Apple watch buyer BEWARE!!!

[Silver78]

Buyer beware, unlike most wearables, Apple Watch build quality is so good, the watch may last 7.5 years or more.

Thanks OP, useful warning.

I want my watch to die a natural death .. not end it life like this. Its a perfectly working watch before the update

 

[Silver78]

Also wait just a sec… tell us more about your 15 (?!) year old Fitbit that still works fine? My experience with Fitbit is they start breaking down after 6,12, maybe 18 months max… I went through many (3-4, I forget exactly) in just a few years before taking the Apple watch plunge…

My fitbit ONE from 2012 works just fine.

 

[Shirasaki]

I think you are to young to understand .. if the younger generation accept this kind of behavior from a billion dollar company.. you guys a scre..d.
mention any other product apple did this with?

If anything, Apple Watch series 0 (designed to be an iphone accessory) is the exception, not the norm. Besides, isn’t accessory not working with newer hardware and/or software expected one way or another?

 

[GMShadow]

iPhone 4s. iPhone 4, iPad mini, iPad 3 (I know your dad is using it but still). More recent releases don’t really get bricked much if at all after a few years. They just die out naturally.

The first gen MBA was $1800 and didn't even get Mountain Lion, which was four years after it was released.

Though in fairness the 4200RPM hard drive and X3100 graphics were pretty much killing it before that. The model released later in 2008 got through 10.11.

 

[msackey]

I use my watch 0 just fine .. i dont need any other functions than basic ones.. watch is fast enough for me.. now it just useless. .. i imagine people own a series 3 watch must be sad .. only 4 years old.
We are not talking no updates .. we are talking bricked watch here .. would you buy a 1000$ ultra for 4 years of life only?

Do you still have your old phone? You can keep your old phone and pair it with the Series 0.

 

[Silver78]

Imagine if apple tv 4 and older (first gen and older) just stopped working.
Iphone 6 plus and older just stopped working.
Apple pencil 1 gen stopped working.
Any ipad or mac from before or any other apple device from before september 2017 just stopped working!
Not because anything physically wrong with it or internal hardware limitations to perform the task the watch was sold with.
Simply because apple can do it.
Then after they flick the switch and kill you working device .. they send you a link to recycle it so they can make extra money on the hardware and look good in form of recycling .. and at last send you a link to buy a new watch at apple store!

I am pissed man

 

[Mcuserr]

re sale is useless just lowball someone for a S4/5

 

[Silver78]

Do you still have your old phone? You can keep your old phone and pair it with the Series 0.

Hey man its not the way it works. I got an iphone again because i used apple watch.

 

[zachz]

I have a mint condition G4 Cube that is roughly the same age as me.

How dare Apple stop supporting it fully? Why can’t I use handoff with it? Why can’t it connect to my wifi despite having an airport card? Why is Apple intentionally bricking my G4 cube that was a few thousand dollars when new? If I gave it to my friends or family, they would be absolutely disgusted that the free, voluntary gift that I was being generous about is not up to modern standards.

After all, I’m the same age as the G4 cube and I seem to work just fine, heck I can even use handoff! What gives?

Tech evolves and is bound to stop working. I got the new Apple TV and gave my sister my older one — which was 8 months old. She had to update her iPhone from iOS 15 to iOS 16 (iPhone 11, not new and not old) in order for all the features to work. What gives? Why is Apple intentionally bricking the devices?

If you’re that concerned, buy a manual watch that will last you longer than your lifetime and generations after. Track your fitness in a journal. Send messages through the mail (although be careful, post offices sometimes brick their couriers, especially around the holidays, so the service might not work as it did when new!)

Edit: that same sister as above got my series 1 Apple Watch when I got a series 4, and as far as I know, it works just fine. Although she understands it’s bound to be slower than when new because it’s how tech works, especially with the Apple Watch being new tech with lots of changes in a short time

 

[msackey]

Hey man its not the way it works. I got an iphone again because i used apple watch.

No idea what you mean it’s not the way it works. If you still have an older iPhone that isn’t using iOS 16.x, you can pair it with Series 0. Both older iPhone and newer iPhone can use same AppleID and it should work.

I get it. You’re pissed.

Also get this. We’re not Apple.

We can only offer suggestions, but only you can decide if you’re willing to let go of being pissed and move on with whatever lesson you want to learn from this experience.

 

[nate320]

Apple watch buyer BEWARE!!!

I own an apple watch series 0 a watch that came out same year as iphone 6 or 7 plus!!

Imagine if apple turned of basic functions and connection options for those phones!!!

That is what apple just did!!! Turned off basic functions for my otherwise working and mint condition series 0 apple watch.

It is not supported in ios 16.1 !!!.. i got a new phone and after automatic installing ios 16.1.1 basic functions on old apple watches is no longer working..

Basically everything that require connection to the phone is no longer working!!! Fitness sync. Notifications, weather complications and other complications etc. basically everything that also uses the watch app on phone.

So they more or less “bricked” my watch at the push of a button!!! Why!!!

Its the first time i have seen an apple product become completely useless after 7 years.. and they choose to do it on a watch!!!

The watch was working just fine before the update.. yes it did not have the new functions but it was just fine.

I called support and after a long chat they decided to compensate me!!! With a link to recycle the watch.. so they “brick” my watch and sent me a link to recycle the watch!!! After that they semt me a link to apple store watch page so i could buy a new one .. at Full price!!!

What is going on here? Can apple just do that!!!?

In my ears it sound crazy that they can just do that!!!

As from what i can read it affects watch up to series 3 !!!

So basic functions and connection to phone is no longer working!!!

Apple watch 3 is from 2018 so 4 years old!!! Is no useless!!

So Beware.. you watch will be useless after 4 years only.. we are not talking no updates or no 3rd party apps .. we are talking no connection .. useless!!!

Please help!

‘Tis still a watch made by Apple that tells time.

 

[Silver78]

Just to compared a little bit.
With a 4-5 year life of an apple watch makes the watch more expensive than a nice omega watch in the long run.. the omega would go up in value but the apple watch is useless after few years.
The omega can last generations.. apple watch will not.

I think the death of an apple watch should be physical not a flick of a switch.

I have been around in this forum long enough to see people blinded by a brand.. never expected macrumor users to sink as low an in the original apple forum.
If this is what the younger generation is happy with .. we are doomed man.

I have not yet heard any valid argument in here that support the death of a 4 year old product by “bricking”

 

[Silver78]

‘Tis still a watch made by Apple that tells time.

I would be happy to sell you any product man.. if you are that forgiving with me screwing you over i got lots for sale

 

[Silver78]

4-5 years that is what you get.. no hand down to family. No use as backup in the home as remote like with phones or other devices.
Bricked by apple because they can.
I think that is news and also worth taking into comsideration before buying an apple watch

 

[GMShadow]

Well, when your entire argument continues to be built on false premises like misstating the age of the Series 0, you can't expect people to be all that sympathetic.

An Omega costs thousands, and Omega as a brand is actually on the decline - if it isn't a Seamaster or Speedmaster the value may not increase.

 

[msackey]

Well, when your entire argument continues to be build on false premises like misstating the age of the Series 0, you can't expect people to be all that sympathetic.

An Omega costs thousands, and Omega as a brand is actually on the decline - if it isn't a Seamaster or Speedmaster the value may not increase.

You’re right!

Anyone buying a tech product from Apple Watch to iPhone and Mac will need to recognize that these products are not the kind you pass on from one generation to the other like a mechanical watch could.

Tech products, not just Apple’s, will eventually be useless because technology has moved on and the software has become outdated and so has the hardware. This will be the case even if the hardware is in “mint condition”, meaning physically fine.

 

[Silver78]

You’re right!

Anyone buying a tech product from Apple Watch to iPhone and Mac will need to recognize that these products are not the kind you pass on from one generation to the other like a mechanical watch could.

Tech products, not just Apple’s, will eventually be useless because technology has moved on and the software has become outdated and so has the hardware. This will be the case even if the hardware is in “mint condition”, meaning physically fine.

You can still use a 20 year old mac if you want.. or most other devices with a cpu.
People still use old tech products around the world .. they die a natural death .. not death by flick of a switch .. very few products does that.
Whould people accept if their other products from apple just stopped working after 5 years!! Apple tv. Pencil, airpods, iphone. Ipad. Mac etc. … i think not. Especially when bricked by purpose.. not because of hardware limitations.

 

[msackey]

Per your own logic, Series 0 didn’t just brick.

Like I said, pair it with an older iPhone and it’ll work.

Series 0 is one of the earlier Apple Watches that requires a phone in a way that later Watches do not. Nevertheless, no Apple Watch is totally independent. They all need either pairing with iPhone or be used as a Family device.

 

[msackey]

So what do you want to get out of being pissed?

What do you want as an outcome from this thread?

 

[Miltz]

So my Apple Watch series 2 runs like total poop and while it works I would never actually use it so I find it kind of ridiculous you wanna use a series 1 in 2022. While I respect that you want to use it to tell time none of the Apple features actually run well enough to actually use.

 

[GMShadow]

So my Apple Watch series 2 runs like total poop and while it works I would never actually use it so I find it kind of ridiculous you wanna use a series 1 in 2022. While I respect that you want to use it to tell time none of the Apple features actually run well enough to actually use.

It’s not even S1, it’s S0. S1 is the same guts as your S2 minus a few tricks. S0 was unbearably slow even back in 2017.

 

[macfacts]

Someone talk obsolescence.. ...
If you are okay with that you are simply too young or too much an apple fanboy for sure

I'm ok with it and I'm an apple hater.

 

[Silver78]

So my Apple Watch series 2 runs like total poop and while it works I would never actually use it so I find it kind of ridiculous you wanna use a series 1 in 2022. While I respect that you want to use it to tell time none of the Apple features actually run well enough to actually use.

I dunno what you use your watch for? If i push next track or use volume .. it worked just fine.. notifications worked just fine. sync with health app worked just fine. Basic complications worked just fine.
Now they dont at flick of a switch.

If anyone is okay with it.. please send me your devices older than september 2017.. i will accept all apple devices.. since you have no problem with them not in your life anymore.. apple pencils. Apple tv 4gens ipad pros. mac pros.. any device i will accept them.

 

[stiligFox]

For what it’s worth to the original poster, while it’s VERY slow to update changes and such, my Series 0 is working with 16.1.1 on my XS Max. Notifications are coming through immediately. If I do something in the Watch app on my phone, the watch updates accordingly (although it takes a decent amount of time for it to happen)

I did have to reset and re-pair the watch - have you tried that?

 

[Silver78]

You kind of are, asking apple to continue to support your Apple Watch on iOS side for more than 6 years.
Just another tidbit. Apple ends support of iTunes 12.6.5.3 on macOS, a version with ability to download app packages, in High Sierra. That’s 4 years ago. Mac only user as a result can no longer easily manage app Libraries locally Without third party software.
Apple has been very aggressive in cutting out support in the industry when they see fit.

We are not talking about support here.. i sit in vietnam right now and most people around me still use iphone 6 and older just fine.
Its bacic functions not working.
Name any other device from apple that stopped working after “bricking” in only 4 years.

Apple made a bold statement after apple watch 24k gold version.. they have not done with any other device.
It was unwritten said that your watch is good for many years to come.
Tech should die a natural
Death …not be bricked after 4 years