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Apple Watch Owners Asked To Return Devices For Repair After Update Glitch (bbc.com)

Posted by msmash on from the annoying-bugs dept.

Apple has pulled an update for its smartwatches after some owners complained the software -- watchOS 5.1 -- had caused their devices to stop working. From a report: The problem appears to have baffled the firm's repair staff, and there appears to be no way at present for owners to restore the products themselves. Several have said they have been told they need to send in the devices for a fix. Apple said it intended to release a revised update soon. Those affected reported that their watches had become stuck in a state showing the Apple logo -- but nothing else -- on their screens. One owner of a newly released Series 4 model said he had been told it would take the firm's repair staff up to a week to decide whether his device needed to be repaired or replaced.

48 comments

  1. Poor managerial oversight at Apple? by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 1

    Apple is no longer a well-managed company?

    1. Re:Poor managerial oversight at Apple? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They have always sucked at software

    2. Re:Poor managerial oversight at Apple? by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      So please tell me the best managed technology company out there?
      In general all of them suck, because we can't get our idea of what technology should be like, and there is always those features that seems to had slipped pass QC.

      Now my beef with Apple is they have been leading the charge for decades to remove ports, plugs, and doors. Which allow us to fix our problems ourselves.

      Gone are the days where I hosed my OS, so let me boot from the CD/DVD/Floppy Disk and rebuild the OS. If you are lucky you have a USB port where you can boot off of that. But for mobile devices, you are tied to the vendor doing its over the network upgrade, and hope you don't mess up the OS.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    3. Re: Poor managerial oversight at Apple? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Huh? As an android power user, i have no idea what you're talking about.

      I can quite easily blow away my current install and reload the OS myself.

    4. Re: Poor managerial oversight at Apple? by Tensor · · Score: 1

      it really depends on which andorid phone you have. there are TONS with locked bootloaders and unrootable... i mean, it worked for Apple right ? ... fuckers.

    5. Re:Poor managerial oversight at Apple? by Moof123 · · Score: 2

      They have been a hard driving "success" at any cost type of shop for a while. The result is that they have a lot of staff who are sleep deprived and frayed at the edges. There is hug pressure to appear perfect from the outside, which also results in the drive to hit deadlines no matter what. In that environment people make mistakes, and some of those mistakes slip through the cracks.

      in general these overly complex OS's are damn hard to fully QA. M$ just had to have a do-over on a release that deleted folks files

      Linux desktop users just, oh wait, there are almost none of those.

    6. Re: Poor managerial oversight at Apple? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No Linux users but redhat just sold for 34 billion. Suck a dick troll.

    7. Re:Poor managerial oversight at Apple? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, the problem is mandatory over-the-air OS updates. Apple should be ass-raped by the government because of this expected "glitch." The ass-raping sans Lube shoudl be so hard that every device manufacturer stops this behavior.

    8. Re:Poor managerial oversight at Apple? by avandesande · · Score: 1

      According to this guy success at any cost isn't driving apple any more.
      https://web.archive.org/web/20...

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    9. Re: Poor managerial oversight at Apple? by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      How is it mandatory? The user chooses when to install. Don't want it? Don't install it.

      Did Apple Fuck up? You bet. But people that install massive updates on day 1 are asking for it. The bleeding edge can cut you.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    10. Re: Poor managerial oversight at Apple? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well when apple controls the hardware and the software and is never to blame; guess you gotta blame the user.

  2. how do you fuck up a watch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    shit we've perfected time telling technology since like 100 years in the paleolithic
    like cave dudes had a triangle that axed the sun what time it was
    i expect better from appel

    1. Re:how do you fuck up a watch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually this level of incompetence is exactly what I except from apple.

    2. Re:how do you fuck up a watch by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      The up-time of such a device wouldn't meet modern service level objectives. The Sun Dial seems to have under 50% up time. It doesn't work at night, and often has problems on overcast days.

      It is actually quite sad, how synchronized we are a society we are with Cell Phones and their clock all hooked up to a highly regulated atomic clocks. If I have meeting in 2 minutes I am like, I have plenty of time, to fill my coffee, check some emails, fix a line of code. Then dial in and still be early because I had 10 seconds to spare. Then everyone else is all connected in within 30 seconds after that.

      Back 20 years ago, most people were 10 minutes early to a meeting, and the meeting didn't start until 5 minutes after the scheduled time. Because peoples clocks could be considered up to 5 minutes off.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    3. Re:how do you fuck up a watch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The same way you f-up an AC posting; E-X-C-E-P-T that you don't E-X-P-E-C-T your defective watch to be replaced with someone else's repaired watch.

    4. Re:how do you fuck up a watch by petermgreen · · Score: 1

      shit we've perfected time telling technology since like 100 years in the paleolithic

      bullshit.

      like cave dudes had a triangle that axed the sun what time it was

      Which only works during the daytime and requires a scale whose location relative to compass directions is surveyed.

      how do you fuck up a watch

      An apple watch isn't just a watch, just like a smartphone isn't just a phone. It's a complex multifunction cellular-connected device, that means much more opertunity for bugs and a desire for the manufactuerer to add features over time. That means firmware updates.

      Sometimes firmware updates go wrong, vendors can reduce the probability and impact with internal testing and with staged rollouts but on a sufficiently large and varied userbase the occasional fuckup due to a combination of factors not covered in testing is pretty much inevitable.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    5. Re:how do you fuck up a watch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a desire for ... features over time.

      Man I wish you'd intended that pun.

    6. Re:how do you fuck up a watch by vtcodger · · Score: 1

      "Back 20 years ago, most people were 10 minutes early to a meeting, and the meeting didn't start until 5 minutes after the scheduled time. Because peoples clocks could be considered up to 5 minutes off"

      Nonsense. Cheap, reliable, accurate watches have been widely available since Timex started stamping them out back around 1960.

      --
      You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
    7. Re:how do you fuck up a watch by sheramil · · Score: 1

      How do you fuck up a watch? You might be surprised.

      I knew a guy in a digital design class who produced a beautiful digital clock, based on 7400-tier chips. It would count up to 12:59, and then the hour counter would reset to zero. Fortunately someone pointed out that this would give him a 26-hour day.

  3. YOU GOT WHAT YOU PAID FOR - BLING! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't have to work just has to look like Bling!

    Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a weiner. And you're holding Cook's cock, alrighty.

  4. I don't get it by 110010001000 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I don't understand. It is stuck showing the Apple logo and nothing else. Isn't that the purpose of the Apple watch?

    1. Re:I don't get it by SWPadnos · · Score: 1

      That's the purpose of all their products, isn't it?

      --
      - The Sigless Wonder
    2. Re:I don't get it by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I think we need some clarification of what the issue is here. I would close it in Bugzilla as WONTFIX "works as designed".

    3. Re:I don't get it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And the fineprint probably has a clause "functionality may change without notice" protecting their asses in case someone complains.

    4. Re:I don't get it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't understand. It is stuck showing the Apple logo and nothing else. Isn't that the purpose of the Apple watch?

      Yes.

  5. HUGE competition to see who can be worst? by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 1

    Are Apple and Microsoft competing to see who can be the most incompetent?

    Microsoft pauses Windows 10 update after files disappear.

    1. Re:HUGE competition to see who can be worst? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are Apple and Microsoft competing to see who can be the most incompetent

      No. They're competing to see who can get something on the phantom stalker first.

    2. Re:HUGE competition to see who can be worst? by Tuidjy · · Score: 2

      Are Apple and Microsoft competing to see who can be the most incompetent?

      What are you talking about?

      Microsoft definitely messed up. One of the purposes of their OS is to manage your files. It clearly failed at that.

      Apple barely did anything wrong. The main purpose of the Apple watch seems be ostentatiously displaying the Apple Logo. According to the article, that's what the affected devices do. Mission accomplished!

      --
      No good deed goes unpunished...
  6. Yay Agile! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you are an Apple Customer, congratulations, you are an unpaid alpha tested. The mantra in Apple's Indian software sweatshops is, "thou shalt release on the release date no matter what, so our project managers can appear to be successful. Bugs are the fault of the engineers, so any failures are blamed on them. PMs are rewarded for on-time release."

    Typical Agile bullshit.

  7. They don't have a redundancy department by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or should the Genius Bar be renamed, or raised?

  8. Interim Solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We are printing these 3D stickers of a headphone jack.

    Costs extra if you force your old headphones to fit in it.

  9. Hipster Douche Problems. by Zorro · · Score: 0

    "I Have and Apple Watch and NEVER talk to Android Owners"

    1. Re:Hipster Douche Problems. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      "I Have and Apple Watch and NEVER talk to Android Owners"

      Funny, I never speak to anyone who has a smart watch, because it's just one more vector for them to be obsessed with their fucking phone.

      Oh, gee, you got a Facebook notification and need to look at your watch.

      No thanks.

    2. Re:Hipster Douche Problems. by aergern · · Score: 1

      Maybe you need to talk to an English teacher to get a book on grammar and writing. You can then dis on folks in public without fear of looking like a moron.

      --
      Tell me what you believe...I'll tell you what you should see.
    3. Re:Hipster Douche Problems. by aergern · · Score: 1

      Funny. My use case for a smart watch would be 2FA notifications and authing SO I do not have to look at my "fucking phone". ;)

      --
      Tell me what you believe...I'll tell you what you should see.
    4. Re: Hipster Douche Problems. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shirley you mean 'diss'

  10. become stuck in a state showing the Apple logo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    so..

    similar to windows 10 after any major update.

    why doesn't microsoft offer to fix for free all the computers they fuck up on a semi-annual basis?

    1. Re:become stuck in a state showing the Apple logo by PPH · · Score: 1

      Because that would reduce them to a 10 person shop in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    2. Re:become stuck in a state showing the Apple logo by Tensor · · Score: 1

      they do fix them for free ... they release another update and tell you how to fix it. for free. no geniuses needed in between.

    3. Re:become stuck in a state showing the Apple logo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and you don't have to send your computer anywhere!!

  11. Seems OK here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The update went smoothly on my Series 4. Wondering what percentage of users was impacted.

  12. upscale geek squad by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    We rip you in the back and the front.

  13. Perhaps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The update contains helium

  14. ORLY? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    To me it seems now this product is working as it should: displaying the favorite brand of spoiled brats.

  15. I don't see the problem here by epine · · Score: 1

    Those affected reported that their watches had become stuck in a state showing the Apple logo -- but nothing else -- on their screens.

    That's a good half of what you paid for, already.

    Maybe 90% if you still use your phone to tell the time.

    1. Re:I don't see the problem here by should_be_linear · · Score: 1

      Wait, I can hide all this stupid shit and have only logo? How?

      --
      839*929
  16. Puzzling issue for so few devices by Camembert · · Score: 1

    I find it puzzling that such a big bug can happen - it is not a WearOS implementation that can in theory run on hundreds of very different configurations. There are only a handful of different Apple watch models. So how does this happen? I assume that Apple uses normal QA processes. Would it perhaps be an obscure interaction with a pre-installed 3rd party app?

  17. I demand TheFakeTimCook come defend his precious! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously, where is he? He should be telling us all how its left wing conspiracy to make Apple look bad... or something.