Apple Watch top icon arrow
Any one know what that 'turn right' icon wrapped in white circle on top of my watch face is for?
I do not think there is any app running in the background. At least not that I am aware of.
Apple Watch Series 4, watchOS 5
I noticed the same arrow on two different watches after using an app called Intervals, which is a workout app. After finishing and closing the app, the arrow stays there for about 5-10 minutes. Touching the arrow did nothing, but I noticed it only appeared after using the one app. So I called Apple support and two people had no idea, but asked me to call back after taking a picture of it. I took a picture of mine and the picture from this forum before calling back. Again, two people had no idea, but I sent the photos and they sent it to engineering. The supervisor just called and explained what it is. It is a new icon and appears from any third party app that uses GPS or navigation. Eventually they will update their status icon information and include this icon.
I noticed the same arrow on two different watches after using an app called Intervals, which is a workout app. After finishing and closing the app, the arrow stays there for about 5-10 minutes. Touching the arrow did nothing, but I noticed it only appeared after using the one app. So I called Apple support and two people had no idea, but asked me to call back after taking a picture of it. I took a picture of mine and the picture from this forum before calling back. Again, two people had no idea, but I sent the photos and they sent it to engineering. The supervisor just called and explained what it is. It is a new icon and appears from any third party app that uses GPS or navigation. Eventually they will update their status icon information and include this icon.
Same here! I am so glad you posted this! I have been driving myself nuts trying to figure out what that arrow meant! I just finished using Runkeeper. It did not appear until I used the Runkeeper app. It’s been several minutes and it still is there so I’m assuming it will eventually go away. The app is not open on my iPhone or my apple series 4 watch????
Did you try the maps icon and see it replace the one you observe?
It the only icon on the Apple Support site as an official Watch OS icon where they do not show it as an actual screenshot. I wonder if they altered it after the beta to what you are seeing?
Either way; your icon is not listed as an Apple official one, so hopefully someone else will see this. There are no other custom apps on your watch you could attribute an arrow to?
I was looking for this post on Apple support as I noticed on my new (last weekend) series 3 that this icon appeared. On Monday my watch ran down fast. I thought something was running in the background.
Saw a post that someone had said to restart the watch it would disappeared. Which it did.
I suspected that it was 22 Intervals app. Tried today and yep it appeared again. The arrow stayed on longer than 5 to 10 mins the time the battery ran down. It stayed on for hours until I restarted the watch. I suspect that the GPS is continuing to run in the background. I am going to contact the interval app developer. I think that the app may continue to run the battery down if you don’t restart the watch after a workout.
I’m sure Intervals is not the only app causing this issue, but it is definitely one of the culprits. And yesterday, the white arrow stayed on for 1.5 hours. But then I also noticed the purple arrow in the control center was on and I left it the entire day and overnight. It was still on this morning. The developer of Intervals already knows of the problem and is working on a fix. He told me to force quit the app on the watch (open Intervals, hold side button until the power off screen, then push the crown until the watch face appears), which does remove the white arrow. But it doesn’t remove the purple arrow in the control center. Finally, this morning I restarted the watch and the purple arrow is gone. I hope the developer realizes that force quitting the app is not actually solving the problem. For now, after using Intervals, I will restart my watch.
Hi Marilyn
Thanks for the reply. Agree that it’s likely more than just the 22 intervals app.
I should have clarified that’s the only additional app I have used on the new series 3 I got last Sunday. So it was easy for me to pinpoint the source for me.
I tend to use it at least 3 times a week too.
I was trying to pinpoint why my battery was down to 32% at 1230pm! After I figured it out my battery was at 85% the next day with similar other app and function use—only difference that day was I did not use 22 interval but Instead used workout for a run.
Glad to know the developer is looking into their app too.
Don’t particularly want to have to shutdown the watch after each interval app use either. Hopefully not too long for a resolution either on the issue
Cheers
Bart
I do not think this location services problem is just for third party apps as Apple thinks. Earlier today, I wrote that restarting my watch removed the purple arrow in the control center. I haven’t used the Intervals app today at all. A little while ago, I used Siri to send a message. I checked the control center right after and the purple arrow was there. Now it’s been over an hour and the arrow is still there. I had to restart the watch again to get rid of it. I'm beginning to believe this issue is at least partially a WatchOS 5 glitch. I will send something to Apple feedback and I hope everyone else will send feedback.
I updated the Intervals app, but I’m not so sure the issue is totally fixed. The white right turn arrow on the face disappears, but I think it’s Intervals that’s keeping the purple arrow in the control center permanently on. I am comparing 2 watches, one has Intervals not locating it and my watch has Intervals location services turned on. The watch without Intervals locating it has not had the purple arrow in the control center at all. Mine never goes away. I’ve turned off location services in Intervals (I know it defeats the purpose of the app) and I will use the app tomorrow. If the purple arrow stays away with my normal usage, I will contact the developer of Intervals again. Since turning off location services for the app and restarting my watch once again, the purple arrow is gone and my battery has barely diminished. I don’t like that in the description of the app in the App Store under location services it states that the app may use location services even when not turned on. I may contact the developer about that statement.
I contacted the Intervals developer today and as usual, I've already heard back from him. I wrote him about the purple arrow in the control center staying on after using the app with location services. I also asked him to clarify why Intervals uses location services when not open. I noted that Intervals still records distance, time, and pace even without location services being on, but it doesn’t save the workout to your phone. I asked if there was a way to save the workout without using location services. The following were his answers. He believes the original issue is fixed and he is unclear why the purple arrow stays on. Apple's explanation is vague. He tested Apple’s workout app and the same purple arrow appeared and remained in the control center. He also explained that Intervals doesn’t use your location when the app is not running. He meant that it runs in the background when using it with another app like music, for example. Intervals records all your workout information from the Health app even with location services off. The only thing it doesn’t show is your route. He didn’t tell me if I could save my workout to my phone in the Intervals app, so I will write him and ask again. I hope this information Is helpful.
Mine was caused by the Runkeeper app on my watch. Killed my watch battery a few times even though I shut down the app completely. Apple tech told me to turn background refresh off for Runkeeper in the Watch App on my phone. That fixed the problem, it’s been about a week with no issues. If you have issues try that for any workout app that you use on your watch. Maybe it’ll help? Good luck!
Thanks for the suggestion, but I have background app refresh off on all devices. I also decided to keep location services off with Intervals as it still gives me time, distance, and pace. Everything but the route map, which I don’t need. Turning off location services saves an incredible amount of battery during a run. In addition, it does save the workout to my phone, just not immediately. The developer fixed the issue with the white arrow, he said GPS was not turning off. The purple arrow in the control center is still present quite a bit, but over the last two days, I’ve noticed that it does go away. Apple's guides show the purple arrow to mean that an app has located you. I think they need to make that disappear quicker in a future update. After all, the location services arrow on the phone disappears within seconds after an app has used it.
This is off topic, but since iOS 12.0.1, I am ecstatic that messages on my watch delete when I delete them on any other device.
I'm getting the same arrow after using Runkeeper. Force quitting the app takes the white turn arrow away, but the purple GPS arrow is still lit. Seems to be run tracking apps that are affecting the issue.
It looks like maps might be running in the background
I suspected that but Maps's icon is not a turning right arrow but a blue up-pointing arrow on a map.
I'm really sorry, I've done some searching but I cannot figure out what that is!!
Apple Watch top icon arrow