Almost nothing is more frustrating than owning a device that refuses to work correctly. For example, when the Apple Watch needs a charge, it displays a red lightning bolt on its screen. So just how are you supposed to get this red lightning bolt to go away when the device refuses to charge?
If your Apple Watch is having trouble charging, try cleaning off the back of the watch and both sides of the charger. Dust can build up and interfere with their connection. You should also make sure you use an official Apple brand charger.
Even though you now have a basic idea of what you should do, this process can still be confusing. So let’s get into how to charge your Apple Watch in more detail so you can get your device working again.
What to Do if Your Apple Watch Won’t Charge
The first thing to do if your Apple Watch isn’t charging is to make sure you’re trying to charge it with official Apple hardware. Apple products can be finicky with third-party chargers, so make sure you’re using either the Apple Magnetic Charging Cable or the USB-C Fast Charging Cable that came with the watch.
Another good thing to do is to ensure you are plugging your charging cable all the way in. Sometimes, things like dust or pocket lint can get into the charging port of your Apple Watch and make it so that your charger can’t get all the way in there.
This can be fixed with a few short blasts from a compressed air can. First, ensure that your watch is powered off and hold the compressed air can upright, so it only blasts air, not the wet propellant.
A common trap that many new Apple Watch owners fall into is they don’t realize that there is a plastic wrap on their magnetic charger when it comes out of the box. So if your magnetic charger is not charging your Apple watch, make sure you have removed the plastic wrapping on both sides of the charger.
How to Charge Your Apple Watch
Another thing that might stop your Apple Watch from charging is if you’re simply not charging it correctly. So let’s quickly go through how to charge an Apple watch to ensure you’re doing it right.
To charge your Apple Watch, make sure your Apple brand Magnetic Charging Cable (on Amazon), Charging Case, or Charging Dock is plugged into a USB power adaptor, and plug this power adapter into a power outlet. Now all you have to do is place the charger on the back of the Apple Watch.
This should cause the watch to start charging. You can check whether it’s charging or not by looking at the screen. If you see a green lightning bolt, your watch is charging.
Red vs. Green Lightning Bolt: What’s the Difference?
When looking at the Apple Watch’s screen, sometimes you will see a lightning bolt in the top left. This lightning bolt comes in one of two colors, either red or green. But what does this lightning bolt mean, and is there a difference between the two?
This question actually has a straightforward answer. The lightning bolt on your Apple Watch’s display represents the current state of your device’s battery.
If your Apple Watch’s display shows a red lightning bolt, then your watch has a low battery and requires charging. If the red lightning bolt is the only thing that shows on your watch’s display, you will need to charge your watch for around 30 minutes for it to work correctly again.
Even though red means low battery, the green lightning bolt does not mean your watch has a full battery. If your Apple Watch’s display shows a green lightning bolt, then your watch is currently plugged in and charging.
Red representing bad and green representing good is simple enough, but what does it mean when your watch’s display shows no lightning bolt? No lightning bolt means that your battery is not currently charging, and it does not currently need to be charged.