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My wrist is burning after wearing my apple watch 8 ultra

Hi,


The skin on my left wrist where I wear my apple watch 8 ultra has developed a burning sensation. Even after the watch is off for several minutes the pain is still there. I switch it to my right arm to see if I have the same problem. I wear my watch almost 24/7 besides the few times a day i remove it for 15-30 minutes to charge. Please help, I love this watch but cannot continue to wear it if this burning sensation doesn't go away. If I cannot wear it anymore, I am stuck with a 1k paper weight and 3-year contract for an extra line of service.... please advise. I have always worn smart watches and never had an issue like this.

Apple Watch Ultra, watchOS 9

Posted on Jan 6, 2023 7:36 AM

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Posted on Dec 16, 2023 11:08 AM

My wife and I both had what appears to be and feels like a burn from the heart rate sensor on the back of our watches. After much search around I found a solution that suggested that the cause is the watch's default setting to frequently record the wearer's heart rate.

This automatic heart rate record can be turned off in the watch Settings app on your iPhone. We did this and the burning stopped!

On your phone, go to the Watch app, then scroll to "Privacy" and find the "Heart Rate" toggle and set it to "Off".

Note: it does not cause the "Heart Rate" app to stop working when you request it, but it does cause the app to stop automatically recording your heart rate every few minutes.


Good luck! We're back to loving our watches.

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59 replies

Sep 2, 2023 12:40 PM in response to christ3da

I am not a doctor, and I did not go to a doctor for this. But... you should go to a doctor.


My rash looks very much like the photos here, and it is very similar to a staff infection I got on another part of my body, an athlete's foot fungus. I cleaned the area and my watch back with an alcohol swab. I also applied a steroid medication my doctor gave me for my infection (on another part of my body.) My watch area is already looking and feeling better.


So, go to your doctor and ask if you have a skin infection. The warm moist environment is ripe for an infection, and it is easy to fix by cleaning, keeping the watch loose, and a treatment from your doctor.

Oct 25, 2023 10:09 AM in response to christ3da

Just wanted to add a ‘Me Too’. I typically don’t have sensitive skin, but have noticed wearing my Apple Watch gen 8, I have 4 little red rashes right under the LED sensors. I feel no burning sensation, but just have noticed the 4 red dots. I do pretty much wear my watch 24/7 and love tracking my sleep with it as well as tracking sports. I’ll start reducing time during the day wearing it, but this has been educational on how we can be sensitive to LED light.

Oct 25, 2023 10:23 AM in response to jherth

I think we all get hooked on sleep analysis just because it is there, and leave it on 23x7 when:

1. If we have a poor sleep mix of the three sleep types, is there any "cure" anyway, and

2. If it does not fluctuate much from day to day or week to week, what is the point of continuing? Better give your skin a rest.

The larger more powerful watches seem to provoke more reactions from what I can see from reading them.

I would not wear any kind of watch all night.

My wrist is burning after wearing my apple watch 8 ultra

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