Series 9 "Noise Suspended"

[Takeo]

I've been having this issue with Apple Watch Series 9 since October. I use the Noise complication and I particularly like the large version (although the small version has the same issue). I started noticing soon after buying my Series 9 that the Noise complication would often be greyed out when the watch face woke up and would said "Noise Suspended" (or measurement suspended). Water lock is NOT enabled. And Siri works. So the Mic seemed to be fine.

So far I've taken the following measures:

• October: Called Apple Support and when through all their suggestions over the phone / screen share. No help.
• November: Booked a Genius appointment where she had me restart the watch and that seemed to fix it! But it started doing it again the next day.
• December: Reset the watch to factory on my own (but used a backup to set the watch back up) and that also seemed to work for a day then it started doing it again.
• December: Booked a second Genius appointment where we reset the watch to factory but setup as new this time. It immediately started doing it again (although I think in this case it might have just been due to the watch being on/off his and my wrist a few times). In any case the Genius authorized a replacement.
• January: Got the replacement and it worked for 3 weeks! Anytime I woke the watch up Noise would seem to wake up. Although it always take a few seconds whereas noise always woke up INSTANTLY with all of my previous Apple Watches (or Watch OSes). Then it started doing it again. !@#$
• February: Submitted an online bug report to Apple.

I've given up on it at this point and just restart the watch whenever it starts acting up. Sometimes after a restart it will work ok for a week and then it will start never waking up again (always "suspended"). Very annoying.

Wondering is anyone else has noticed this issue? Hoping it's just a software issue that Apple will eventually fix. I'm guessing they implemented some kind of battery saving feature with regards to this complication but it doesn't always wake from sleep properly (or promptly).

 

[EllaWilson3]

Check your watch's settings that save battery life. Sometimes, these settings stop apps from running in the background, which could be why the Noise feature isn't working right.

 

[lanceuppercut47]

I had this on my SE2, no idea how I managed to fix it but I didn't change any background refresh settings as mentioned above though. It didn't happen with my U2 though.

 

[EllaWilson3]

Have you noticed how laggy that watch became? Recently, I've tried to fix mine because the step counter didn't work, and it showed on my phone that I made less than 200 steps while I was running like crazy around the house.

 

[Fred de France]

I encountered the same problem a few months ago.
I deleted the app. I restarted my Series 8, reinstalled the application from the watch store before restarting it.
Since then, everything has worked perfectly !

 

[Takeo]

I encountered the same problem a few months ago.
I deleted the app. I restarted my Series 8, reinstalled the application from the watch store before restarting it.
Since then, everything has worked perfectly !

Thanks. As mentioned I’ve already tried deleting the entire watch and resetting it up as new. It fixed the issue for a few weeks and then it returned.

 

[Fred de France]

I understood well.
Here, I'm just talking to you about deleting the application !
I'm sharing a happy experience with you so why not for you too ?
I hadn't reset my Watch though.

 

[Takeo]

Check your watch's settings that save battery life. Sometimes, these settings stop apps from running in the background, which could be why the Noise feature isn't working right.

Thanks. I took a look and background app refresh is enabled for all apps including the Apple noise app.

 

[Takeo]

I understood well.
Here, I'm just talking to you about deleting the application !
I'm sharing a happy experience with you so why not for you too ?
I hadn't reset my Watch though.

Sorry. It’s just very frustrating. I will try that next time. It’s been working ok the last few days since my last shutdown / restart but I know it will stop working again. It always does. Again deleting and completely resetting the watch as new should do the same thing but I will try it. Certainly easier than wiping out the whole watch and starting over.

 

[EllaWilson3]

Mine happened after the New Year. I thought that it was somehow related to our stepping into the new year. Well, my New Year's resolution was to walk more and be more active. Imagine my frustration when, on the 2nd of January, I got that notification. It took me a while to set the watch and make it count my steps. But I was thinking about replacing them.

 

[Takeo]

So it started happening again consistently and I tried the tip of just deleting the Noise app and reinstalling and it unfortunately didn’t fix the issue even for a moment. Immediately after reinstalling it was saying “noise suspended” again. The only thing that seems to “fix” the issue is a restart and that usually only works for a week or two before it starts acting up again. I’ve gone to the extent of not just completely resetting the watch but even getting a brand new replacement from Apple… no luck.

 

[EllaWilson3]

So it started happening again consistently and I tried the tip of just deleting the Noise app and reinstalling and it unfortunately didn’t fix the issue even for a moment. Immediately after reinstalling it was saying “noise suspended” again. The only thing that seems to “fix” the issue is a restart and that usually only works for a week or two before it starts acting up again. I’ve gone to the extent of not just completely resetting the watch but even getting a brand new replacement from Apple… no luck.

Is the same thing with the brand-new watch replaced by Apple? That's really odd. What about other watch series? Do you have the same issue? BTW have you received any emails from Apple that they are recalling watches because of the defect? I received this email when I bought a new MacBook Pro with a defective battery.

 

[Takeo]

Is the same thing with the brand-new watch replaced by Apple? That's really odd. What about other watch series? Do you have the same issue? BTW have you received any emails from Apple that they are recalling watches because of the defect? I received this email when I bought a new MacBook Pro with a defective battery.

Yes. This is with my new replacement watch. Didn’t make any difference. I suspect it‘s just a software issue but I’m not sure if Apple is aware of it or cares much. I’ve had ever Apple Watch since the 4 and never had this issue before. But every time a new watch comes out, a new Watch OS comes out so it’s likely more about the OS than the Watch Series.

 

[EllaWilson3]

Yes. This is with my new replacement watch. Didn’t make any difference. I suspect it‘s just a software issue but I’m not sure if Apple is aware of it or cares much. I’ve had ever Apple Watch since the 4 and never had this issue before. But every time a new watch comes out, a new Watch OS comes out so it’s likely more about the OS than the Watch Series.

Then, I'm pretty sure the update will come soon. But you can downgrade the system to the previous version and see if the issue persists.

 

[Takeo]

Then, I'm pretty sure the update will come soon. But you can downgrade the system to the previous version and see if the issue persists.

Apple doesn’t let you downgrade the OS

 

[EllaWilson3]

Can't you just restore the settings to manufactured and then upgrade to that iOS, which suits you the most? I've read about this trick. Also, I've read that you can change your region to France, and with the laws of this country, you can also do a lot of tricks. But, TBH, I haven't tested it yet on my own skin.

 

[Takeo]

Can't you just restore the settings to manufactured and then upgrade to that iOS, which suits you the most? I've read about this trick. Also, I've read that you can change your region to France, and with the laws of this country, you can also do a lot of tricks. But, TBH, I haven't tested it yet on my own skin.

When you reset the watch and then setup as a new watch it will install the latest OS I think. And in any case it’s had this issue since day 1 so even if I could roll back to the version of the OS it came with the problem would still be there. For a rollback to possibly work I think I’d have to rollback to Watch OS 9. But thanks for the brainstorming/ suggestions. I suspect it’s a little known (and inconsistent) Watch OS 10 bug.

Never heard about the France trick. Interesting.

 

[EllaWilson3]

Oh! You have a brand new watch which was released recently. Then, yes, of course, my trick won't work for you. I still keep my old watch. I guess it's series 3 or 4? Basically, it's the one when Hermes collaborated with Apple to create designer straps.
I usually read reviews online before upgrading the system.

 

[Takeo]

Oh! You have a brand new watch which was released recently. Then, yes, of course, my trick won't work for you. I still keep my old watch. I guess it's series 3 or 4? Basically, it's the one when Hermes collaborated with Apple to create designer straps.
I usually read reviews online before upgrading the system.

Not only that but as noted in my original post, I even got a brand new replacement Apple Watch 9 from Apple in January. Same issue.

 

[Takeo]

WatchOS 10.4 came out today. There’s nothing in the release notes about the Noise complication but it DOES seem to be behaving better.

With the issue that I’ve had since day 1 with my brand new Apple Watch Series 9 (bought on launch day) AND its replacement from Apple… even when it worked it was odd. The Noise complication always took extra time to wake up. The watch face would wake up all at once but Noise would take an extra half second or more to wake up. Eventually it would not waking up at all and I would have to restart the watch to get it “working” again.

I’ve only had WatchOS installed for an hour but it SEEMS better. What I am noticing now is the Noise complication wakes up instantly… at exactly the same time as the rest of the watch face. No lag. It wakes up so fast now that I don’t see it go from off to on… because it wakes up before I have finished turning my wrist to see the face.

Fingers crossed my bug report (or others) got some attention and this is now fixed!!! Will report back if it acts up again.

 

[Takeo]

I guess I'm talking to myself at this point but quick update… 10.4 fixed it for a few days but it's broken again.

I was very optimistic because before 10.4 the noise complication would wake up a little after the rest of the watch face. But with 10.4 it was waking up at the same time as the entire watch face. But it's back to not working again.

When it stops working, holding the crown to "wake up" the mic (i.e. Siri) will bring the noise measurement back for a second but only for a second. Once it starts doing the "measurement suspended" thing it will keep doing it all the time until I restart the watch. Then it will be ok again for a few days or maybe a week.

I've already gone to the extent of having a genius REPLACE the watch but wondering if I should make another appointment. This is SOOOOO frustrating and I'm sure it's probably a software thing but Apple doesn't seem to be aware of it.

 

[srknpower]

As a Series 8 user I am having the same issue.

 

[Takeo]

As a Series 8 user I am having the same issue.

Thanks for joining the discussion. I’m glad I’m not the only one. The most recent thing I tried was to disable all Siri triggers other than pressing the crown… so I disabled “raise to speak” and “listen for…”. No luck. It’s still suspending measurement all the time. I have to restart the watch every other day or so to get the complication and environment noise measurement working again.

It’s been so extremely frustrating. I have hearing damage and depend on this complication on a daily basis. I’ve loved my Apple Watches for SOOOO many years and bought almost ever series since the 4. But these past 6+ months with my S9 and OS 10 have been just horrible. If this doesn’t get fixed I don’t know what I will do. I will be very hesitant to ever buy another Apple Watch. But what is the alternative for someone so deeply into the Apple ecosystem? There really is no good alternative. It’s very depressing.

I’m sure it’s a software thing… but how can we get Apple to actually pay attention and look into it and fix it? It seems impossible. I’ve already spent so many hours talking to support and geniuses and reporting the guy and… nothing. Ever OS release I hope it’s fixed and then… nope.

 

[unim21]

This happened to me as well today with a brand new Series 9 (I've had it for about 2 weeks). I went through all of the troubleshooting steps without any luck - finally rebooting it fixed the issue, at least temporarily.

 

[Takeo]

This happened to me as well today with a brand new Series 9 (I've had it for about 2 weeks). I went through all of the troubleshooting steps without any luck - finally rebooting it fixed the issue, at least temporarily.

Yes I find that a reboot will usually make the issue go away for a couple weeks. I’ve yet to discover if there is anything specific that triggers it to act up again. It would be great if I could discover a way to replicate the issue as that would be a critical step in maybe getting it fixed. But so far it seems random.