Apple Watch series 6 always on display not working!

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.

I have this exact problem as well. I have been in touch with Apple who assures me no one else is having this issue. I even sent my series 6 back and got a replacement and it’s STILL happening. Which leads me to believe it is an unknown software issue. Strange that it doesnt even seem to be on Apples radar.

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!

Tooooomey wrote:

and the always on display still dims after a few seconds.

That is correct. That’s how “always on” works.

Without “always on” the display would go black, showing nothing.

is this a known possible software / hardware fault?

No, it’s a feature.

Same issue here. I tried everything (update watchOS to 7.1 and iOS to 14.2, deactivate/wait/activate again, unpair, initialize the device) but this it's still happening. In my case, sometimes the always-on display works fine, then randomly stop working.

i just bought the series 6 Apple Watch about a month ago and recently they did an update on software. Ever since the update my watch has been acting crazy it shuts off on its own and when I’m able to get it to come on it just displays the Apple . I have reset the watch a couple times and it still displays the Apple it’s getting frustrating because now my iPhone screen has been acting up as well goes completely black the phone still on but screen is black and periodically if I plug it in and leave it for a while it will come back on. The other night it started I Tried to turn it off and it decided to call 911 and send out an emergency response to all my emergency contacts. I’m getting so upset with Apple products I’m not even sure I want to continue with there product. If anyone has some insight on what to do please let me know. Thx

I just bought a Series 6 and updated it to Watch OS 7.1 The alway on feature does not work well. Sometime the watch will function as it should other times, the screen simply goes black and lights up when raised like my old series 4 used to do. I have tried every setting and it does not matter if the always on setting is on or off--- it simply does not work. I have tried rebooting the watch and the phone. Repairing does not help either. Thinking I will return and wait for Apple to fix this.

Same here with the screen going black but I’ve also noticed that on occasion when the screen is dim, the displayed time does not update. I’ll glance down at the watch and I see 6:05 but it’s really 6:18 (example). Only when I pick up my wrist does the time display update to be correct.

Ok I came to this site with same issues with my series 6. Spent a night resetting over and over ,same issue with always on display shutting off. Until I figured it out. Mine was working fine till latest update as well then didn’t . Anyways, go to settings on phone , then display and brightness, go to your iPhone do the same in watch settings , display and brightness, with both iPhone and watch both on this at same time , turn off always on display thru phone, both screens still lit, your iwatch always on display should be turned off by remote of phone. Wait for at least a minute. Now go back to phone turn on always on display and should work as it should!! Mine did!! Was ready to take it back until I figured this out! Happy owner again. Too bad apple can’t figure this out and help us but hopefully this helps all of you to enjoy this expensive investment once more! Merry Xmas and a safer New Years for all of us!!!

I have the exact same problem with series 6.

when unpair and reset The Watch it stays 2-3 days and goes back to black screen. When touch the display only the time would show.

i reset The Watch several times now. A real pain.

Can you be a bit more clear on this? I don’t quite understand. I bought mine and it started doing it immediately, right after setting it up. After the first ten min it just stopped being on. I reset it and it still did it immediately. Going in tomorrow and they better fix it.

All I know I sent fours trying to figure it out, and like I said the only thing that worked was to have watch on the same screen as the phone on the display settings and turn always display off on the phone watch will and should do the same wait about a minute have phone and watch again at same setting screen , both screens on. Turn on always display under watch app on your phone. This corrected my problem and no issues since. I do cnc work with lasers at my job is where I got idea. The lasers I operate have to be on at same time and active to communicate with each other to program. Phone and watch go hand in hand I guess under same theory. Hope this works for you! I did for me. Seems apple doesn’t understand cause I got no where till I tried this. I’ll check this thread later

I have exchanged watches two times now. And guess what, always on display NOT working. I’m sick and tired of Apple right now. I’m the one that has to go and drive an hour total to exchange the dang watch bc it’s not working as advertised. And they’re looking at me like I’m the problem. Mind you this is brand new out of the package not working!!!! Fix this, Apple!!

Well after finally getting a wonderful woman in Apple support on the phone my watch is now “always on”!!!!

I’d like to tell you all that we did to fix this but I honestly can’t remember it all. It included her accessing my phone to move an arrow around on my screen to direct me to check various settings on the phone itself and the Watch app. I believe it also included a “unpair/pair” of the watch/phone. And BTW we did all of this to both my watch/phone AND my wife’s and both now work great!

Both watches are now always on ... and the time updates so that it doesn’t “jump” minutes to the correct time after being “asleep” when it went black.

There is only one small issue for me but it’s a case of “working as designed”. The face goes black if the watch is not on my wrist - looking to save power if the watch senses it’s not on skin. As someone that uses my MacBook a lot, I often find that the watch (any watch) gets in the way. I like to take it off and “stand” it on my desk to glance at the time. I can’t do that now, I’ll have to get accustomed to looking for the time on my computer screen.

Since she did her magic,

The best I can tell you is to check all appropriate SETTINGS on both the watch and the iPhone it is paired to along with the Watch app on the phone.

Also unpaid and re-pair the watch to phone. Make sure you have a backup of the watch too.