Apple Watch series 6 always on display not working!

I have checked the setting and display always on is selected on, theatre mode is off, I’ve restarted the phone, watch etc and the always on display still dims after a few seconds.


I see others have posted and had similar problems with this, is this a known possible software / hardware fault?

Apple Watch Series 6, watchOS 7

Posted on Sep 24, 2020 3:01 PM

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Posted on Jan 7, 2021 1:31 PM

This is exactly what worked for my 6. I have tattoos and the wrist detection being on was not registering the watch being on my wrist, as usual. What this does is turn the screen off because the watch doesn’t think your wearing it and it’s saving battery. Turn this off and it works perfectly, Always On.

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Jan 7, 2021 1:31 PM in response to CollinGCC78

This is exactly what worked for my 6. I have tattoos and the wrist detection being on was not registering the watch being on my wrist, as usual. What this does is turn the screen off because the watch doesn’t think your wearing it and it’s saving battery. Turn this off and it works perfectly, Always On.

Jan 7, 2021 2:01 PM in response to Tooooomey

This was driving me insane, after multiple conversations with apple I could resolve it then found a article that worked.


4. Turn off wrist detection. Several users have reported that turning off wrist detection fixed their aod problem. Please note that, when this was disabled, you will have to enter your passcode when you want to use Apple Pay. To turn this off, tap Settings > Passcode, then turn off Wrist Detection.


try this and hopefully will work

May 6, 2021 4:30 PM in response to Tooooomey

One thing everyone should be aware of. I have tattoos a lot of them. My entire left arm is sleeved from my shoulder to my wrist. My right are has no tattoos covering where my watch would be. So that being said. When I wear my apple watch on my left hand where I would normally wear a watch the always on feature does not work. When I switch it to my right hand where I have no tattoos covering the skin area where the watch sits the always on works fine. Food for thought. I think the watch cant detect it is on your hand if you have tattoos on the skin right under the watch.

Jan 7, 2021 2:00 PM in response to CWPTX

I have tried three of these watches using watchOS 7, watchOS 7.1 and each of the other iterative updates… I don’t have any tattoos and I wear the watch loosely but not dangling.


What I have found with every one of them is intermittently the screen will just simply shut off as though it was an older style Apple Watch where when you drop your wrist it just goes black but I haven’t been able to come up with any sort of pattern because I wear the watch the same way every time… I’m pretty convinced it’s a software but because like I said I went through three of them and they all done exactly the same thing

Jan 7, 2021 5:41 PM in response to Ryan Smith9

I too exchanged the watches and on my third...was told by Apple it’s clearly not the watch..it’s the software. Which..yeah. Makes sense. So fix it please.

They also did tell me that people need to tell them about the issue so that they’re aware of it. Most people just go on the forums but don’t actually contact Apple about it. I don’t know if that’s true but if it is..yes, please contact Apple and tell them what’s wrong.

As for turning of wrist detection like others have mentioned..yes , that would work simply bc the screen wouldn’t dim, it would always be completely on which burns battery like crazy and worse, disables a lot of features that make the 6 series the 6 series so what’s the point of doing that? It should function the way it’s advertised to function.

Feb 16, 2021 10:51 AM in response to CollinGCC78

Frustrating issue with apple 6 watch where the display turns off (total black screen, not dim) then when you go into passcode you can turn off wrist detection and it works fine but lose the sleep, heart rate as well as blood oxygen when you do this. I had the SE and paid more for always on and it seems that i got ripped off. Apple can you help with this?! Yes i have rebooted shut off and done all the necessary troubleshooting aids that have been mentioned here. Apple??!!!!!

Apr 3, 2021 8:50 AM in response to Tooooomey

I was looking for an answer to this problem and tried a few of the ideas others put forward but none worked.


With a little more googling it turns out there is a setting called Theatre mode which turns the always on off when activated... it’s in the control centre... https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/watch/apd06bc15da1/7.0/watchos/7.0#apd1974ec876


Hope this helps others!

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Apple Watch series 6 always on display not working!

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