watchOS 9 bug making screen unresponsive especially after swim?

[VSG]

Hi everyone,

just wondering if anyone else has noticed this behavior: I recently updated my Apple Watch 6 (no damages whatsoever) to watchOS 9. Since then I noticed that the screen seems less responsive, sometimes lighting up from always on when raising the wrist but not registering taps.

This week I was swimming and the watch got in swimming mode. However, I was not able to end the exercise via tapping the screen, it wouldn’t register the taps. I ended the exercise via Siri and tried the watch, put it on the charger. Some time later it would respond to taps again.

I don’t think this is a hardware issue since force restarting the watch lets me enter my Passcode normally. Only once the watch has fully booted up, the display sporadically becomes unresponsive again and swimming with it last year wasn’t a problem either. I only took it to swimming in pools – no salt water.

Already reported this to Apple, but is anyone else seeing something like that happening?

Best regards,
VSG

 

[BWhiting]

Almost exactly! I have a Series 6 Apple watch and updated it to Watch OS9. Has worked flawlessly until yesterday. I went swimming with the family at a casino pool in Vegas. I've done it plenty of times before with no issues. Afterward, the screen won't respond to my touch and I can't input my passcode. I've restarted the watch a few times and nothing. Then..the screen went black and only flashes bright white lights randomly when picking it up. This morning, it allowed me to input the passcode as if it were normal. After that,..unresponsive. Then, went black again and only flashes white lights. It seems like an OS error and not a hardware error. Tried to see what it would cost for Apple to fix and they're talking about $299. . The new Series 8 watches are $399. I'll wait for the update.

 

[VSG]

Thanks for your feedback!
I can only recommend to report feedback to Apple so they can fix this. The sooner the better. 👍🏻

 

[Argofx]

Hi! I had something similar happen to me but it wasn't on a swim but on a run (and it wasn't immediately afterwards). After like an hour of a 6 mile workout, my screen went completely black. I can still feel vibrations from calls and notifications and I can feel the watch respond to my taps, but the screen was black - even after several hard resets. I figured since it responded to Siri and I didn't want to break my streaks, I kept wearing it. I'm getting a new watch soon anyway so just needed to bear with it for a few days To my surprise though, the screen came back on today.

Here's what I think happened. It could be a software bug, but I found out from the macrumor users on this forum that the waterproof seals on Apple Watches (as well as mechanical watches) are not meant to last forever. Since I was running 6 miles everyday for 4 years straight, the amount of sweat build up probably shorten the lifespan of the seal. A month ago, my screen was acting up just as you described above. It didn't respond to touch after a 6 mile run, but Siri worked and let me end my workout. Restarting it a few times would let me enter my passcode. When I asked about it on this forum, a user told me that it was the waterproof seal and my screen will probably fail soon (since that is what happened to his). I bought 2 waterproof cases (one was semi waterproof which was lighter and the other was fully waterproof but heavier) to try and prolong the watch since the new ones were coming out. I used the fully waterproofed one for a few weeks and it was fine after workouts. I swapped to the semi waterproof one for travel (which was a mistake since some sweat got in and I didn't know). That's when the screen went dark/black after a workout. I thought about trying the rice bag trick and see if it would get the sweat out but I didn't. I just stuck it back into the waterproof case and I guess since the weather has been 100 degrees, whatever sweat that was in it dried and the screen came back on. I'll probably use it as a backup watch or a sleep tracker when I get my new watch.

Or it could be by chance that I updated my iOS to iOS 16.0.2 today that caused to come back on. I didn't see a watchOS update pass 9.0 though.

I'm not sure if swimming affects the seal but it could since there's chlorine in pools. I guess it depends on how often you go swimming. Just sharing my recent experience with my Apple Watch and the waterproof seals.

 

[Broken Hope]

I’ve had a few occasions where I couldn’t bring up the control centre or notifications panel and had to reboot my watch.

 

[chabig]

I've been swimming with my series 4. No problems.

 

[VSG]

Hi! I had something similar happen to me but it wasn't on a swim but on a run (and it wasn't immediately afterwards). […]

Or it could be by chance that I updated my iOS to iOS 16.0.2 today that caused to come back on. I didn't see a watchOS update pass 9.0 though.

I'm not sure if swimming affects the seal but it could since there's chlorine in pools. I guess it depends on how often you go swimming. Just sharing my recent experience with my Apple Watch and the waterproof seals.

Thanks for your message!
I don't think what you describe applies to my experience, however.
I've taken my Apple Watch 6 (which is barely two years old) to about a dozen swims in its time, so the waterproof seal shouldn't be the problem. Plus, the behavior started right after installing watchOS 9 and it can be temporarily remedied by restarting the watch. Reading about all kinds of problems with any new watchOS-release, it doesn't seem to be the most stable one this time around.

It is strange indeed.

 

[VSG]

I'll wait for the update.

Hi there!
I was wondering if you have updated to watchOS 9.0.2 yet and tested if the problem persists?
Unfortunately, I hadn't had the time to do any swimming yet, so I can't really say.

Best regards!
VSG