external communication. Several posters to this and other fora have indicated that "Apple is aware" of this problem. During my third support call to Apple the "Senior Advisor" told me this. But to my knowledge there has been no official acknowledgement from Apple. No apology. No expression of empathy for the ones who are suffering from their error. No mea culpa. No reassurance that they are working on a fix. Nothing. Ninety percent of the complaints and bad public relations over this matter could have been avoided just by Apple communicating with us in an official public way.

HoZr21

Level 1

8 points

Oct 12, 2020 3:38 PM in response to Lestat99

Updated to 7.0.2 Storage capacity is back to 8.7gb of 11.5 free. Battery is draining at blistering pace or the meter is way off. Went from fully charged to 89% in 5 minutes. Watch keeps asking for iTunes password every 5 minutes. Its NEVER asked for the password in the 3 years I’ve had it. We’ll see about crashes. So, yeah. Good not good? I’m guessing not any better.

Lestat99

Level 1

47 points

Oct 12, 2020 3:51 PM in response to HoZr21

Thanks for the update. I was going to update the software this evening.... I guess I'll wait...

I'm still on 7.01... I was having problems until I shut off Auto-Update on my Apple Watch Series 3...

it's been 3 Days so far no issues although I'm not convinced... very weird...

I left my house this morning at 8:30 it's now 6:48 and I'm at 70% Battery.. with animated screens and Push Messages...

Oct 13, 2020 3:10 PM in response to Joez248

I have a 6 & am having issues with watch constantly locking while on my wrist & today I had the reboot issue! Gave an extensive rundown to a senior advisor who is sending report to the engineers. He’s supposed to call me back Thursday with their feedback

Oct 13, 2020 10:22 PM in response to Tjay64

yesterday i updated my watch os again to 7.0.2 . The issue not resolved , the reboot happen when i move out of my home

{"name":"Reset count","os_version":"Watch OS 7.0.2 (18R402)","incident_id":"E3AC0E1A-1341-408D-B728-39546F1F4A87","timestamp":"2020-10-14 09:59:13.00 +0530","bug_type":"115"}

Incident Identifier: E3AC0E1A-1341-408D-B728-39546F1F4A87

CrashReporter Key: 6b1379c679598b2c1b26088c7479c0709e01aecc

Date: 2020-10-14 09:59:13.92 +0530

Reset count: 0

Boot failure count: 1

Boot faults: wdog

Boot stage: 255

Boot app: 2681261667

bcohen25

Level 1

8 points

Oct 14, 2020 10:37 AM in response to kclerico2000

I was having the reboot issue so I sent apple my watch (under warranty.) They are shipping a replacement so they must have found something wrong. I called them to see if they could tell me what was wrong and they said "We aren't sure what is wrong. We sent your original watch to the engineers and if they find something they will release a software update."

Amber922

Level 1

4 points

Oct 14, 2020 1:08 PM in response to Tjay64

This happened to me too when I updated. It switched on/off 3-4 times daily even while doing workouts, I brought the watch less than 3 months ago. So I exchanged the watch and got a new one - haven’t updated it yet. If I update it and it still restarts daily, I’m going to ask for a refund and just go with another watch company. Apple better fix this bug quickly or else will owe Apple users a lot of money.

Oct 15, 2020 5:45 AM in response to Tjay64

Same issue :( After installing watchOs 7 the watch restart 5 to ten time per day. Assistance ask me to force restart, then to unpair and pair whit my iphone Xr ( Ios14 ) but problem was not fixed. Then i downloaded new iwatch ios 7.0.2 but problem was still there. So i force restart, unpair and pair again but problem was not fixed. Today i call again assistance, but the "first level" say to me that they should pass this problem to a second level which will call me tomorrow. Terrible experience.

Oct 16, 2020 5:59 AM in response to kclerico2000

For what it's worth, mine seems to have settled down since returning from holiday and being stuck in the house mostly on wifi.

That to me suggests it is 3G/Wifi transitioning related as someone else also surmised early in the thread.

That was on 7.0.1, I've just updated to 7.0.2 this morning and I can now add my c/card to wallet which seemed be broken for me previously?

Oct 16, 2020 10:08 AM in response to Tjay64

Yeah, my Apple Watch Series 3 has been locking on its own due to my weather app crashing for some unknown reason since I updated my watch to WatchOS7. It would be great if Apple would release an update to fix this please. I’m sick and tired of my watch locking on it’s own from my weather app crashing every time! Thanks.

Oct 16, 2020 1:23 PM in response to Tjay64

My iPhone 6s Plus acted up years ago prompting us to buy a new phone. Only to find out it was the software making it act strange.

I believe this is exactly what’s going on this time around. My series 3 has the same issues. And of course they release the new watches expecting so many to upgrade.

not cool. We need a fix!

rutger9

Level 1

4 points

Oct 16, 2020 11:55 PM in response to Tjay64

Unfortunately the update to beta 3 doesn't solve the problem for the continuous reboots..

Restarting about every 20-30 minutes.. Just not workable this way.

Hope they'll come up with a solution/update really really soon...

Oct 17, 2020 4:02 PM in response to Isaza1918

I haven’t updated some text initial 7.0 whatever update. I have had no reboots and I’m sitting outside of my Wi-Fi area currently. I had tons of reboots until yesterday. Something has changed but I have not updated.

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WatchOS7 update problems