Apple Suggests Solution for 'Ghost Touch' Issue on Apple Watch Series 7 and Later

[MacRumors]

The touch-related bug that was known to be impacting the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 also affects the Apple Watch Series 7, Series 8, and Ultra 1, Apple said in a memo shared with Apple Authorized Service Providers.

Service providers have been told not to replace watches for the ghost touch problem, instead instructing customers to fix the issue through a force restart. A force restart can be initiated by simultaneously holding down the side button and the Digital Crown for 10 seconds. AASPs have also been asked to make sure affected Apple Watches are running the latest version of watchOS.

Apple first began looking into the touch-related problem affecting some Apple Watch models in February. At the time, it was a bug that had been seen on the Series 9 and the Ultra 2. Apple Watch owners were experiencing "false" or "ghost" touches on the display, which could cause the screen to "jump erratically" or exhibit unexpected behavior without user interaction.

A fix for the ghost touch issue was added in watchOS 10.4, so presumably that version of the software addresses the issue on all impacted models. If not, the wording of Apple's memo suggests a further fix will be coming in the near future.

Article Link: Apple Suggests Solution for 'Ghost Touch' Issue on Apple Watch Series 7 and Later

 

[7thson]

2.5 years later and the ”fix” is imminent. Glad I stuck with my S6. Good grief…

 

[BorisDG]

Never had any issues with my S8 (thankfully).

 

[sdf]

I never would've guessed that was a software problem, but if it's fixed by an OS update I guess it probably is.

I've never noticed this problem with my Ultra (1).

 

[steve09090]

2.5 years later and the ”fix” is imminent. Glad I stuck with my S6. Good grief…

Did you read the article?
1. started with Watch Series 9 and the update affected others.
2. it appears fixed with a restart.

Here we go. People whining for the sake of it. And go…

 

[PixelsMaster]

This had happened multiple times on my Apple Watch Ultra 2. Haven’t had it happen again since 10.4.

 

[Apple.Fanatic]

Apple needs to hire the Ghostbusters!

 

[Cirlonde]

I’ve had this happen twice on my Series 9. Didn’t even think to look into it further at the time, but I’m glad to know Apple has (hopefully) fixed it. It’s a little unnerving when your watch starts behaving like it is demon-possessed, hah! The first thing I tried when it happened was a forced restart because, as my high school math teacher said 20 years ago, restarting fixes 99% of computer problems and the other 1% can’t be fixed at all.

 

[jon9091]

I heard it was caused by having ‘always on’ activated.

 

[jmelrose]

I'm still having the issue that particularly when I'm driving, my sleeve makes whatever music I'm playing glitch. Rolling up my sleeve helps, obviously, but it's annoying for sure. Looking forward to a fix.

 

[Macaholic868]

A fix for a fix may be necessary. Shocking …. 😜

 

[Macaholic868]

I heard it was caused by having ‘always on’ activated.

There could be something to that. I’ve never had the issue but turning off the always on display was one thing I did immediately when I received my refurbished 7. I thought I’d be ditching it for the 8 when that came out but after seeing how much of a “meh” update the 8 was I hung on to the refurbished 7. Then the 9 comes out and it’s more of the same. I’m hoping the 10 has at least one new feature that makes me want to upgrade but I’m not holding my breath on that one. They may ship a new form factor to sell more accessories but I’m starting to doubt we’ll get any kind of new hardware like a blood pressure sensor or monitoring that can give you useful data even if all it can do is tell you if you’re BP is starting to become elevated more than your usual baseline over time.

In fact IMO the 9 you can buy since Apple had to shut off the blood-oxygen feature isn’t even as advanced as my un-hobbled 7 at this point. If they ship the 10 without either paying the licensing fee or replacing the tech with a version of their own that doesn’t infringe on the existing patent then it’s hobbled in a way that my 7 isn’t. The blood-oxygen monitor in is it consistent with my readings if I put on a third party monitor and check it that way. My wife’s an RN so we have things laying around that not every household might have and with sleep apnea it’s important that if my CPAP starts to fail without making some kind of noise that would alert me to it that the blood-oxygen monitor in my watch will catch it.

 

[Killbynumbers]

I had this happen twice on my ultra 2. First time woke up with it opening things I never open and started a workout that I didn't catch until a few hrs later.

Secons time was a few weeks ago. Both times restarting worked until next time of course.

 

[7thson]

Did you read the article?
1. started with Watch Series 9 and the update affected others.
2. it appears fixed with a restart.

Here we go. People whining for the sake of it. And go…

Did you read the article?
1. started with Watch Series 9 and the update affected others.
2. it appears fixed with a restart.

Here we go. People whining for the sake of it. And go…

“also affects the Apple Watch Series 7, Series 8, and Ultra 1, Apple said in a memo shared with Apple Authorized Service Providers”
I did read the article. Here we go with the apologists

 

[drober30]

This happened to my Ultra 2, it went haywire as if it was constantly being touched, and I of course naturally did a restart and it never happened again. Never knew it was a known issue until I read this.

 

[jz0309]

I heard it was caused by having ‘always on’ activated.

Well, I have AOD on my Ultra 2 as well as my S7 and never experienced this…

 

[jonnyb098]

I wish they would fix the “return to watch face” setting that’s been busted forever. If I’m in an app and put my wrist down it stays in the app instead of returning to the watch face as advertised in the settings.

 

[steve09090]

Did you read the article?
1. started with Watch Series 9 and the update affected others.
2. it appears fixed with a restart.

Here we go. People whining for the sake of it. And go…

“also affects the Apple Watch Series 7, Series 8, and Ultra 1, Apple said in a memo shared with Apple Authorized Service Providers”
I did read the article. Here we go with the apologists

As I said, and as they said.

1. started with Watch Series 9 and the update affected others.

Apology accepted.

 

[victorvictoria]

I've had a series 7 since it was introduced. Never had this issue.

 

[Kevin2055]

anybody who has experience with electronics knows reboot will solve 99% problems

 

[NMBob]

You're not touching it wrong.

 

[Cirlonde]

I heard it was caused by having ‘always on’ activated.

At least for me, that’s not the case. I’ve never used AOD and had the issue twice.

Before this article saying it was also affecting older models, I kind of assumed it might be related to the new double tap feature…like maybe the watch was misreading my gestures or something and going nuts.

 

[CarAnalogy]

This is their advice? Seriously? It's a joke for a reason...sadly the reason is that it sometimes works. But it's not supposed to be official advice.

 

[SFjohn]

I get a new watch every year and I’ve never had this problem… 🤞🏻

 

[goonie4life9]

Not to worry, everyone, for we have received official word from Apple Support: There is currently no known issues with so-called "ghost touches," because if there were, Apple Support would know about it before any customer did, because Apple Support talks to millions of customers a minute. So, to troubleshoot, you'll first need to Restart your device. If that doesn't resolve the issue, you'll need to unpair and re-pair your watch, not restoring from a backup. If the issue persists, Apple Support will need to collect logs by sending you data collection software. You'll need to run the software, with Mail logging enabled of course, and replicate the issue. You'll then need to upload the support files. Apple Support will then complete an RTA and Engineering will get back to you in 48 hr. After 48 hr, Engineering will tell you that this is a known issue, keep your device up to date, and no further troubleshooting will be provided.