Apple Watch Series 6 - CONSTANTLY locking

I reckon I found the solution that solves this !

I restore my phone from new ! And re-install everything fresh without restoring from iCloud. Took me around an hour and a half to re-install my apps but my watch isn’t locking itself anymore, I’ve also re-installed the watch from fresh without the back up.

I think it’s well worth a try, let me know if that works for you too!

I am having the same issue and no one at Apple has helped. They run diagnostics on the Watch and everything is fine. They will not replace it or repair it. I have been dealing with the issue for over 5 weeks now and no help. I have basically given up and am wearing it with wrist detection off.

Man, am I glad I found this thread...

This issue started off for me on my older Watch Series 3. Everything was operating fine until the update to WatchOS 7, then as most of you have experienced my watch would unexpectedly lock itself whilst on my wrist. It would happen sometimes after 10 min, sometimes seconds after I unlock it.

After about 3 weeks, I decided to use this issue as an excuse to upgrade my watch to a Watch SE; it happened again. Now, at this point I figured it was something OS related, however giving Apple the benefit of doubt I decided to exchange it for another unit within the return period. I received the 2nd Watch SE and still the same thing.

Now I'm on a fresh Apple Watch Series 6 and guess what? Still locks on my wrist. Super annoying, but I did read through most of these comments and I do have a full length sleeve on my left arm (where I typically wear my watch). Just for kicks 'n giggles I decided to switch it to my right wrist and I haven't had it lock on my unexpectedly whilst wearing it ever since.

Not really sure why it can't read through my tattoos, especially when it was operating just fine prior to the update, but I guess this is the life I'm living for the time being....

I hope Apple steps up and fixes this. Seems kinda silly considering how huge of a company they are w/ all the resources they have lol.

Hello! Please let me impart this wisdom that I just learned. I too had this very annoying problem. Spent hours on the phone with apple. One senior support person suggested I try putting it on the other wrist to see what would happen and...magically it worked! I switched it back to my watch wrist and man, if that isn't magic I don't know what is. Please try that. I still have my date with the engineering department to figure out what in the world is happening and I will update when I hear back from them.

I hope it works!

They have not been helpful at all. I tried working with them for 5 weeks and zip, nada, nothing. It was frustrating. Then, after weeks on the phone, they told me to go to the store and show them. And of course it worked fine when I was there and no issues came up on their diagnostic test. I went back home and it started again so I went back and showed them. Still nothing showed up on their test and said it is a software issue. I chatted with Apple a week ago and I told the agent the issue and to review this forum. She was stunned at the number of problems so she said she would move it up the chain. We will see if we get a response.

For now, I am operating it without wrist detection and it works just fine. However, I am unable to use several functions since wrist detection is off. Basically, I have an $800 watch where I cannot use several things on it. Apple has not stepped up to the plate on this one.

Thank you, it’s terribly frustrating and disappointing- like buying a vacuum cleaner that only works with the hose attachment and not the vacuum head- you pay so much and the only solution is to loose functionality

i’ve found this thread after also encountering the same problem. upgraded from series 4 to series 6 and this issue has happened constantly. even right before my eyes id unlock it and it would lock straight away.

have also tried contacting customer services with no luck of them being able to give me any help apart from turning wrist detection off.

i also have 2 sleeves of tattoos which lie under the watch(on either wrist) which seems to be a common trend as to a possible cause of this

just wanted to add my comment in hopes apple see the amount of people this is actually affecting and roll out some fix soon because this is terrible

so i lived with wrist detection off for about 7 days and yesterday decided to turn it back on and atm it hasn’t locked on me. pushing on nearly 40hrs+ of no locking which is probably a record since i’ve had it 🤷🏼‍♂️

That's great to hear because when I turned it back on (after having it off for a month now), it immediately locked. Apple has not done jack with sending out an update to fix the bug. Pretty disappointed with it.

sorry to hear yours still isn’t working! apple really do need to address this because it seems to be a rising issue and “turning wrist detection off” is NOT an acceptable solution because it disabled a variety of features

Sadly, the latest update today did NOT fix the self-locking / wrist detection issue. Very frustrating. I will not be able to use several functions on the new Apple Fitness + app that came out today. Equally frustrating.

Holy crap, I have a tattoo on each wrist too and have the exact same problem! It all started when i got the watch 6, so I assume there is some sensor that the tattoo blocks that triggers the watch to lock. Totally sucks, since uh I can't like just rub it off or anything.

At least now it makes sense and it won't drive me nuts anymore trying to figure out what's going on.

I have no tattoo on either wrist. I did not have a problem until about a month after I purchased it. Apple support was ZERO help. Completely dissatisfied with it. I had better success with my Series 3.

Just to add a few more details:

I had the Apple Watch 2,3,4 and it never was a problem. I had my watch 4 paired with my iphone 12 and no issues, but as soon as I paired my watch 6, it started. So, if it is because of tattoos, maybe there is a new sensor or something, or maybe the sensor is super sensitive.

Other people having the same issue and no tattoos is a little disheartening. I hoped the issue would be simple.

And for Apple to recommend turning off wrist detection to solve the issue is a total fail on their part. Obviously turning it off will solve the problem.

Right? Turning off wrist detection is the lamest resolution. WTF? It turns off so many products that I want to use and now this is just lame. Why do I have this watch then? I contacted them about a month ago and they were no help. So disappointed.