My Apple Watch 9 is acting weird - Is this a bug?

Try 10.5

I did contact Apple support and their response was Apple is aware of the issue and actively investigating it. Hopefully they will find the root cause soon and release it in an update.

Mine was going crazy yesterday! (Jan 31, 2024) The display was jumping around like crazy and nothing would work. Like it was having a seizure! I took it off and put it on the charger for a few seconds and it went back to normal.

This also happened to my series 9 last night at 5am. Started playing my Spotify music in the middle of the night on my phone, and then when I tried to turn it off, it hit the SOS and called all of my emergency contacts and the police. Almost gave me a heart attack instead of saving me from one.

Video of it happening

same issue for me on my Apple Watch Ultra -

couldn't figure out how to restart as it went crazy trying apps, dialing 911, attempting to crack my password.

Holding down the digital crown and side button (below the digital crown)

at the same time forced a restart.

Pretty creepy experience - like one of those movies where the AI takes over and the then next thing you know your fighting your Roomba off with the toilet plunger.

Seems fine now, but I'm unplugging everything before going to sleep.

This might not be it, but when it does happen, this is how it will start.

My Apple Watch 9 also went crazy this afternoon, Feb. 20, 2024. I initially got a vibrate on my watch indicating a timer was complete, but I did not set a timer. Then I noticed the passcode screen was randomly selecting numbers to unlock and would not stop; it kept locking me out. I had to do a power shut down (holding Crown and Side Button) together and then restart. It fixed it and I had to manually close out nine timers the watch had set. My concern is this: Is this a watch defect and should I make a claim before the standard warranty runs out? OR Will this problem fix itself with the reset and recent update that is set to happen tonight when I put the watch on the charger? AND will this return later in another problem issue and I'll be out of my warranty? There are known "glitches" with Apple Watch 9; this is not the first time I've had to hard power down!! I just got this Apple Watch from my children for Christmas 2023. My older Apple watch was eight years old and I never had an issue with it!

This happened to me tonight March 14 on a series 9 purchased in December 2023. I did the hard restart and it stopped acting weird. Still assessing the damages as it was opening calendar invites, trying to enter the password, trying to delete apps, resetting alarms, etc. Glad I read this post before it called 911. I'm updating phone and watch software so hopefully that resolves the issue.

Caitlin2535 can you please add which Watch OS and Phone IOS you were running at the time. It would be great to know if this is still happening after upgrading to iOS 17.4.1 and Watch OS 10.4. Everyone else too, please include your IOS and Watch OS versions so we know if this is fixed or not.

This happened to me today, Saturday, March 30th. I'm vegging out on a device and suddenly one of the timers on my watch went off. Weird. I tried to tap cancel to no avail, then my watch started going ham! It sent a thumbs down emoji to a recent group chat (OMGoodness), set about three different timers which would go off randomly at different times, frantically switched between all of my opened apps, was flicking back and forth between "siren" "sos" and "call 911" (thank goodness neither was activated), and locked me out and wouldn't let me re enter my password after I took off my possessed little treasure. I quickly found this discussion by searching "Apple Watch going crazy". I tried the hard reset which finally worked after 5 or so tries. Mine is the Ultra 2. NEVER had this happen before on any of my other Apple Watches. What's up, Apple... Any insight?

Same thing happened to me today, March 30. Watch 9 went crazy, apps flickering and changing all over the place. Haptics going wild and then a siren went off. No way to stop it. It called 911 and I had to tell them that I was fine and that my watch was going crazy. I finally was able to power it down (holding down the crown and the side button). I've unpaired and re-paired and "set up as a new watch." Updating the iPhone 14 and the watch OS now too. This was pretty scary and, in addition to calling 911, it sent a message to my wife that there was an emergency at our house. Not good.

Now.

watchOS 10.4 includes new features, improvements and bug fixes, including:

• Tap to Show Full Notification setting now allows you to double-tap to expand the notification
• Using Apple Pay with Confirm with AssistiveTouch will require a passcode for additional security and will not support double-clicking the side button
• Resolves an issue that causes some users to experience false touches on the display
• Fixes an issue that prevents contacts from syncing to Apple Watch for some users

For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website: Apple security releases - Apple Support

I updated to 10.4 this morning and then left for work. It sent out SOS twice after that. So, I did a factory reset and then restore from backup. I'm hoping this solves the issues. I've had two Apple watches prior to this one and never had a problem. This one went haywire last night and called 911 plus sent SOS texts to my emergency contacts.

watch series 9. bought in November 2023. Same thing, SOS, 911 calling, passcode input like someone is playing in casino. locking up, not being able to hard re-boot, apps flashing, xmas light show. Started April 8th. updated to 10.4 yesterday. today SOS and 911 again, called apple support, no resolution but they are aware. they run diagnostics, and while re-booting the watch, came back to siren and SOS again. "Hoping" to have another software update, no ETA. This cannot possibly go on! watch is useless. Apple please take it seriously! this can result in injury. my wife and daughter both dispatched first responders thinking i was having a serious medical problem while away from home.

Out of nowhere, my apple watch 9 started requesting my sign in, multiple times per day. This continues despite entering my sign in.

Yesterday, the charge drained within 4 hours. I thought, hmmm, maybe it's operator error and I hadn't really set the watch on the charger.

So I charged it, making sure I was securely connected. It drained within 4 hours again.

Usage has slightly lessened this last week, so that's not the problem.

It's the watch. It was a Christmas 2023 gift and is ALREADY having issues. I'm pretty careful with this watch so these issues don't make any bit of sense.

My apple watch series 9 version 10.3.1 I bought a couple of months ago just went CRAZY! It was on my wrist and I had just selected the timer for 10 minutes. Then it happened. Flashing, entering numbers on code pad, called 911. Caught me off guard. 911 calling me and my family. Forgot about resetting with crown and button. Set on charger but kept saying try password in 5 minutes then 11 minutes. I then reset and after 15 minutes it seems to be ok. This is @ my 5th Apple watch and this has NEVER happened before. Apple needs to do better. We don't need to bother 911 !!