Apple Watch keeps rebooting

Here is what I did last week Wednesday evening that so far has been helpful.

1. On the iPhone app Watch - Notifications: Disable the Notifications Indicator and under MIRROR IPHONE ALERTS FROM:, change all notification sliders to the left (Off). (Did not change any of the factory apps, left them at Default after a recent pair as a New Watch attempt.)
2. Restart both the iPhone, and then the watch. I had read about others thinking that this was related to Notifications and some mentioned Instagram (which I had also removed before starting any of this without any changes). I observed this for a couple of hours while working and at this point it was rebooting every view minutes or so while connected to the charger. I removed it from the charger and it still continued to reboot many time. It was time to try one more time as I had an appointment at the Apple Store to drop it off and ship it to be looked at.
3. On the iPhone app Watch, select the watch to be unpaired from the iPhone and un-pair from the iPhone. Wait for it to un-pair before continuing.
4. On the watch it will be prompting to place near a phone to be paired, forced a local reset on the Watch by pressing the Side Button and acknowledging to reset all. (Do not remember the exact wording or clicks, it does not allow anything else to be done though since it is not paired to a iPhone.)
5. Once the watch is ready to pair again, placed it next to the iPhone and then paired it again. I followed the normal pairing of the watch and restored the recent backup (right before I started the process) to restore all the settings. (I was a little hesitant, although I figured I did not have anything to lose.)
6. After it has finished pairing and was running, the battery was at about 82%, it had been rebooting several times before I started this process and was done at about 9:30-10:00pm.

After this process, I wore it to bed and when I got up it was still at about 60% or more. I wore it until about noon I decided to charge it while at 31%. It was fully charged in about an hour and I put it back on. It did not reboot once all day, and worked normally with minimal battery drain. The next morning the battery was at about 30% when I charged it at about 8:30am.

It has been like this since Thursday morning with not one reboot and also has not been draining. On Saturday night, I re-enabled the Notifications Indicator, I am planning to start enabling notifications to see if anything causes a problem. Yesterday I did not get to place it on a full charge before leaving in at 6:15am, it was at about 90% and it was a very active day. At about 11:00pm last night is was at 17%, placed it on the charger for about 30 minutes or so, it was at about 91% when I took it off to wear it to bed. Got up at 6am and it is still at 80% at 8:30am. Not one issue since doing all of this.

I plan to start enabling the notifications that I might use and leave the others off. I also have not reinstalled Instagram yet. I might do that first to see what it does.

I hope that someone else might try this (I know it takes time, although if it works or helps Apple to find a root cause it is worth it) and see a similar result. I have been dealing with this since updating the middle of December to WatchOS 4.2. I am 100% sure that it is some software thing (I work in software and root cause analysis all the time), although it not widespread, it has to be some certain combination or scenario that causes it to happen.

My watch has been doing the exact same thing. I have sent it in to apple 4 times, and 4 times they have sent it back saying can’t replicate the issue. My watch constantly does this, which means I am now beat for a $800 paper weight.

Hi

Whilst I can't say why your Apple Watch is restarting unexpectedly, the following steps may help to prevent the issue from recurring:

Restart both your iPhone and your Apple Watch, turning both off together, then restarting your iPhone first:

• Restart your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support
• Restart your Apple Watch - Apple Support
• If the issue persists, next close all open apps on your iPhone and then restart both devices again.

Test by removing apps:

• Remove third-party apps from the Dock and/or from your Apple Watch and then monitor performance after adding them back, one at a time:
  • Open apps
• Remove watch face complications and monitor performance as you add them back:
  • Change the watch face on your Apple Watch - Apple Support

Unpair and re-pair your Apple Watch:

• The Watch app on your iPhone takes a backup of your watch automatically when unpairing via the app.
• Initially choose to Restore from Backup during set up (most data and settings will be restored, with some exceptions, such as Apple Pay cards, passcode).
• If the issue persists, consider instead unpairing and setting it up as a new watch.
• Unpair your Apple Watch and iPhone - Apple Support
• Set up your Apple Watch - Apple Support

If the issue then still persists, I suggest that you contact Apple Support (mail-in service may be available, if required), make a Genius Bar reservation or visit an Apple Authorised Service Provider with a view to having it checked and, if recommended, serviced:

Apple Watch Service Answer Center - Apple Support

I was having the same issue with my series 3 watch. I tracked it down using the Apple Watch logs to the Tile app, which I removed then restarted. So far, so good! The logs can be found on your iPhone -> Settings -> Privacy -> Analytics -> Analytics Data -> and look for "WatchApp Extension." You might then discover which app is misbehaving and causing the rebooting.

I had the same issue after 4.2. Hubby was help via support who did some diagnostics and said it was a few apps, but mostly Instagram. He said to uninstall Instagram and see if it stops. I did, and it did. I put Instagram back on the next day and it started again. I kept it on my phone but unloaded it from my watch...still rebooting. So I did a little reading and read somewhere that many others were having issues too and the cause was notifications. They were turning off watch notifications and it stopped. Sure enough, I turned off all notifications and no reboots in days.

newfiechic wrote:

.. I just don't see how Apple is missing this. They are getting tons of complaints.

If you believe that you have identified a software issue, then be sure to let Apple know, either by:

Contacting Apple Support:

• Contact - Official Apple Support
• Apple Support (@AppleSupport) | Twitter

Or by making a Genius Bar reservation:

• Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

Or by sending feedback:

• Feedback - Apple Watch - Apple
• All feedback is read, but you should not typically expect to receive a reply.

I have same issue as everyone on this thread, constant restarting, not wanting to charge as it constantly restarts, sluggish performance at times (usually right before it crashes) and everything started with most recent soft update.

"Geniuses" are not aware of that being a big issue, i went to apple store to fix this issue, and after doing all sorts of tests only abnormality was MAPS app causing some issues, since i have done watch restore beforehand, next step tech suggested it might be hardware issue, and wanted to send my watch to service, $229 to get that fixed (that is some joke). I decided not to send but wait for next soft update. In the meantime i did another reset, but this time i didn't restore my watch from back up, but set it up as brand new watch - that did the trick! several days no restarts.... Well, after few days issue came back, but now i'm definitely convinced its a software issue, not hardware. Here is the fun part, i dont run any apps on my watch, so it must be something within the most recent update which keeps the watch working hard, draining battery, and restarting constantly.

Hi

It will not work with me I restart my phone and my watch and I don’t restore the backup I updated by iTunes and it’s still crashing I think it’s problems with last update for the watch 4.2 there is something wr

Great information thanks for updates.

I have unpaired and restored from a back up and it fixed it for a day. Then it came back.

I have unpaired and set up as a new watch and it fixed it for a day. Then it came back.

The odd thing is it didn't come back until I took it off for the day and I put it on charge. The apple logo came up almost instantly and stayed on for the entire night almost.

I've turned off all notifications and uninstalled a few of the apps everyone is saying are causing it to go crazy. Tile, Instagram, etc.

We'll see how it goes but it's definitely something to do with this latest software issue.

If resetting your watch doesn’t fix the problem, the problem is your phone. Unpair watch. Reset watch and reset your phone. Do not restore phone from a backup. Start fresh. I went through several Apple support calls and returns to figure out this solution.

I have been dealing with nearly all of the issues listed here by all of the various users. There is some software conflict. Wish I would have stayed on WatchOS 3, never had any issues. Trying another reset as the latest WatchOS updated has made it completely unusable.

Thank you soooo much for posting this issue. I've been having the same exact issue for over 2 months. After it was just in a constant reboot, I chatted with support 3 different times. And with all due respect, they are clueless. Unpairing, updating, etc. They finally agreed to accept it to service it and my husband gave me his Apple Watch to use. The first day I wore it, his watch that was operating fine started rebooting. I found this thread and realized it was my phone settings for the watch. Last night, I turned all notifications off. Every single one. No rebooting at the gym this morning and nothing since. It would have rebooted at least 12 times by now on a good day.

I hope Apple starts reading these support threads and gets the update out soon. I could have spent so much less for a watch to keep time and track my steps and workouts. So frustrating.

Wondering what became of your issue. I'm having the same problem on a series 3 watch (GPS) and I'm about to take it into apple. I've tried resetting/resyncing now a bunch of times and that fixes the problem maybe two days or so. Then Voila back again.

I have a series 1 watch that worked great until the last os update. Then the rebooting started. I have AppleCare so Apple sent me a new watch - A series 2 this time. Worked fine. When I went to change the watch face to a new design it said I needed to update the os which I did. That’s where the issue starts. Called AppleCare again and they sent another watch. Same deal. As soon as I do the newest update the issue starts. I can’t figure out which app is causing the issue. I deleted all installed apps and still have the problem.

I HAVE same issue I have Apple Watch series 1 and I got this problem after last update 4.2 I change my watch and by new one Apple Watch series 2 and the watch ask for update and I got same problem I hate both watches and I think apple is not same before and care about the service and the customer

I really go to apple support 2 time and I don't get any solution only pay money to change or wait next update