14 DAY TRIAL // Apple launched watchOS 3.1.1 a few days ago with much fanfare, and just like it happens every time Cupertino rolls out an update, customers rushed to download and install the new bits on their devices.
But it turns out that the update rendered some Apple Watches completely useless, as there’s a problem with watchOS 3.1.1 that appears to be bricking a number of devices for no clear reason.
Posts on reddit coming from users who attempted to install watchOS 3.1.1 reveal that Apple has already pulled the update, which is pretty much the confirmation that there’s indeed a problem with this update, and the company is now providing some instructions for those experiencing the issues.
While in most of the cases the update installs fine - we can confirm that Apple Watch models here at Softpedia updated correctly - it appears that the second-generation Watch is the one most often impacted by the botched update. At this point, the new watchOS version is no longer available for download, although Apple is still listing this version on its official website.
For the moment, it’s not yet clear how many devices got bricked because of the botched update, but devices suffering from this issue display an exclamation mark, along with a link leading to a FAQ page on Apple’s website that provides some information on how to attempt a repair.
Possible workaround
In short, users are told to attempt to reboot the watch by pressing the Digital Crown and the side button, and holding them down for a few seconds to force restart the device - at this point, the connection between the Watch and the iPhone should be reinitialized and the update would attempt to install once again.
There are reports, however, that this workaround fails in many cases, so Apple is recommending users to bring the bricked Watches in stores for reflashing. It’s known that once an Apple Watch gets bricked, users have no method of flashing devices on their own, so the only option to repair them is to bring them in Apple stores.
First reported in beta
What’s even worse is that some Watch units actually got bricked during the beta program and Apple was aware of it, with a reddit user explaining that Beta 4 caused the same problems to his model.
“The 3.1.1 Beta 4 bricked my watch, but the official build released yesterday didn't (it had the same build number as Beta 5) so I assumed it was fixed, but I guess not,” he posted.
“I had to send it to Apple to get the OS reinstalled. It happened over two weeks ago. It came back last week with the latest build of 3.1 installed. Yesterday, I flashed the official 3.1.1 update and it went fine (even though it was the same build as the 3.1.1 Beta 5) so I was under the assumption that Apple fixed the bricking bug in Beta 5 that was present at least in Beta 4.”
For the moment, the update is no longer offered, so if the update has already been downloaded on your iPhone, you'd better not start the install until you know it’s 100 percent safe. Apple Watches running watchOS 3.1.1 already are safe.