Sensor irritation

[kb87]

I’ve had my AW7 for a few weeks now and have noticed that every time I wear it, it irritates my skin underneath where the sensor is within a couple of hours. I get an itchy/burning sensation and end up with a red circle on my arm. It’s really odd as I’ve had an AW3 and SE which I wore without a single issue. I don’t wear the watch too tight and notice it under all wearing conditions not just exercising/sweating etc.

Has anyone else experienced this? Can I do anything to help or has anyone ever contacted apple support about a similar issue before?

Any advice will be gratefully received. I really love this new watch but am put off wearing it because of this issue!

 

[sfrangu]

I have a very sensitive skin and am prone to multiple allergies (including sport silicone straps, or any third-party straps) but never experienced this. What happened to me was, when taking my S4 off the charger and placing it immediately on my wrist skin, it burnt me. It wasn’t feeling hot, slightly warm, but to my sensitive skin was enough to get me a small burn right where the sensor is. So, I learned to take the S4 off the charger and let it cool down for a couple minutes before wearing it. I never had this issue with my S7 though, it never gets warm on the fast charger.
I hope you get this issue solved for you! Keep us updated, please, it might be helpful for others.

 

[jz0309]

I’ve had my AW7 for a few weeks now and have noticed that every time I wear it, it irritates my skin underneath where the sensor is within a couple of hours. I get an itchy/burning sensation and end up with a red circle on my arm. It’s really odd as I’ve had an AW3 and SE which I wore without a single issue. I don’t wear the watch too tight and notice it under all wearing conditions not just exercising/sweating etc.

Has anyone else experienced this? Can I do anything to help or has anyone ever contacted apple support about a similar issue before?

Any advice will be gratefully received. I really love this new watch but am put off wearing it because of this issue!

I would give it a thorough wash including using a little soap at the bottom and see if that helps.
I would also contact Apple to see what they have to say

 

[JPIndustrie]

I had this here and there when I started wearing my S3 but went away after a few days. Before that I had a S0 watch that didn't give me any issues.

 

[haruhiko]

People have been talking about this a lot in the S0 era but recently I seldom hear this anymore. Probably you may give it one or days and see if the symptoms persist.

 

[xraydoc]

Can I do anything to help or has anyone ever contacted apple support about a similar issue before?

Honestly there's not much that Apple can do to help other than assisting you in returning it or suggesting to wash the back of your watch thoroughly with a gentle soap and water. Absolutely nothing abrasive. If it still persists, contact your dermatologist and discuss it with them.

At one point, the material on the back of the Apple Watch was different based on the model (plastic back on the aluminum versus ceramic back on the stainless steel case) -- at least for the first couple of generations -- for which switching models helped some people, but I think Apple now uses the same material on the back of each generation regardless of case material (aluminum, stainless steel, titanium). I could be wrong, so double check that.

That said, I haven't read where Apple changed the back material from the 6th generation to the 7th generation. I am pretty certain that it's different than the S3 that you previously had. It's quite possible you have a contact dermatitis to something in the makeup of the watch backing. I don't know if the backing material is different from the SE model, however. It's possible they're the same, so that might add a bit of mystery.

*please don't let anyone convince you it has something to do with "radiation", because that simply cannot happen at the watch's RF energy levels and frequencies. If it was, you'd fry the second you stepped out into the sun because you're bathed in more RF frequencies and at higher energies when just standing on the surface of the planet with that giant star overhead.

 

[kb87]

Thanks all for the advice. I’ve started taking the watch off and giving it a wash with warm water at the end of the each day and I’ve switched off the sports bands completely and Stuck to the sports loop. I’ve no idea why it’s made a difference but it seems to be helping so far!