Apple has pulled the latest watchOS 3.1.1 update after some users reported that it bricked their Apple Watch.
Unfortunate users that installed the update—which launched on Monday and promised various bug fixes—were left with watches displaying a red exclamation mark on the screen and a link to www.apple.com/help/watch. The issue appears to mostly affect the Apple Watch Series 2, although not every user has experienced problems with the update.
While it's not yet clear what has caused the issue, Apple's support page suggests trying to force restart the watch by pressing and holding the side button and the Digital Crown at the same time. Several Reddit threads on the update suggest that this rarely works, with many users forced to return the watch to an Apple Store or mail it to Apple directly for fixing or a replacement.
Users that have not yet performed the update but have already downloaded it are advised to hold off until Apple issues a fix. Apple said in a statement that, "A very small number of Apple Watch customers experienced an issue while installing watchOS 3.1.1, so as a precaution we've pulled back the software update. Any customers impacted should contact AppleCare, but no action is required if the update installed successfully. We are working on a fix for an upcoming software update."
Apple's Apple Watch update woes follow reports that sales of the wearable have slumped dramatically since last year. According to IDC, Apple sold 1.1 million units in the third quarter of 2016, down 71 percent from a year ago. However, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that "sales growth is off the charts."
"In fact, during the first week of holiday shopping, our sell-through of Apple Watch was greater than any week in the product's history," Cook continued. "And as we expected, we're on track for the best quarter ever for Apple Watch."
Listing image by Flickr/kennejima
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