If your Apple Watch is experiencing an ongoing “false touch” or “ghost touch” issue, you’re not alone.
The issue is ongoing, wherein the device registers a touch even if the display hasn’t been tapped by the user.
Apple first referenced this problem in a memo sent to Authorized Service Providers in February. At the time, Apple said it was aware of reports that “false touches” were affecting Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 users. In that memo, Apple told service providers to not replace any affected units and instead advised customers to wait for a software update as it investigated the issue.
A new memo sent out to Apple Authorized Service Providers this week and shared by Stella Fudge noted that Apple has also confirmed that the problem affects the Apple Watch Series 7, Apple Watch Series 8, and the first-generation Apple Watch Ultra. Apple has continued to advise service providers not to replace the affected Apple Watch units. Instead, the company noted that affected Apple Watch users should restart their device by holding the side button and Digital Crown for 10 seconds, while also staying up-to-date on watchOS software updates.
The “ghost touch” issue has been going on for several months now, and has been described as such by users:
“Had my Ultra 2 for just over 2 months. Yesterday evening my watch became possessed. Ghost touching to the extreme and the screen was glitching as if it had a power issue. After the thing locked me out by randomly tapping numbers itself, I put it in the charger.
A few days ago my Ultra 2 was ‘possessed,’ I woke up and it was ‘wrong passcode try again in 3 hours.’ It was having ghost touches and failed to respond to my touch, and I couldn’t shut it down either so I had to force restart, but the problem persisted.”
It’s unknown as to when Apple will release a software update to address this issue.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via 9to5Mac and Reddit