Apple Investigating Display Flickering Issue Affecting Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2

[MacRumors]

Apple is investigating an issue where the display brightness briefly flickers or "pulses" on some Apple Watch models when Always On mode is enabled, according to an internal service memo shared with Apple Authorized Service Providers today.

The memo does not indicate which Apple Watch models are affected, but the issue appears to be most prevalent on the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 models released last month. There are complaints from customers about this issue across the MacRumors Forums, Reddit, and the Apple Support Community website. The issue appears to be present on all watchOS 10 versions, including the latest watchOS 10.0.2 release.

Apple says service providers should not repair affected watches, and instead advise customers to keep their Apple Watch software up to date, suggesting that Apple will eventually make a fix available in a watchOS update. It's unclear if Apple has addressed the issue in watchOS 10.1, which is expected to be released to the public next week.

As a temporary solution, Apple says customers can turn off Always On mode in the Settings app under Display & Brightness → Always On.

Apple is also investigating an issue where complications like Activity rings on a watch face might "temporarily turn pink," according to the memo. This is another issue that has been reported by some customers online in recent weeks.

Article Link: Apple Investigating Display Flickering Issue Affecting Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2

 

[whoknows2597]

Here for the “quality control under Tim Apple” posts

 

[vegetassj4]

Sometimes my Watch 6 wakes but the screen in extremely dark. Been doing this for years. I wonder if I'm the only one and/or if this could potentially be related?

 

[1369281]

I thought all Apple products with OLED flickered due to PWM? Is it possible this is related? Nothing worse than flickering.

 

[iRun26.2]

I’ve seen it. It really doesn’t bother me too much.

There have been many improvements in the new watchOS. I can live with a few minor problems knowing they will get fixed eventually.

 

[mxrider88]

Let me guess…. It’s a software issue!

What a bunch of morons they have in the software department. I don’t understand why they don’t give a termination letter to the one in charge of software over there. They terminated Forstall over maps. Why can’t they terminate this one over the mess that the whole ecosystem turned out to be???

 

[Royksöpp]

Jesus H Christ. What is going on this year? Did they lose all their top software engineers? Overheating iPhones and Screen Retention are huge issues. Now, one of the headline features of the premium Apple watches should be turned off as a workaround? Simply unacceptable for a company of this caliber.

 

[newyorksole]

don’t jinx me now… my Ultra 2 has been flawless lol.

 

[mxrider88]

We came to a point where we are excited about new iOS updates not for the features but for the bug fixes. It’s a joke.

 

[1369281]

Jesus H Christ. What is going on this year? Did they lose all their top software engineers? Overheating iPhones and Screen Retention are huge issues. Now, one of the headline features of the premium Apple watches should be turned off as a workaround? Simply unacceptable for a company of this caliber.

It’s possible. Apple is very strict about their employees only working in the office. That’s not attractive to talented software engineers who can work anywhere.

 

[synv]

10.1 Beta RC appears to have addressed the issue, for anyone curious.

 

[Chet-NYC]

Haven't had any issues with my Ultra 2 at all. I have been running 10.1 Beta pretty much since I got it, now has the RC on it.

 

[rickray]

My Ultra 2 does it, mostly with the new modular ultra face. When I raise to wake it flickers with the seconds.

 

[ghostface147]

Turning pink….hilarious.

 

[jz0309]

No issues on my Ultra 2 but glad to see Apple addressing this

 

[pnoyblazed]

My ultra 2 has been flawless. Will monitor this

 

[PlutoPrime]

Astonishing that Apple is just now noticing this.

This was a problem with Ultra 1, namely when bed-time mode was activated. In Ultra 2 it happens _all_ the time when the screen transitions from dim->bright or bright->dim during wrist orientation changes. It's puzzling to wonder how this got through Apple's QA.

 

[Rafterman]

I can't say I've seen either of those issues. Though the weather complications don't always update, another problem many have reported.

 

[richard371]

Im on 10.1 RC and don’t see the issue as of yet. I can confirm the below issue is fixed.

apple watch ultra 2 screen flickering - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

 

[c84216]

S9 here.

No problems at all. First I'm hearing of this

 

[frenchcamp49er]

Others are also having an issue with Apple Pay not working on the new watches

 

[richard371]

Keep in mind it only happens randomly under certain circumstances. Most people won’t even notice it. I thought my eyes were just playing tricks on me.

 

[darngooddesign]

We came to a point where we are excited about new iOS updates not for the features but for the bug fixes. It’s a joke.

And some people are perversely excited for the bugs.

 

[GMShadow]

Jesus H Christ. What is going on this year? Did they lose all their top software engineers? Overheating iPhones and Screen Retention are huge issues. Now, one of the headline features of the premium Apple watches should be turned off as a workaround? Simply unacceptable for a company of this caliber.

These issues are minor and not unique to this year.

Also, it's been known for months that the bulk of the engineers are focused on the Vision Pro software, much like in 2006-2007 when they were focused on iOS (which was why Leopard was delayed six months and Tiger got up to 10.4.11).

 

[1984 Mac Guru]

Keep in mind it only happens randomly under certain circumstances. Most people won’t even notice it. I thought my eyes were just playing tricks on me.

It happens when using an Ultra modular face and running the timer. If the timer is running in background then the display flickers while in always-on screen dim mode.