Handwashing chimes on Apple Watch not working after update

On the watch go Settings>Accessibility>Chimes and turn it back on. Someone forgot to reset settings to prior during the update.

Although not a "fix", I will report a finding. I have found that if you perform your hand washing while keeping the watch face pointed down towards the sink the entire time, then upon completion, you get both haptics and chime sound. This does not seem like a reasonable expectation, as I don't know many people that wash their hands this way. It did not have this limitation when this feature was first released, so I'm thinking it is bad programming with the sensors.

I noticed that when I do a "vigorous" hand washing, I get both the haptic feedback and the chime. For less vigorous hand washing, I only get the haptic feedback and for very casual hand washing I get neither.

All with this issue should call Apple Support and ask for help

Update-Just tried a vigorous hand washing and did get the end chime. Maybe the sensors are not as sensitive to the motion and water sound as they once were. Strange!

Everybody, I strongly suggest you go to Apple's "Feedback" page, and write a short note about the issue. They need to hear from as many of us as possible.

I have almost the same issue. After the update to 7.1, when I wash my hands the start chime is no longer working. Before the update I was receiving 3 chimes: start, end and well done so no need to look at the watch. As now I just have the end and well done chime, I need to look at the watch to check if the handwashing timer has already started. I have also tried hard and soft reset, but it is not working.

Phil-

What I thought might have been a workaround, appears to have been fluky at best. Yes, I do have Noise Detection on, but have also tried it with it off. 7.2 has really screwed up this feature, so if you haven’t updated, don’t. You are correct, it started going south in 7.1 It was great in 7.0. Don’t know why they had to mess with it, but that’s the Apple way. 😖

Handwash alert chimes are intermittent. Haptics for me are useless - alerts even set to “prominent” are not noticeable. (iPhone and IWatch software are up to date - 7.3 at the time of this post.) Given the current pandemic I would hope Apple gets on it and fixes this problem. It is an important feature for the general population and especially so for medical personnel. Sending concerns/complaint via “feedback” to Apple regarding this issue, hoping it helps to move things along.

I wear long sleeves much of the year and I can't see the watch face when I wash my hands. The movement of my wrist against my shirt sleeve masks the haptic feedback so that doesn't work either. I came to rely on the charming arpeggio chime that the watch sounded.

I sent my feedback already. If you have come across this thread and would like to have the chime returned to your watch, please let Apple know. https://www.apple.com/feedback/

Watch OS 7.3

I’ve been experiencing this issue since the update as well. Typically the little orange microphone “listening” icon will appear … and then sometimes the countdown will silently begin with only a chime at the end, and other times there won’t be a countdown but I’ll get a notification asking me if I was washing my hands and whether it was a just a quick rinse or something. Truly bizarre that they broke the feature so shortly after releasing it. I’ve found it especially useful during the pandemic. I hope they patch it soon.

Thanks but unfortunately this setting is only for the hourly chime. I tried anyway just in case and the results is that this is not the solution. It is a bug or a programmer who has disable by mistake the start chime for hand-washing. Still waiting a fix to get this chime back.

So far with 7.2 I’m seeing it function a bit more consistently, but not necessarily to the level where I would consider it reliable.

It’s odd: During the public beta and initial release it worked reasonably well, but ever since then it’s been erratic. It also looks like the programmers are futzing around with it a lot. The visual presentation keeps changing with every update, often in minor and unnecessary ways. I wonder if the constant tweaking is partly to blame for all the usability regressions. Maybe this feature was a late addition to the OS in response to the pandemic and that’s why it’s so unfinished-seeming.

I have 7.2 on a Series 6 Stainless and have no sounds and the altered graphic that’s been mentioned here. Haptics are also weak. All of this is very unfortunate because with long sleeves, it’s often not possible to see the watch while washing hands, and with no audio cues and relatively weak haptic ones, I can no longer easily tell when hand washing is complete.

I really hope this gets fixed soon, as it’s counter to the purpose of this function. I believe that it disincentivizes people from using this feature.