Apple Watch Series 2 running slower on OS 4.0

I know I’m a bit late to this thread but I found a solution that has worked for me. My watch has been horribly slow since watchOS4, especially when using the Workout App. I was playing with the settings today and stumbled across ”Detect Gym Equipment“ being on. I never venture into a gym so turned it off and what do you know, the watch is responsive again!

From the watch... Settings > General > Workout > Detect Gym Equipment > turn off

Hope it helps.

So here are a few work arounds I've found to speed up the watch. Shouldn't have to do these, but they do help:

All of the following are done from the apple watch app on your phone.

1. Go to Dock and select favorites verses recent.

2. Turn off automatically install apps, only install the apps you need/use.

3. Uninstall any apps you don't need on the watch, this won't stop notifications, only watch app specific interactions.

4. Turn off background app refresh for watch apps you don't regularly go into, again won't affect notifications.

I found the sum of these really helped with performance. Hope this helps you guys out until apple releases an optimisation update.

Found a fix from searching online that seems to improve performance but doesn’t perfectly fix the workout app slowness. I still have hang ups in the workout app, but the series 2 watch performs better in general.

On the Watch app scroll down to Workout. Under Workout turn off “Detect Gym Equipment.”

You can do the same on your Apple Watch and it’s best to always double-check: under Settings on the watch go to General. Go to Workout and check that Detect Gym Equipment” is off. If it is still on, then turn it off.

My workout app was also lagging badly since upgrading to 4.0 and 4.2, taking several swipes to scroll and several taps to start a workout. I changed the dock from “Recents” to “Favorites” and it is perfectly responsive again.

It worked!!! Thanks!!!

My apple watch series 2 was so slow that I need to wait half a second for every movement... Anyways, iPhone was updated to latest version -> still slow. Then I tried to the restart method. Watch is back alive, running as smooth as new.

You must do this via the watch itself.

Goto Settings on the Apple Watch, then General > Workout > Detect Gym Equipment > and turn off. I can’t believe I’ve got my old watch back. Everything working quickly again.

Seems the problem has been solved in 4.2.2. Update

It’s fixed after updating to 4.2.2 on my watch series 2. Workout app works fast as before. Thanks

I deleted the Siri watch face and then shut down all apps on both watch and phone, restarted them both (iPhone first like suggested above) and my watch runs like a rocket again.

4.2.2 resolved my slowness issue. thanks to Apple team. 🙂

This fix worked for me.

On your iphone...

Settings > General > Workout > Detect Gym Equipment > turn off

On your watch

Watch (app) > Workout > Detect Gym Equipment > turn off

Fixed for me in WatchOS 4.3! Even with detect gym equipment enabled

Apple Watch series 1 seems super fast again (very responsive Siri and fast to switch between watch faces and open apps) after upgrading to 4.3

IEEEEEANR wrote:

It’s funny how we all have this problem and yet Apple will not respond to the 5 pages of concerns that are posted. No mention of “we are working the issue” or any kind of resolve. Long time customer and am starting to second guess my decision for for products I love.

You are not talking to Apple here - this is a user-based technical support community.

If you would like to send feedback to Apple (you should not typically expect to receive a reply), then you can do so here:

• Feedback - Apple Watch - Apple
• "We read all feedback carefully, but we are unable to respond to each submission individually"

If you would prefer to discuss the matter with Apple, then contact options include:

• Contact - Official Apple Support
• Apple Support (@AppleSupport) | Twitter
• Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

Will Apple give a reply that they will resolve the issue? Tried even the weirdest the solutions, all didn’t work. Still took 3 taps to make any run start. There’s no magic trick until Apple do some fundamental change in the WatchOS itself. For example, remove redundant functions, or remove any deliberate tricks to slow down the watch app.

I’m also facing much faster battery drain now. Normally 60% remains. Recent weeks only 30% remained sane usage.