Callers hear their voice echo if I take/make calls using Apple Watch

JSMichel wrote:

I have spent significant time on the phone with Apple Senior Advisors about this. 6 different calls. No answers. My watch is less than a week old so they told me to return it and get a new one. I did so. The new watch worked fine with no echo UNTIL I updated it to 3.2. Now the echo is back. Apple called to check in about my new watch. I tell them the same problem is occurring and they give no help, say someone will call me back. When will they acknowledge this major issue?? Makes me want to get my $400 back and get rid of this thing if they can't work something like this out quickly. The whole reason I got the watch was to talk handsfree.

This post is so useful and in my opinion shows that the echo issue, is caused by a software issue and not a hardware issue.

Hopefully Apple will get their act together and fix this issue ASAP.

Thanks again for posting this.

Vegasmichele wrote:

I just returned from the Apple Store with my third Watch in as many weeks. Echo still persists. Working with an applecare tech but it does not currently appear that there is a fix for this. Did not have an echo issue with the first Watch (it was a messaging/crashing issue) but that one had not been updated to 3.2. After updating watch #2 to 3.2 echo appeared. Watch #3 came loaded with 3.2 echo present. Incredibly frustrating as I have been dealing with issues nonstop since I got this as a gift three weeks ago.

Definitely sounding more and more like a software issue. I just hope Apple get it sorted ASAP. I've had my Apple Watch since December and the echo issue was not present then. I just hope Apple don't leave the issue until WatchOS 4 to fix it. That would stink

How frustrating for you to be having this much hassle since getting it. Not a very good Apple experience that's for sure.

Vegasmichele wrote:

I have submitted my report as well. Thanks for providing that link!

this is a basic function of the Watch, not sure how many people will tolerate waiting a long time for a fix!

Your welcome 🙂 and thanks.

I agree, it is a basic function of the Watch and it's like having the iPhone do the same thing after a software update.

Hopefully the upcoming WatchOS update will fix it, fingers crossed but for anyone else having the issue, it must be reported to Apple, as they cannot look into/fix a software bug that is not reported upon.

Worldof1 wrote:

Had the same issue with the Series 2 I bought last week. Unpaired and repaired to no avail. Today I tried turning down the watch's speaker volume for calls from 100% to 50%, and the people on the other end said their voice echo is gone. Echo was still present for them at 75% volume. Not an ideal fix, but it seems to do the trick, and the volume difference between 100% and 50% on these tiny watch speakers is negligible to the average ear.

Thanks for the tip.

I have just tried this now and at 50% the caller still hears the echo. I then took the volume down to around 10% and at this point the caller said the echo stopped.

But the volume level on the Apple Watch was that low at 10%, it wouldn't be useable outdoors.

I hope Apple get this issue sorted ASAP, as it wasn't there at all before WatchOS 3.2.

Thanks again.

JSMichel wrote:

I have now tweeted at Apple Support with a screenshot of this thread asking when they will acknowledge and fix this issue. I did it once yesterday morning. The tweet was gone an hour later. I posted it again this morning. The tweet is gone again. So somehow they are getting my tweets deleted????

Erm very strange. They should be acknowledging the issue, rather than deleting the Tweets, as no one else but them could delete them.

I think I'll submit a screen shot too, and see if the Tweets get deleted also.

pnw44i wrote:

This happens for me too. I had had my watch replaced by AppleCare for haptic issues. Soon after I got the replacement I had the same complaints from callers as you described. When I handoff the call to my phone the issue goes away.

I have tried resetting/re-pairing as a new watch many times, cleared my Bluetooth settings and even reset my entire phone, not restoring from backup.

Still have the same issue.

Also...I have a series 0 paired to the same phone and it does not have this issue. I can switch watches, make the call again and it will work perfectly on the Series 0. It is updated to OS 3.2.

I sent the Series 2 back to AppleCare again today and am using my Series 0 daily with no issues.

Very interesting to hear that your Series 0 Apple Watch does not suffer the echo issue even though it has the same 3.2 WatchOS on it has your Series 2 Apple Watch.

I'm going to submit another bug feedback and mention that I have a Series 2 this time.

Thanks for posting 🙂