Apple Watch stuck in boot loop

A few weeks ago my series 3 watch got stuck in a boot loop after an update failed. For days, I did all the things I could find: hard reset, let it die, place on a charger, clean the buttons, etc. The one thing that brought it back was reattempting a Bluetooth connection. This first step may be unnecessary, but here was my process:

1. Place it on a charger and while on the charger, hold the crown and side button until a red exclamation point and apple support URL pops up (If you see "!" - Apple Support / Follow steps if necessary).
2. Once I performed the step of double clicking the side button, it went back into the loop.
3. Place iPhone that it's paired with next to watch and attempt to connect with Bluetooth while Apple logo is on screen (took me about 3 attempts) and a restore/pairing option will pop up once connected.
4. Choose to restore and leave on charger near phone.

Hope it helps someone else!

This is an old post but wanted to share how I fixed mine. After trying to reset the watch it got stuck at logo. Logo appeared for 10 sec then turned of for 5 sec and so on. I turned off the watch by pressing both buttons then the minute it turned off I immediately pressed only the crown botton. Hold it until red "!" appears then double click on the second side button. Thats it. But it took many tries for me. I repeatedly did this until I got that "!" mark to appear. Good luck.

if you having boot loop issues with Apple Watch try these steps

Try this;

Press and hold both the side button and Digital Crown for about 10 seconds, then release both buttons when you see the Apple logo.Wait a few seconds, then hold down just the side button for about 20 seconds or until the “erase all settings” prompt shows up on the screen, then click it, then click the green check button.

hope this helps

I work at McDonalds making drinks, so I get a lot of sticky syrup on me, turns out it must have got stuck in my watch side key. It was stuck down, after finding this thread I tried washing it with a wash cloth, and warm water. It’s working again.

Ended up here because my watch was stuck in the reboot loop and realized that my side button was stuck down after being hidden by a toddler for a few months. Posting in case anyone else ends up here with the same problem.

Hi Confused-com

Welcome to the Apple (user-to-user) Community.

Re: Apple Watch stuck in boot loop- force restart not worked

You might want to try following the tips in this (non-Apple) online article :

https://www.payetteforward.com/apple-watch-stuck-apple-logo-heres-fix/

All the best :-)

If your watch is still like this. Try freezing it. I stumbled upon a random YouTube video explaining the process, and after two 15 minute sessions in the freezer it turned on again. Good luck!

What worked for me is turning it on then put on charger right after you turn on try process multiple times. But not before on don’t leave on charger after either

I accidentally put my watch on a boot loop but I just force restarted (sidebutton and crown then let go after shutdown) then hold digital crown until apple logo appeared and I still had my settings and stuff saved. I have no idea what the watch was trying to do and it wasn't a battery or storage issue so im good ! :)

I tried everything, and put it in the freezer as a last resort. It's working again! Thanks!

I had this issue too so for a couple of days my watch was dead so I put it on charge then yesterday morning it still hadn’t charged I didn’t believe that it hadn’t charged so I moved leads around and about 4pm the apple logo came up but it kept going black and then back onto the apple logo until this morning I googled it found this page and took about 2 mins I force restarted it took multiple tries tho and it worked its back to normal and fully charged!

Thank you so much, I had been trying for hours and couldn´t find anything on the internet that helped. It worked right away.

Hi! It didn’t work for me. The apple watch is still boot looping. I don’t know what to do.

Great Advice. I was also struggling with this. I bought a new Apple Watch which was stuck in the boot loop. I had trouble bypassing it as it’s never been connected to a phone yet. After a good 6 hours of attempts and finally coming across this post, it really helps.