A Few Apple Watch Users Experiencing Band Locking Issues
Less than a week after the release of the Apple Watch, a few issues with the wrist-worn device have been spotted by early adopters. The first issue involves full sleeve tattoos interfering with the Apple Watch's heart rare sensor and skin contact registration, while MacRumors forum member Smickers has shared a new video that shows an Apple Watch with a nonfunctioning band locking mechanism.
"So, I took off my jacket Sunday and out of the sleeve comes my SS Apple Watch and drops on the floor and slides for a bit before stopping. Turns out the locking mechanism wasn't locking the strap," writes MacRumors forum member Smickers. "On closer inspection it requires a number of tries, pulling and pushing the strap to get it to lock. It's just the top strap. One scratched casing, with the glass fine."
The user claims that after he contacted Apple on Monday to have the Apple Watch replaced through AppleCare, the company requested that he ship the device to Ireland for inspection by an engineering team. Three days later, he allegedly received confirmation from Apple that the Apple Watch was indeed faulty, and the company will be expediting him a brand new device in sealed retail packaging within 24 hours.
Fortunately, this issue does not appear to be widespread and is only affecting a limited number of users. "I had this same problem when I first received my SS Apple Watch with Milanese Loop," said
MacRumors forum member Ryxmd. "I had it on my wrist and noticed that the top strap had some movement. I took off the watch and tried to get it to lock in. After 3-4 tries, it finally locked into place."
It is largely unsurprising that the first-generation Apple Watch has a few isolated issues that Apple will inevitably fix, especially given that the wrist-worn device is Apple's first new product category since 2010. Yesterday, it was reported that defective Taptic Engines from one of Apple's suppliers has contributed to Apple Watch supply constraints, but fortunately no faulty devices were shipped to customers.
Popular Stories
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28.
The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
Last week, details about unreleased Apple devices and future iOS features were shared by Macworld. This week, we learned where the information came from, plus we have more findings from the leak.
As it turns out, an Apple prototype device running an early build of iOS 26 was sold, and the person who bought it shared the software. The OS has a version number of 23A5234w, and the first...
Software from an iPhone prototype running an early build of iOS 26 leaked last week, giving us a glimpse at future Apple devices and iOS features. We recapped device codenames in our prior article, and now we have a list of some of the most notable feature flags that were found in the software code.
In some cases, it's obvious what the feature flags are referring to, while some are more...
The first foldable iPhone will feature a series of design and hardware firsts for Apple, according to details shared by the Weibo leaker known as Digital Chat Station.
According to a new post, via machine translation, Apple is developing what the leaker describes as a "wide foldable" device, a term used to refer to a horizontally oriented, book-style foldable with a large internal display....
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. iOS 26.2 is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation iPhone SE.
The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
Apple is testing iOS 26.3, the next version of iOS 26 that will launch around January. Since iOS 26.3's testing is happening over the holidays, it is a smaller update with fewer features than we've seen in prior betas.
We've rounded up what's new so far, and we'll add to our list with subsequent betas if we come across any other features.
Transfer to Android
Apple is making it simpler...
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon.
Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week.
iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
Apple released the AirPods Max on December 15, 2020, meaning the over-ear headphones launched five years ago today. While the AirPods Max were updated with a USB-C port and new color options last year, followed by support for lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio this year, the headphones lack some of the features that have been introduced for newer generations of the regular AirPods and the ...
