14 DAY TRIAL // Apple rolled out the first beta version of watchOS 5 earlier this week after the keynote at the WWDC developer conference, but the company has decided to pull it temporarily after discovering that it could brick some devices.
Very little has been said about the reasons for blocking the update to this new watchOS version, but Apple has tried to make sure that no other devices install it, not only by removing the over-the-air update, but also by pulling the developer configuration file from its website.
The company has also released a very short info note on its website, recommending users whose devices were broken to get in touch with support services.
“Seed 1 of watchOS 5 is temporarily unavailable. We are investigating an issue that occurs while updating. If you’ve experienced any issues, please contact AppleCare,” Apple says.
Contact Apple if your Apple Watch was bricked
At this point, it’s believed that the failed installation of the first watchOS 5 beta bricked some Apple Watch units, though it’s pretty hard to determine how many devices were actually impacted. Also, it’s not known how users could fix the issues since returning to the previous version of watchOS isn’t possible when installing a beta build.
Apple recommends customers to contact AppleCare in the case of a bricked Apple Watch, and this is living proof that it could be a major issue that users could not fix on their own.
Until now, we’ve seen only isolated reports claiming that the Apple Watch does not start after updating to watchOS 5 beta 1, but again, no confirmation from Apple has been offered until now.
All the other betas that Apple released earlier this week for its other devices, including for iPhone, are not affected by the issue and can be safely installed by anyone. Needless to say, bugs are still possible since they’re still in beta stage, but bricking devices shouldn’t occur.