Watch showing wrong time briefly before screen updates

[Makosuke]

I at first thought it might have been my imagination, but after happening a second time I'm now sure it was real, and am wondering if anybody else has seen this:

After lifting up my Series 9 with the Modular face, the digital time display is wrong for a couple of seconds before updating to the right time, which I believe happened when the watch switched from the low-power always-on mode to the "live" display.

I'm aware that the always-on display only updates once a minute, and this is not that--it was several minutes off the first time I saw it, and I believe more than an hour the second time. Which seems really bizarre.

Some searching turned up people complaining that while swiping between faces the time shows the default 10:08 instead of the live time, but this wasn't that either--I'm almost certain it wasn't displaying 10:08 either time, and in any case I wasn't switching faces.

This has only happened since updating to WatchOS 26, and I haven't yet seen it on 26.1, so maybe it was a bug that's fixed now, but it only happened a couple times in as many weeks so I can't be sure about that. I'm also surprised I haven't seen anyone complain, given that, you know, the default purpose of the device is to tell time.

 

[Howard2k]

I've seen this before on occasion. Have you tried to restart the watch?

 

[cynics]

I've seen this on occasions for years especially since I have an analog watch face with black background and white minute/hour hand (Utility).

Unfortunately there is no public information with the AOD framework specifically referencing this. However there is almost certainly a very low power state when the screen buffer completely freezes for longer than one minute.

I can't find the conditions required for this to happen though and it could literally be a laundry list of things, amount of time sleeping (dimmed), movement, other connected BT devices in the vicinity, location, battery level, watch temperature, the watch face/complication you are using, etc etc etc.

Subjective observations, this never happens to me when I'm active and/or at work. I know this because I'll often be looking down at my watch while it's dimmed to check the time during meetings but I don't want to be rude and raise my wrist. However I do see this happen when I'm at home watching TV/sleeping for hours on end and get up and goto the bathroom and check the time. Sometimes the minute hand moves 3-5 minutes.

 

[Makosuke]

I've seen this before on occasion. Have you tried to restart the watch?

Not between the two times I noticed it happen, but I've since installed 26.1, which of course includes a restart, so if it doesn't happen again there'd be no way to tell which fixed it.

Unfortunately there is no public information with the AOD framework specifically referencing this. However there is almost certainly a very low power state when the screen buffer completely freezes for longer than one minute.

I can't find the conditions required for this to happen though and it could literally be a laundry list of things, amount of time sleeping (dimmed), movement, other connected BT devices in the vicinity, location, battery level, watch temperature, the watch face/complication you are using, etc etc etc.

I can't say for certain that this isn't related to some ultra-low-power state (if such a thing even exists), but I suspect that's not it for two reasons: One, the two times I noticed it I hadn't been particularly still and it was under very "typical" conditions, and two, the time it was more significantly off from the current time I'm virtually certain I had looked at it more recently than that, and the other time I think it was actually ahead of current time, not behind.

 

[doogm]

I saw this before a few times in the last year or so with my Ultra (though not all that frequently), but I haven't seen it since switching to the Ultra 3 in late September. Perhaps the Series 10, Series 11, and Ultra 3 with the display that can refresh in AOD mode every second helps prevent this?

 

[MisterSavage]

I've seen this before and I'm pretty sure I've seen with with my iPhone AOD also.

 

[tcuprof]

I've seen this while in my hot tub. Sometimes it has the time wrong and when I raise my wrist it jumps to the correct time. I assumed it had something to do with being in water.

 

[cateye]

I've seen this as well! Only on my Ultra 3, never on the Series 9, 6, or 3 I owned previously. The only time I've seen it is when the Watch is also in Water Lock mode and it only happens occasionally. I'll glance at the screen when it's in AOD mode without "activating" it and the time will show 6 minutes ahead. The moment I move my wrist so the display "wakes," it jumps back to the correct time. Always 6 minutes, always ahead, only if Water Lock is also engaged.

Given it only happens rarely and only under these specific circumstances I haven't fretted about it too much, assuming it was some extra special bug that will be addressed at some point. Surprised to hear that others have seen this too, however.

 

[Makosuke]

The water lock thing is interesting, although mine is not water locked (ever, and certainly not the two times I saw it).

The 6-minutes ahead thing is even more interesting, because that sounds about right for what I saw one of the two times (I wish I'd jotted down the exact times, but I remember momentarily thinking I was slightly late for a Zoom meeting). The other I'm pretty sure was farther off than that, but if there's a 6-minute offset bug people are getting with water lock maybe it's not actually water lock that triggers it, but something else that is more likely to happen when water locked (the whole face is registering a touch?).

 

[cynics]

Not between the two times I noticed it happen, but I've since installed 26.1, which of course includes a restart, so if it doesn't happen again there'd be no way to tell which fixed it.


I can't say for certain that this isn't related to some ultra-low-power state (if such a thing even exists), but I suspect that's not it for two reasons: One, the two times I noticed it I hadn't been particularly still and it was under very "typical" conditions, and two, the time it was more significantly off from the current time I'm virtually certain I had looked at it more recently than that, and the other time I think it was actually ahead of current time, not behind.

Hmm we have probably seen something different then. What I saw was the minute hand behind time and actually quickly moving to the correct time which indicates it was programmed animation not recovering the glitch. Since you brought this up I've been very careful to pay attention to this however of course its been operating as expected ever since.

 

[Makosuke]

Hmm we have probably seen something different then. What I saw was the minute hand behind time and actually quickly moving to the correct time which indicates it was programmed animation not recovering the glitch. Since you brought this up I've been very careful to pay attention to this however of course its been operating as expected ever since.

Yeah, that does sound very different, since by definition if there was animation the screen was "awake" and must've been updating at its regular refresh rate. Since my case was using a digital display there probably wouldn't be any animation, but while I can't be absolutely certain I'm pretty sure that the wrong time was fixed (instantly) when the watch went from always-on to awake display.

I've taken to trying to glance at it without moving my wrist occasionally, to see if I can catch it showing a wrong time again while in low power update mode, but have not so far see it, making me increasingly suspicious that it was a watchOS 26 bug that was fixed in 26.1.

 

[Danorak81]

My watch does this frequently. The most recent update hasn't fixed it either. I find that it usually shows about 10 minutes ahead of what the actual time is. Once I raise to wake it corrects itself, but first glance was a bit of a panic initially.

 

[iPhone-Guy]

I’ve had this on my series 10 a couple of times. One time I kept switching between the off screen and sleep screen (or whatever it’s called when your in sleep mode) and every so often I would wake the watch and the time would be a couple minutes behind the regular time but after holding the side button to exit Sleep the time would fix. Really weird bug and not sure what update it was but it just went away eventually.

 

[Andy_2341]

I'll glance at the screen when it's in AOD mode without "activating" it and the time will show 6 minutes ahead. The moment I move my wrist so the display "wakes," it jumps back to the correct time. Always 6 minutes, always ahead, only if Water Lock is also engaged.

My S10 has done the opposite since late watchos11. Just before tarting the handwashing timer has been the only time I've noticed it being 6 minutes behind and then jumping to proper time once I finish washing and it is "awake".