Almost nothing is more frustrating than owning an electronic device that refuses to charge. So if you’re reading this, you’re likely one of the unfortunate people dealing with this problem on your Apple Watch. Thankfully, there are a couple of basic steps you can take to attempt to fix this problem.
If your Apple Watch won’t charge, make sure you are using an official Apple brand charger and remove any dust or plastic that may be interrupting the connection. Some other potential solutions are to restart the device and download a software update for the OS.
It can be tempting to give up instantly with this problem and take your device to a repair shop. However, you could also potentially save a lot of money by fixing it yourself. So let’s go through a couple of simple ways to help you get your Apple Watch to full battery again.
What to Do if Your Apple Watch Won’t Charge
If your Apple Watch won’t charge, there are a couple of steps you can take that may fix this problem. These are typically very easy steps to complete, but if, for whatever reason, they don’t work for you, you may want to consider taking your device to a professional. Before you do that though, let’s go through a couple of those easy solutions.
Make Sure You’re Charging it Right
This is the simplest method of them all.
Your Apple Watch may be having trouble charging because you aren’t charging it right. Let’s go through how to charge an Apple Watch properly to help you make sure there’s really a problem.
Your Apple Watch should have come with a magnetic charging cable. It should look like a small metallic circle and have a cord plugged into the back of it. Plug this cord into a power outlet and then place your Watch onto the charging circle so that the back of the Watch is lying on the charging circle.
One of the most common mistakes people make is they place their charging circle upside down. The charging cable should be magnetically attached to your Apple Watch. If you lift the Apple Watch and the charging cable does not come, you have placed the charging circle upside down.
Make Sure You are Using an Official Charger
This is another widespread mistake that new Apple Watch users make. Apple products are traditionally rather finicky when paired with third-party Chargers. If you want the best charging results, make sure you’re using an official Apple brand charger, if not the one that came with your Apple Watch.
Remove Any Plastic from the Charger
While we’re on the topic of common mistakes new Apple Watch users make, many new users fail to notice that their magnetic charger is wrapped in a thin layer of plastic. For the charger to work correctly, you must first remove any plastic wrap on both sides of the magnetic charger.
How to Tell if Your Apple Watch is Charging
Before you can determine that your Apple Watch cannot charge, you first need to know what it looks like when charging. The Apple Watch has a great feature to let you know whether or not the device is charging.https://sortatechy.com/charging-apple-watch/
You may notice a lightning bolt icon on your Apple Watch’s screen. This icon comes in two different colors: red and green. But what do these two different colors mean?
This lightning bolt icon represents your Apple Watch’s battery. If the lightning bolt icon is red, you need to charge your Apple Watch.
If you plug in your Apple Watch correctly and the green lightning bolt does not appear, you may have a real problem on your hands. In this case, we have a couple more ideas for how to fix your Apple Watch before you’re forced to take it to a professional.
Try Forced Restarting Your Apple Watch
A classic piece of advice when attempting to fix any technology is to turn it off and back on again. This will restart all processes on the device and hopefully get them working the way they were intended to. In this case, we want to restart the Apple Watch, hopefully, to get it to charge again.
The Apple Watch has a built-in restart feature that is very easy to activate. To do this, you must press and hold the digital crown on the display and the button on the side for around 10 seconds.
After that, the screen should go black for a second, and then once the Apple logo appears on the screen, feel free to release both buttons.
After this, your Apple Watch should have restarted. Now, plug in your Apple Watch and see if it charges again. Restarting your device should have restarted the Apple Watches charging firmware, hopefully causing it to charge again.
If it begins to charge, then congratulations. If it doesn’t, you should move on to the next section.
Try Updating Your Operating System
After restarting your device, the next best step is to try to get your device to update its operating system. If anything on your device has been corrupted and preventing your device from charging, an OS update will likely fix that corruption and get your device charging again. These steps will vary based on what OS your Watch is running on.
WatchOS 6 or Later
If your Apple Watch is running on WatchOS 6 or later, begin by opening the Settings app on your Apple Watch. Next, navigate to General Settings and then select Software Update. You will then see whether or not a software update is available.
If there is no software update, you may not be able to complete these steps and may want to move on to the next section. However, if a software update is available, tap Install and follow the instructions to update your Apple Watch.
WatchOS 5 or Earlier
If your Apple Watch is running on WatchOS 5 or earlier, you must open your iPhone and navigate to the Watch app. You’ll do the same steps from here as on WatchOS 6. First, navigate to General Settings and then select Software Update. At this point, you will see whether or not there is a software update available for download.
If you don’t see a download available, you may not be able to complete these steps and may want to move on to the next section. However, if a software update is available, tap Install and follow the instructions to update your Apple Watch.
Once the software update is complete, check to see if your Apple Watch will charge again. Once again, if it charges at this point, then your job is done. However, we have one final option for you if it doesn’t.
Try Cleaning Your Watch and Charger
If none of the other options have worked, this is our last resort before giving up and taking your device to a professional. Cleaning your device doesn’t sound like a very good idea, but it can potentially solve your charging problems.
If dust or any other substance forms on your charger or your Apple Watch, it can prevent the device from charging correctly. Even a thin layer of dust can stop the magnetic charger and the Apple Watch from forming their proper magnetic connection, stopping your Apple Watch from charging.
To solve this, grab a cloth that you can use to wipe the two devices and scrub off any dust or other substances from the back of the Watch and the magnetic charger. After this, connect the two and see if you can get the green lighting bolt to appear.
Unfortunately, at this point, if the device still does not charge, you may have to take it to a professional repair shop. However, if you have a warranty on your Apple Watch, you may even be eligible for free repairs from Apple itself.