My Apple Watch’s subtle “taps” have turned into loud vibrations. Is there any way I can fix this?

[neoelectronaut]

Purchased a Series 1 Apple Watch back in late March. About two weeks ago the Taptic engine has gotten much louder and more prominent. I requested a repair of the watch and sent it along last Thursday. I was asked for a description of the issue and I explained it to the best of my ability, even including the above video in the e-mail, but in the end it looks like they were "unable to process my repair request" and the watch is on its way back to me tomorrow.

I didn't opt for Applecare on the watch because of how little I paid for it, and I guess this is karma coming back to bite me in the ass. Is this something I can fix myself? Should I submit another repair request or is this just something I'm going to have to live with?

 

[matrix07]

I assume you have turned off “Prominent Haptic” and scaled Haptic Strength (on both Watch app on iPhone & on Watch settings itself) down to minimum?

 

[Newtons Apple]

Sounds like the haptic motor has become loose.

 

[44267547]

Is this something I can fix myself? Should I submit another repair request or is this just something I'm going to have to live with?

If it Wasn’t doing this before and it is now, then something is mechanically wrong with the Haptic engine. I had to guess based off your video, it’s either failing or it’s partially separated causing the noise to react the way it is. It should _not_ be that audible. If you have an Apple store near you, I would go in person and allow the employee to physically here what you’re hearing, which they can send out for repair and hopefully they can provide you with a replacement watch. I would certainly try again to submit a repair request if possible.

And no, I would not attempt to fix the Watch yourself, which could only worsen the situation .

 

[neoelectronaut]

Unfortunately I brought it into the store once before and the employee I spoke to didn't seem to notice anything wrong and explained to me how to reduce the haptic feedback level in settings on the watch. He then ran diagnostics and found nothing wrong, so he sent me on my way. Me submitting it for repair was my second option.

Guess I'll have to call up Apple when I get the watch back. If I bug them enough maybe they're eventually take care of it.

 

[44267547]

Unfortunately I brought it into the store once before and the employee I spoke to didn't seem to notice anything wrong and explained to me how to reduce the haptic feedback level in settings on the watch. He then ran diagnostics and found nothing wrong, so he sent me on my way. Me submitting it for repair was my second option.

Guess I'll have to call up Apple when I get the watch back. If I bug them enough maybe they're eventually take care of it.

My opinion is, is that employee didn’t specifically know what they were talking about or is just uneducated that it could be a possible problem and reverted to having you adjust the settings, which they should have suggested to do right in store and then see if you could replicate the problem again in front of them. But either way, I certainly would escalate it, as you are under a one-year warranty.

 

[roken70]

Unfortunately I brought it into the store once before and the employee I spoke to didn't seem to notice anything wrong and explained to me how to reduce the haptic feedback level in settings on the watch. He then ran diagnostics and found nothing wrong, so he sent me on my way. Me submitting it for repair was my second option.

Guess I'll have to call up Apple when I get the watch back. If I bug them enough maybe they're eventually take care of it.

I have had the same problem with my AW2 (noisy, rattling haptic) and went to an Apple Store. They took it into the quieter back room to confirm (it actually rattled by just shaking it a little). It was sent for repair but came back all the same. Second time, I got a new watch.

 

[nokkynuk]

I had the same issue with the series 1. Didn't bother me enough to get it looked at, and i ended up giving it to a friend and upgrading to AW 3 SG LTE.

 

[neoelectronaut]

Any suggestions on what I should tell Apple Support over the phone? This is what I sent the tech when I was asked to further explain the issue, but apparently this wasn't enough for them to properly identify the issue:

Dear Chris,

About two months into my ownership of the watch I’ve noticed that the taptic engine alerts have gotten much louder and are quite noticeable. What were once subtle “taps” to my wrist are now much more obvious vibration sounds akin to older cell phones that use more traditional motors for vibration alerts, often with a “flutter” effect.

The vibration sound is audible during any alert that includes taptic feedback, but it’s most easily reproduced by putting the watch into silent mode and setting a 1-second timer. You’ll notice that this vibration is much louder than it should be. I’ll actually attach a video to this e-mail with an example of the issue. (Please excuse the hairy arm.)

I’ve read online that sometimes a simple restart or reset of the watch could fix the issue but neither of these seemed to have any effect.

Please let me know if there are any further questions I can answer.

Thanks,

 

[nokkynuk]

Any suggestions on what I should tell Apple Support over the phone? This is what I sent the tech when I was asked to further explain the issue, but apparently this wasn't enough for them to properly identify the issue:

Do you have an apple store near you? If you can get a manager to sign off on the ticket saying they witnessed the issue, you're probably going to get a replacement. That's what ended up happening to me with a screen defect that was only visible from a sharp angle.

 

[sclawis300]

It shouldn't be that hard for them to understand "An internal component has apparently come loose causing audible rattling any time the watch vibrates. The problem is easily replicated by having the timer go off."

 

[44267547]

It shouldn't be that hard for them to understand "An internal component has apparently come loose causing audible rattling any time the watch vibrates. The problem is easily replicated by having the timer go off."

Those are my thoughts. Especially given if you have experience with the Apple Watch, that sounds completely abnormal from the haptic engine. It’s not supposed to be that audible and I’m not sure how an Apple employee would not be able to recognize that’s not typical behavior. It’s likely employees that don’t have an understanding of what the problem might be, therefore they just divert the situation by recommending troubleshooting tips with adjusting Apple Watch features.

 

[neoelectronaut]

My Apple Watch just arrived at my local FedEx location so I'll have it back in hands tonight so I'll be able to confirm that they didn't do jack to fix it and then call Apple up to see what my next step is.

Sucks that I'll be without it for probably another week because of Apple's shenanigans.

 

[partyboy4357]

My vibrator motor is loose in my Series 1 watch. Anyone else have that issue? It's OOW but wondered if they may fix it as a defect.

 

[partyboy4357]

Purchased a Series 1 Apple Watch back in late March. About two weeks ago the Taptic engine has gotten much louder and more prominent. I requested a repair of the watch and sent it along last Thursday. I was asked for a description of the issue and I explained it to the best of my ability, even including the above video in the e-mail, but in the end it looks like they were "unable to process my repair request" and the watch is on its way back to me tomorrow.

I didn't opt for Applecare on the watch because of how little I paid for it, and I guess this is karma coming back to bite me in the ass. Is this something I can fix myself? Should I submit another repair request or is this just something I'm going to have to live with?

I just posted a thread on the same issue. It's like the motor is loose and rattling around. Mine sounds just like that and it's friggin annoying!

 

[44267547]

I just posted a thread on the same issue. It's like the motor is loose and rattling around. Mine sounds just like that and it's friggin annoying!

Definitely take a lesson from this thread, and insist that it’s defective in case Apple diverts you away from the issue. Either the motor is failing or it’s separated away from the actual casing, causing the noise to be loud.

 

[partyboy4357]

Definitely take a lesson from this thread, and insist that it’s defective in case Apple diverts you away from the issue. Either the motor is failing or it’s separated away from the actual casing, causing the noise to be loud.

Do they cover stuff like this when it's out of warranty?

 

[44267547]

Do they cover stuff like this when it's out of warranty?

It’s completely variable. It’s based on the store, who you talk to, if Apple is willing to extend in assisting you in the situation if they can determine that it’s completely out of your control, etc. I certainly would look into it and replicate the issue in store if you can, and perhaps at minimum, they might allow you to even trade in your device for a new one. Others have had been out of warranty before and Apple has assisted them with replacing the watch.

 

[neoelectronaut]

Called into support yesterday morning, explained my problem and my multiple attempts to get it fixed.

Got bumped up a level of support, explained again, and the woman on the phone said that she'd be getting back to me.

Got an e-mail later in the day asking that I send them directly the video I posted in the opening post.

Over a day has passed and I haven't heard back.

The wait continues.

 

[neoelectronaut]

Update: Got a call back from the Applecare rep that I spoke to on Thursday; she wanted to let me know that her off days are Tuesday and Wednesday, so I may not hear back from her specifically and that she hadn't heard back from "Engineering" yet on my Watch issue but she'd keep me updated when possible.

 

[neoelectronaut]

Update: My original Applecare rep e-mailed me this morning to ask that I unpair the watch from my phone as they would be replacing the Watch and to expect a box to ship it off soon.

I went ahead and returned the silver watch I've been using for the last three weeks. I'll just do without until I get my original replaced.