apple watch sudden screen shatter

Hi this happened to my wife’s watch as well before that it was heating up and shattered on her wrist at Barnes and Noble‘s We took it to the Genius Bar to send it out and said it wasn’t covered before they send it out is it it was covered because batteries overheat and release and separate from the watch but this time it’s shattered the glass because the watch is so glue on keep it waterproof

Apple does not what to acknowledge this dangerous issue with their watch.

Hi, I had the same exact situation happen. I was at a conference hearing a speaker talk, not moving and all of the sudden I look down at my watch and the whole screen completely shattered. It is unbelievable how this could have happened, I would always be so careful if I ever even lightly touched my watch to anything I would check it to make sure it was okay. This time I did not hit anything and the whole screen is in tiny pieces (It looks as though it exploded, no point of clear impact, nothing, it is just shattered all over). I went to apple and they told me just because the screen is broken that it is my fault. The repair of $229 is just so high and it was really at no fault of my doing. Any repair place outside of Apple charges about the same price.

My 5 month old Apple Watch (series 3) spontaneously shattered, undisturbed, last week. I was scrolling through a new text when it happened, spraying tiny shards of glass everywhere! My nightmare continued with a trip to the Apple Store, where I'm told that I would get my watch replaced faster if I just called in! I now have wasted several hours speaking with various Apple Support "Senior Advisors", and have taken many detailed photographs that were sent in for the "experts" to examine. My advisor informed me that they were seeing screens "popping off intact" on previous series when the battery became swollen, but they now use a stronger adhesive. So now, if the battery swells the display will stay glued down and shatter instead - just as all of us in this thread have experienced. Apple Support have informed me that they don't believe my story, despite any evidence of accidental damage, and that I will have to dish out $100 for an AppleCare+ replacement. My Case Number is ***.

Over the years we have purchased a MacBook, 7 iPads, 8 iPhones, 4 iPod Touchs, and a Time Machine. If this is how my story ends, my family's relationship with Apple has ended.... very badly!

So you can add me to this list. First time was back in Feb this year (2018) when i looked down at my watch, the whole front face had "popped" off and was hanging by it's lead. Took it on the chin and paid the online repair/replacement fee and had a new/replacement sent out. 2 days ago, same thing happens but this time it is just shattered round the edge.

Series 1 - 42mm

Husband brought me an iWatch, a few months in and while sitting at my desk the screen just popped out on 3 sides. We take it back to Apple and they tell me the battery was swollen and they replaced it. 6 Days later my replacement iWatch exploded on my wrist ! I couldn’t believe it ! So I go back to Applestore and im told their Sales people are now also Technicians, unfortunately for me the ‘Technician took on e look at my watch and declared that I was the cause of the damage and would have to pay 400 dollars to have it fixed ?! I couldn’t believe it. I then asked for a battery assessment to confirm I had NOT damaged it and the Technician refused. So where does this leave the consumer ? Basically the Apple Technician/Salesperson can now decide whether they replace THEIR faulty product or not by eyeballing your damaged watch. COME ON this is a joke right ?!!

I sent my cracked Watch to Apple to be reviewed. As a result of their analysis, they sent a replacement back to me a no cost. Also, I don’t have Apple care.

https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-watch-repair-program-acknowledges-screen-cracking-flaw/

Well, bad news for us. So far anyway. Got on chat with yet another advisor and they were all but convinced it was a swollen battery. Sent pics and everything. Then they get with a senior advisor. Since it had already been looked at by some technician, they said they would not replace it. So, basically, they are calling us liars in that we said there was no abuse or damage to the watch. They said it was damaged.

It also seems they don't have a clear policy on when these watches do shatter. Some get a new watch, others don't. Good luck! The watch cost $350. Now they want $229 or something to send a refurbished watch. That's about $580 for a four month old watch. Incredible. IF she had abused or damaged it, then yeah, have to suck it up and either pitch it or get it repaired. But she didn't. Thinking I'm tasting sour apple.

My watch broke when I drove a car, submitted it to our authorized service provider in Sweden Macforum and received a reply that I could buy a replacement unit for the price of 290 €.
It has cracked exactly like yours around the edge! And i bought it about 1 month ago and has not been dropt or something similar.. Its a Series 3 GPS 42mm.

Same thing hapend to me yesterday morning as I removed my second generation Apple Watch from its charger I noticed an all around crack, I thout the screen was dirty but insted slightli lifted the craked screen.

Is this a swollen battery issue Apple should address it.

The exact same thing happened to me! Purchased my Apple Sports watch 3rd gen back in October 2017 and in January my screen randomly fell off. Always been super careful with it and there wasn't a scratch on my screen. I was watching TV when I tried to grab the remote and I found my Apple Watch screen in my lap. Went to the Genius Bar and they though it was due to a swollen battery, after sending it in they presented me a 260 euros bill. Denied service and contacted my creditcard insurance. They did cover most of the replacement costs and I just brought my watch back in for a second time.

They told me it was my own fault and I believed them the first time.. because they told me there was a super tiny impact point not visible to the human eye.. They did add a microscopic photo and there was a small dot visible. But now im not sure if that was also there when I turned it in the first time..

Apparently the 3rd gen glass had some horrible weak points at the corners of the glass, especially when compared to the first gen watch. What should I do now? If I get my replacement would I still be able to get my money back if they do set up a 3rd gen replacement program in the future?

I’m beyond disappointed that under the growing weight of evidence Apple has said that my wife’s Apple watch Series 3 suffered ‘impact damage’ when it was nothing of the sort. One day she put the watch on, checked messages on it yet a short time later when she looked the watch, the glass was cracked all the way around where it meets the body of the watch. It was totally impossible that it suffered even the slightest knock and she was understandably upset, particularly as I had stretched myself financially to buy it for her as a Christmas present.

The Liverpool store dismissed my wife’s version of the event and said there had been impact. When she returned home and told me this I Googled ‘Apple watch screen crack’ and instantly found literally dozens of customers describing similar scenarios: I quote just a few:

“I was sitting at my desk, not moving, didn’t bang it on anything’

‘It was sitting alone on the charger when crack.....’

‘The entire edge cracked and separated, it happened while sitting in a chair watching tv.’

‘It just happened. It wasn’t banged,dropped or anything’

‘Woke up to it on my bedside table with the screen cracked on all 4 sides’

‘We were just watching tv, we heard a crack then the screen has shattered completely’

“I was just sitting in the garden...then suddenly I felt something has (sic) popped from my wrist. I realised the screen is shattered’

I almost all of these cases (and many more besides) Apple appear to have dismissed the claims and charged a ridiculously high replacement fee (as they want to do in the case of my wife’s watch). I returned to the store with my wife but both the Manager and Assistant in the shop made a strangely obvious point of NOT even looking at the copies of letters I had highlighted.

I am saddened that the ‘gold standard’ of service I (and my family) have received from Apple in the past seems to be just that....something from the past. Although the staff are always pleasant and scrupulously follow company policy my wife felt that being told it was impact damage, when she knew and insisted it could not have been, was tantamount to being called a liar.

Emails to Apple have not been replied to. I feel powerless and have totally changed my opinion of Apple as a company. All I can do is stop buying their goods in future.

My family
are loyalty apple customers we all use iphones from Iphone 3 to Iphone X,
ipads, Macbook for many years and seems this time we are very disappointed with
Apple. My son has medical needs, we bought this iwatch series 3 for him for
urgent calls only in case of medical emergencies. He only used that for one
month, then the screen suddenly cracked very badly on his wrist while he was
sitting in the airplane. To me, the biggest concern is “is that safe?”

I’ve walked to genius bar, the technician did not do any inspection and just said the
screen was not covered. So, I called apple support, and talked twice over the
phone with the apple support senior advisor, each call took about one and half
hour. I simply two questions, “what caused the cracking?” “after it repaired,
will that be safe?”

The advisor keeps repeating she feels so sorry to know that, and she is only a messenger and
cannot make any decision. She requested we mail the watch for an inspection,
and we did not how exactly the watch was inspected, generally, one week later, the
options came to us was:

1. Pay $283+tax to change screen

1. Return without repair
2. Apple help to recycle the product

I feel very tired in the whole communication process, I keep telling them this is can be a
serious safety issue, they need to read the customer posts from this apple
support community and do a better investigation. Seems apple does not want to
be acknowledged about their product may have safety problem.

After getting really exhausted with the communication, finally, I choose to have this
product returned without repair, this is because:

1. Apple should be responsible for the repair

2. Once this repaired will this happen again? I am more concerned this will bring risk
to my son (I read someone had the screen changed but the sudden cracking happened
second time)

Once again, there are hundreds of similar cases reported, how the customer rights can be
protected? Any recommendation, where should we report this to get apple really
taking action to care about their customer???

Hi, I just googled this because I charge my husbands Iwatch every day before he goes to work, then I proceed to put it on him while he gets ready to go to work, we know for a fact it was not broken , before he left to work after putting it on he change the face and it was perfect not even a scratch on it, he leaves the house and five minutes later he calls me shocked on how he looked at the time and it is completely cracked/shattered no reason for it what’s so ever.

We will be taking it to the apple store in hopes to get an answer or maybe we should contact costumer service over the phone see what they have to say....did you get any good outcome ?

This happened to me as well. Spontaneously shattered. Doing NOTHING. I've went back and forth with apple repair and senior advisors for two months with this. They want to make me pay for it when I am still under warranty. They say their technician saw damage done. I ask what damage and they can't find anything from the technician specifying it. I have read a lot on the internet of others having this issue. I am not two months into this and just found out when I was given this as a gift it came with Apple Care Plus which means I should have had a new watch sent to me immediately before even sending my watch in for repair. I had them look into my warranty and they said NONE of that. Then I called today and tell them I have it and oh now they can see that in my case details. Weird how all of a sudden it shows but didn't prior. I hope more people see this and know that these watches are made faulty.