Apple yanks watchOS 3.1.1 update following user complaints

Apple on Tuesday pulled the latest Apple Watch operating system update, watchOS 3.1.1, from circulation after a launch earlier this week that rendered an unknown number of consumer units unusable.

Apple Watch owners attempting to upgrade to watchOS 3.1.1 through the dedicated Watch app on iOS will find watchOS 3.1 as the current version, meaning Apple has temporarily disabled the point update after its release on Monday.

For reasons as yet unknown, yesterday's software update appears to have bricked some Apple Watch Series 2 units. Customers impacted by the faulty code reported seeing a recovery screen with a red exclamation mark after attempting to install watchOS 3.1.1. The foreboding prompt urged users to visit www.apple.com/help/watch, a landing page that ultimately leads to a Support Document covering frozen Apple Watch hardware.

Apple's support page, which was most recently updated in November and as such does not directly address watchOS 3.1.1 specific concerns, suggests users perform a force restart by pressing down and holding both the side button and Digital Crown for at least 10 seconds. As noted by those affected, a hard reset does not solve the issue presented with watchOS 3.1.1.

According to impacted Apple Watch owners who visited an Apple store, the company is collecting affected units and sending them out for service. The recovery process supposedly requires access to the Apple Watch diagnostics port, something which retail store Geniuses lack at this time.

The root cause of Apple's watchOS 3.1.1 problems is unknown, but the issue appears to predominantly affect Apple Watch Series 2 devices. Ironically, the point update was released alongside iOS 10.2 and tvOS 10.1 with a variety of bug fixes and performance improvements.

53 Comments

OutdoorAppDeveloper 15 Years · 1292 comments

About 8 years ago

Sure OK but here is the thing: Apple has yanked a LOT of updates lately for this exact reason. It points to a systemic problem in their quality control and testing. Apple may need to go to a slow rollout rather than an all at once update system. They are just not good enough to make that kind of update reliable.

goodbyeranch 9 Years · 251 comments

Trust gone. Goodwill revoked. Wallet less loose.

lkrupp 19 Years · 10521 comments

goodbyeranch said:

Trust gone. Goodwill revoked. Wallet less loose.

Have fun with your Samsung Gear then.

james john said:

Is this even a surprise? Apple updates are all junk now. They can't do anything right. They are however very good at bricking your apple products. Apple used to be good. Those days are gone, along with Steve Jobs. Now it's just garbage in, garbage out.

Funny. All four updates went without a hitch for me. iOS 10.2, watchOS 3.1.1, macOS 10.12.2, tvOS 10.1 all performing nominally. I guess we live in different universes. Have fun in your screwed up time-space continuum.

rogifan_new 9 Years · 4297 comments

Man Apple and software these days. And people think it's a good idea for them to get in the autonomous/self driving car software space. Good grief.

lkrupp said:

goodbyeranch said:

Trust gone. Goodwill revoked. Wallet less loose.

Have fun with your Samsung Gear then.

james john said:

Is this even a surprise? Apple updates are all junk now. They can't do anything right. They are however very good at bricking your apple products. Apple used to be good. Those days are gone, along with Steve Jobs. Now it's just garbage in, garbage out.

Funny. All four updates went without a hitch for me. iOS 10.2, watchOS 3.1.1, macOS 10.12.2, tvOS 10.1 all performing nominally. I guess we live in different universes. Have fun in your screwed up time-space continuum.

No thanks. I can be critical of apple and still be a customer, a reasonable person and fun at parties. All at the same time.