Beta 4 bricked my watch. Where do I go?

[perezr10]

Well, yesterday's Beta bricked my Series 2 Apple Watch so I'm going to need to send it back to Apple.

I looked at the Apple developer portal and I don't see any kind of customer service site where I'd request the repair service. Is there anyone on here that knows where to go or what number to call?

 

[mallbritton]

If you are a developer or in the public beta you ought to be posting to either of those respective discussion boards. Otherwise I'm not sure Apple will do anything.

 

[Mlrollin91]

OP, call AppleCare. They will tell you what to do next. If you have AC+ they may send you a replacement and you send yours back and you're done. If you don't have AC+, they will send you a box to ship it in, they will flash it and then send it back. Not sure what mallbritton is talking about, of course Apple will help you.
[doublepost=1480481096][/doublepost]

If you are a developer or in the public beta you ought to be posting to either of those respective discussion boards. Otherwise I'm not sure Apple will do anything.

Not sure what you are talking about but when an Apple Watch is bricked because of an install problem, the only thing to do is go through Apple. They either send you a replacement watch, or flash the current watch back to the previous watchOS version. Apple is the only one that can help, discussion boards won't do anything.

 

[mallbritton]

This is not an "install problem." The OP has installed a BETA version of watchOS on his device without being properly prepared for the possible consequences. I doubt AppleCare is going to do anything to help. The OP needs to go to the appropriate beta discussion board for help, and he needs to be prepared to attempt to restore the device on his own with help from the beta community.

 

[Mlrollin91]

This is not an "install problem." The OP has installed a BETA version of watchOS on his device without being properly prepared for the possible consequences. I doubt AppleCare is going to do anything to help. The OP needs to go to the appropriate beta discussion board for help, and he needs to be prepared to attempt to restore the device on his own with help from the beta community.

I seriously hope you are kidding. The only people that can restore a bricked watch is Apple. This has now been discussed for over a year. Clearly the OP has a developer account as he has access to the dev portal. There is no way for someone to restore the watch on their own, that is why there is no Public Beta for Apple Watch.

WatchOS 2.2.2 Bricked my Apple Watch
Watch OS 2 Bricks Apple Watch
Bricked Watch Upgrading to 2.0
watchOS2 Bricks my watch...
Apple Watch red exclamation point - Apple Watch DEAD! | MacRumors ...


Apple will fix the watch if its under warranty and because its a series 2, it is still under warranty. Otherwise there is a OOW fee. This happens with beta software updates and regular software updates. Sometimes installs go wrong and it bricks the watch with the red exclamation point.

Please don't spreading false information. No one can help but Apple.

You can do some reading here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204776

"If force restarting your Apple Watch doesn't resolve the issue, you'll need to have your Apple Watch serviced."

http://geekout.io/index_files/Apple_Watch_How_to_deal_with_the_red_exclamation_mark.html



Edit: Removed the last thread because that wasn't related and added another thread that is related and an Apple Support article and a third party article both claiming you must contact AppleCare.

 

[mallbritton]

I believe you are missing my point. The OP has installed a BETA version of watchOS onto his device without being prepared for the possible consequences and not knowing how to fix any problems. The Mac Rumors forums is actually not the appropriate place to be discussing this. He should be posting to the developer forums and reporting a possible bug.

In my opinion if someone is not a developer, and does not have the proper tools to deal with problems, they should not be installing BETA versions of the OS on their devices. If AppleCare will fix it for him that is good news. I hope he gets the problem worked out.

 

[Mlrollin91]

I believe you are missing my point. The OP has installed a BETA version of watchOS onto his device without being prepared for the possible consequences and not knowing how to fix any problems. The Mac Rumors forums is actually not the appropriate place to be discussing this. He should be posting to the developer forums and reporting a possible bug.

In my opinion if someone is not a developer, and does not have the proper tools to deal with problems, they should not be installing BETA versions of the OS on their devices. If AppleCare will fix it for him that is good news. I hope he gets the problem worked out.

Again, are you kidding me? Seriously. I just posted several threads that show Apple fixing the issue with beta software installed. The OP is a developer. He is allowed to install the beta and if it bricks, Apple will fix it because its their software that bricked his device. He has every right to post here and ask what to do next. Every single thread I just posted for you states to call Apple and they will help you and guess what, every OP has been helped by Apple in each of those threads.

How do you know if the OP was prepared or not. This is a very rare issue and can not be expected to occur. Additionally, there is no way to fix it without Apple's help. So obviously he cannot be prepared to fix the watch if something goes wrong. You should stop making assumptions and try to help the OP instead of telling him he shouldn't be asking for help here.

 

[mallbritton]

Actually, what I saw in those threads was only one which stated they had installed the beta. But, OK, good. I'm glad Apple will fix it for him.

(Just because someone has a developer account doesn't mean they are a developer. Anyone can purchase one.)

 

[bjet767]

I'm a developer and while installing a beta update in the past the process was interrupted and "bricked" my watch.

Made an appointment, went to Apple Store, submitted watch for repair/reload of OS and they fixed it. The Watch was covered by Apple care.

There's nothing special or different about developer updates when it comes to Watch repairs.

 

[perezr10]

Thanks all. I'm a new developer and I thought that there was a special hotline that wasn't for the unwashed masses. I setup the process through the regular watch repair process at Apple's website.

It was kind of funny. At the part where it asks you to describe what is wrong with the watch I typed "Beta 4 bricked my watch". The website immediately flashed to a screen that prompted me to double check my shipping address and they said they'd swap out my watch ASAP.

 

[Fzang]

Just because someone has a developer account doesn't mean they are a developer. Anyone can purchase one.

I think I might've missed the part in the terms that says "You have to invent something. Now."