Watch keeps locking

I've had my watch for almost a week with no problems, and now it is locking itself as described. I have successfully used every feature throughout the week, including the activity tracking and all was well until today. it was fine last night, after putting it on my wrist first thing this morning it won't stay unlocked. Also no notifications, but I think that is intentional when it is locked... I tried manually checking my heartbeat with glances, and It won't read. It doesn't appear to know it is on my wrist.

I think it might be software... After trying the wifi "fix" in this thread multiple times nothing changed. I was trying to think about what could have triggered this behavior, and it might be attributed to me playing around installing new apps last night. It wasn't until this morning when the symptoms showed up. With that thought in my mind I then tried a total reset of the watch and set it up as new, and opted NOT to import compatible apps. I made sure to uninstall all third party watch apps off of my iPhone too (at least the new ones that I had downloaded specifically for the watch).

The watch seems fine again.

Most of what I had been doing up until it started misbehaving was just learning how to use the features, not adding apps.

If I had to guess, I had a bad app that affected the wrist sensor software. I’m going to wait a day to make sure the problem doesn't reappear, then slowly start adding apps back again. Most of the third party stuff I've downloaded so far has been extremely slow and buggy anyways so I won't miss it in the short term. Hopefully things get better once the ecosystem is more mature.

If it is of any interest, the apps I had installed before resetting my watch were as follows:

find near me, inflation calculator, chaos control, wristmaze, rules!, citymapper, Amazon, chipotle, 8tracks, things, Evernote, yahoo weather, endomondo, weather underground, strava, one drive, yelp, trip advisor, myfitnesspal, withings healthmate, Instagram, Twitter, (among possible others I have forgotten about)

I just purchased the watch no more than 24 hours ago and just sold it back on eBay to someone that hopefully does not have tattoos. You know, I wonder how many folks at Apple have tattoos. Given that this is the largest tech company in the world, one would have to assume that much of their work force is tatted somewhere. I am willing to bet that as much as 50% of their work force is tatted in fact.

This being said, how can such a well built company be so lost when it comes to the Apple Watch and it's simple lock and unlock system. I am sleeved in tribal black ink and was not fully aware of the issues this watch had until I tried to make it actually do something other than tell time. The darn thing would not stay unlocked. The minute I turned my wrist...Lock! If I raised my hand and lowered it...Lock! Heck, if I breathed wrong it seemed like it would lock.

At the end of the day..and about 9 hours of attempting to have patience with this overpriced time piece, I listed it back on eBay, took a $100.00 loss, and pretty much went back to smart watches that did exactly what they have been doing this whole time....working!

So, to Apple, I am sure that someone there is smart enough to fix this. What I want to know is why SamSung and everyone else has a smart watch that actually works for everyone and Apple's "Smart Watch" turned out to be a little "Dumb" when it comes to it's high-tech features. Maybe the next generation will be better.

Sincerely,

A Very Loyal but $100.00 poorer Apple Customer.

I'm sorry to hear that.

Also, I am pretty sure Apple has a 30-day return policy on the watch, for a full refund. Did you try that?

I would love to be able to return it for a 100% refund but I purchased the watch from someone who was more fortunate than me to have received theirs early. My original shipments (two of them) are still waiting to be shipped.

I just can't wrap my head around the idea that the watch has no bypass for the sensors. It lacks the most simple features such as being able to disable the lock feature for a set amount of time like the auto lock on the phone. Or how about being able to still receive notifications while the phone is locked? I mean, what is the point of having to keep your watch unlocked to receive a notification? You receive them on your phone if it is locked. Why not offer the same option on the watch?

Just the smallest tweak and the watch would, at the very least, function in some capacity as a smart watch even with the "tattoo glitch". But this watch appears to be an all or nothing..and if you get the nothing portion, you are out of luck (and money).

I still have my two other watches on order. I debated canceling but I am hoping that the Cupertino group can solve this problem before mine get sent out.

It actually disables the entire security feature that would lock the watch in the even that it is stolen etc. The wrist detection feature allows the watch to detect when it is on your wrist thus providing a security feature of auto locking the watch if it should ever be removed..perhaps from falling off or being stolen when you set it down.

Since this watch contains a great deal of information copied from the phone such as company text messages etc, the auto lock when removed feature is critical.

I have played with all work arounds on this thing. The auto lock should have a timer or perhaps the watch should have a sensor like the phone..and detect when it is against your skin. This way it remains working until it detects a change such as being removed.

Oh well, I appreciate the effort to help me find a work around but the fact remains that the watch has a very unreliable lock feature.

But more importantly, why in the heck does this watch not have the option to receive notifications when it is locked? And why would the watch not allow notifications to be sent to it if the phone is on? For example, if you are talking to someone and you receive an email, it would be great for the watch to let you know this. Does it? NOPE!. Can't receive any communication while the phone is active or simply unlocked. So if I let my kids play a game while we are in the car driving and someone sends me a message or I receive an email, my watch won't display it.

Apple needs to stop making the decisions for us and instead just give us options to choose. If I want my watch to lock in 5 mins then let me decide that. If I want my watch to receive notifications while my phone is unlocked, let me decide that. All the other watches on the market allow this. Why can't Apple?

Thanks John.

I hope that they get it fixed before my two new watches ship or I guess I will have to send them back.

Anyway, thanks again. appreciate the input my friend.

Wrist detection isn't working for me either. I just disabled it and now I get notifications. Still no idea if the app is going to alert me to stand... How annoying. I don't have tattoo's. I am a slightly tan, caucasian man, with moderate hairy arms... hehe Surely someone at Apple fit's this demographic.

This Apple watch was used by another developer before I got my hands on it. How many people here have the same problem with wrist detection not working and are the 2nd (or more) users of the watch?

If wrist detection doesn't work on your watch, and you don't have tattoos, it is faulty and needs to be exchanged. Finally gave up and after working with both phone support and Genius Bar, it was exchanged.

I called Apple support and they first had me reset my Apple Watch and pair it to my iPhone. After I did that the wrist detection was still not working. The tech then said that the only other option is to send out a new Apple Watch.

So if turning off his detection is the only way that you get notifications on your watch then this might be a good indication that your watch is also faulty.

Also another indication that your watch is faulty is if you have passcode set and every time you turn your wrist your watch asked you to enter your passcode even though you've previously entered it then that is also an indication that the watch is faulty.

I Have the same problem when I'm doing manual work, my watch locks and notifications stop coming through. I spoke to Apple who were very helpful, they are replacing my watch with a new one and giving me another 14 days if I want to send the watch back for a full refund if it happens with the new watch. I sure the same thing will happen as I believe it is an issue with the watch not touching the skin even though the strap is tight. It's not really right to not be able to wear my sports watch when I'm doing manual work, it really defeats the reason for buying it in the first place and for Apple to say the only thing to do is return it for a refund is not right. Its a poor design.

I just changed which wrist WITHOUT CHANGING ORIENTATION.

Could that help?