We’ve all been there, our digital products not working. The same goes for our smartwatches, and the Apple Watch is no different.
If you’ve ever experienced your Apple Watch being stuck on the Apple logo, it could be a buggy update, a software glitch, or just a one-off problem that needs quick troubleshooting.
Here is your one-stop guide for bringing it back to life.
Fix 1: Force restart your Apple Watch
Press and hold both the Digital Crown and side button for about 10 seconds, until you see the Apple logo. This should be able to bring your watch back to normal functioning.
Fix 2: Use Find My app
A little hack to jolt your Apple Watch out of its frozen state is to use the Find My app.
This should be able to bring your Apple Watch to regular working.
Fix 3: Unpair your Apple Watch
If the force restart doesn’t work, try unpairing and re-pairing your Apple Watch. For this, it is imperative to keep both devices closer together till the whole process is completed. To unpair:
- Open the Watch app on your iPhone.
- Tap All Watches on the top left corner of the screen.
- Tap the info button next to your Apple Watch name.
- Tap Unpair Apple Watch.
- For the cellular versions, choose to keep the plan.
- Enter your Apple ID password and tap Unpair, this will create a backup of the Apple Watch.
- After turning on the Bluetooth and pairing your iPhone with your Apple Watch, tap Start Pairing and follow the on-screen instructions. If you have multiple watches paired to your phone, tap Add Watch and follow the on-screen instructions.
- To restore the backup, tap Restore from Backup.
Fix 4: Check for software updates
Updating the software is a good practice anyway. This will also help you resolve the issue of your watch face being stuck on the Apple logo.
- Open the Watch app on your iPhone.
- Tap General > Software Update.
- If the update is available, tap Download and Install.
Fix 5: Wait for the “!” icon
In case the fixes mentioned above don’t work, try these steps:
- Turn off the watch by pressing both– the Digital Crown and the side button,
- As soon as it turns off, press and hold the Digital Crown until an exclamation mark “!” appears on the screen.
- Repeat these steps until the “!” appears. It may take a few tries.
- The minute you see the “!” mark on the screen, double-click the side button. This puts the Apple Watch into recovery mode.
- Under Recover your Apple Watch’, tap on Continue on your iPhone and follow the instructions that appear on the screen to restore your watch to factory settings.
This will delete all the data on the Apple Watch, but you will be able to restore it from a backup.
Fix 6: Tap and Press the Apple Watch
I know it sounds weird, but tapping or pressing very hard all over the Apple Watch’s front and back, then trying to reset it like in the first fix, might solve the problem of the watch being stuck or frozen on the Apple logo.
Fix 7: Freeze your frozen Apple Watch
So there is some hocus pocus on the internet where if none of these fixes work, chuck your Apple Watch in the freezer for about 15 minutes. Yes, your freezer. Weird, I know, but apparently, it works.
I haven’t had a chance to verify it, but a few positive results of this method are posted online. Maybe it has something to do with the temperature of the Apple Watch or overheating, but it doesn’t hurt to try.
Fix 8: Contact Apple Support
If none of these solutions work, get in touch with Apple Support.
Wrap Up
One of the most common reasons for the Apple Watch to get stuck on the Apple logo screen is running an old software version. Regularly updating the software fixes the bugs and keeps the watch running smoothly. In case of a buggy update or a glitch, the watch gets frozen at the Apple logo, the fixes mentioned above would be able to solve your issue.
