"White hot" is somewhere in the vicinity of 2500° F. That wouldn't just cause a burn on the wrist, it would incinerate it. And the watch itself showed no obvious signs of issues after being that hot?
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Apple Watch Ultra burned my skin.
- Thread starter robledorod
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Confession.
I have a red spot still after not wearing my AW4 for weeks now, definitely some people experience issues with it, i got hairy arms so i guess the hair + pressure point of the AW caused this.
I have the red spot since i started using the AW it is not painful except sometimes feels sensitive in the summer when its hot and i am sweaty. Not from a overheating AW though.
Thought it was more to do with my dinky wrists, the moving weight of the watch and the sensor pusing into my skin with some minor force, as the watch hooks into my skin to keep it in place i dont overtighten the band but its not too loose the watch can just circle around my wrist either.
I have a red spot still after not wearing my AW4 for weeks now, definitely some people experience issues with it, i got hairy arms so i guess the hair + pressure point of the AW caused this.
I have the red spot since i started using the AW it is not painful except sometimes feels sensitive in the summer when its hot and i am sweaty. Not from a overheating AW though.
Thought it was more to do with my dinky wrists, the moving weight of the watch and the sensor pusing into my skin with some minor force, as the watch hooks into my skin to keep it in place i dont overtighten the band but its not too loose the watch can just circle around my wrist either.
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I didn't hear back from Apple. Using the Apple Watch Ultra on my right wist since the incident. No issue.
But then again, I wore it several days on the lest wrist without any issue and suddenly it happened.
I agree with a previous post that a real burn doesn't heal in a couple of hours. But was it a real burn or did I remove it just in time? I don't want to put any blame on Apple, just exchange opinions what it could have caused it or what it is at all.
I have 5 more days in my return window for the AW. If I keep it and it happens again or more frequently, then I wasted a lot of money. If this was a single incident, then it's ok but still would like to know what exactly happened.
But then again, I wore it several days on the lest wrist without any issue and suddenly it happened.
I agree with a previous post that a real burn doesn't heal in a couple of hours. But was it a real burn or did I remove it just in time? I don't want to put any blame on Apple, just exchange opinions what it could have caused it or what it is at all.
I have 5 more days in my return window for the AW. If I keep it and it happens again or more frequently, then I wasted a lot of money. If this was a single incident, then it's ok but still would like to know what exactly happened.
People claiming their watch got “white hot” does not help trying to figure out what happened. Exaggeration just perpetuates the stories.
The watch may have had an internal battery / component malfunction, all devices, all man made products have a failure rate and so you may just be unlucky. But to suggest Apple is covering it up is nonsense.
To cover up the incident Apple would have taken the watch and given you another one. Leaving you with evidence would be stupid and not inform their internal teams of potential issues needing covered up.
But here's my experience, dodgy Nano coatings, odd WiFi cards, blown G5 processor. Every time Apple wanted the device sending back so engineers could look at it, with the WiFi card they even had one of their engineers in Cal call me so I could take them through the issue personally.
Go on then explain...
To cover up an issue you usually do things like hiding evidence, just swap it out under warranty and thats that. There is no acceptance of guilt / accountability doing a warranty replacement.
If you leave a broken watch with a customer then they can take it to lawyers, a news program or an engineer to get a report which would allow them to take it much further.
Contact dermatitis. It can be mild or severe. Can be caused by allergies to the materials the back of the watch case is made of (and the back of the Ultra is different than the S7/8), or can be due to irritants trapped between the dome of the watch sensors and the skin, exacerbated by the watch moving back and forth slightly during the day plus skin heat and sweat.
Sometimes the dermatitis can be mitigated by keeping the back of the watch extra clean, cleaning it off multiple times during the day, or changing how tight/loose the watch is (sometimes looser is better, sometimes tighter). Sometimes there’s nothing to be done and it’s a pressure effect from how the back of the watch is domed, versus most other “dumb” watches where the back of the case is flat.
The dome can also account for the tingling sensation some people feel as it unluckily presses on nerves in places you have that other people don’t.
While a thermal injury is not entirely impossible (batteries can malfunction), it would be rare that the watch would get so hot that it would burn the skin yet be cool to the touch when removed and continue to function normally yet with a battery in thermal runaway.
There is no ionizing radiation coming from an Apple Watch, and RF energy output is extremely low (not to mention that neither wifi nor cellular are actually activated until you’re out of Bluetooth range of your phone), so you cannot receive a “radiation” burn from an Apple Watch. If you could, you would be instantly charred to a crisp by the giant thermonuclear reactor in the sky which produces far more ionizing and non-ionizing EMF radiation, not to mention high-energy charged particulate emmsions, than any Apple Watch could.
Sometimes the dermatitis can be mitigated by keeping the back of the watch extra clean, cleaning it off multiple times during the day, or changing how tight/loose the watch is (sometimes looser is better, sometimes tighter). Sometimes there’s nothing to be done and it’s a pressure effect from how the back of the watch is domed, versus most other “dumb” watches where the back of the case is flat.
The dome can also account for the tingling sensation some people feel as it unluckily presses on nerves in places you have that other people don’t.
While a thermal injury is not entirely impossible (batteries can malfunction), it would be rare that the watch would get so hot that it would burn the skin yet be cool to the touch when removed and continue to function normally yet with a battery in thermal runaway.
There is no ionizing radiation coming from an Apple Watch, and RF energy output is extremely low (not to mention that neither wifi nor cellular are actually activated until you’re out of Bluetooth range of your phone), so you cannot receive a “radiation” burn from an Apple Watch. If you could, you would be instantly charred to a crisp by the giant thermonuclear reactor in the sky which produces far more ionizing and non-ionizing EMF radiation, not to mention high-energy charged particulate emmsions, than any Apple Watch could.
Go re-read the post. The explanation of how this effectively hides the issues is there. I'm not repeating myself because you don't understand it.
Apple accepting a return for investigation does not mean they automatically accept fault. That is just nonsense.
Once it was alleged that injury was caused by a burn, they refused to even accept the device for evaluation. If I had instead claimed my watch wasn't working, they would have accepted it no questions asked. The reason they refused to accept it, is because it would constitute an acknowledgement of my claims, which they flat out denied.
I have no idea why I'm explaining this to you again.
Looks very much like when I left my phone torch switched on in my pocket and it burned my leg. Matches up with what OP said about lining up with the sensors.
The fact people are claiming it could be soap is laughable. Never in my life have I burned my wrist from soap, sounds more like brainwash rather than handwash.
The fact people are claiming it could be soap is laughable. Never in my life have I burned my wrist from soap, sounds more like brainwash rather than handwash.
Apple is funny about not accepting any fault with their products. I had an XS Plus that had horrible connectivity issues - Wi-Fi, cellular and Bluetooth were all almost unusable. They wouldn’t offer any remedies to fix it so I returned it (within the 14 day limit). Then 6 months later I tried a new one, hoping it was a software issue that had been straightened out. The 2nd phone was the same. I could bring my old phone and swap the SIM - great service vs terrible service with the new phone. So I took the 2nd phone back to Apple. The tech at the store told me that she’d never heard of such a problem. I was like, “Really, you were the one I dealt with when I returned the first one”. So very short memory? Hmmmmm
I was the same, had a really red lumpy bump on my wrist
Wondering if the infrared lights for the oxygen saturation reading could’ve malfunctioned and stayed on too long and caused a thermal injury. Though a thermal injury would show the other features of other such injuries like redness, inflammation, and blistering prior to weeping. Also seems that a thermal injury causing what the OP showed would’ve been noticed prior to causing that much damage.
Perhaps this could be caused by the lights on the watch combined with some irritant on the skin or medication that increases skin’s light sensitivity.
Perhaps this could be caused by the lights on the watch combined with some irritant on the skin or medication that increases skin’s light sensitivity.
Lumpy bumps is likely due to irritant and contact dermatitis
For me it looked totally same with my watch 4. After I put it off for 2 days and switched off the measurement for fitness and heart all the time automatic (so this sensors do periodically measure again and again) I never had any problem again with it the watch and irritation.
So I would bet a lot have this problems because of this too and could test if this works and so they know the reason and can test by try and error to find best solution when they really need this feature. I go to gym and I am not very old , so luckily I don’t need any fitness measurements.
So I would bet a lot have this problems because of this too and could test if this works and so they know the reason and can test by try and error to find best solution when they really need this feature. I go to gym and I am not very old , so luckily I don’t need any fitness measurements.
Why is that laughable? This used to happen to me quite often. Started about a year after I'd gotten my first AW. I'd notice irritation under the AW, right where the sensor sits on my wrist. Sometimes, the skin would even be broken. I'd switch to the other wrist, until my regular wrist healed. Never had an issue with the other wrist.
It was a confusing problem and I thought it was due to prolonged exposure on my regular wrist.
Someone on MR mentioned soap, and I too thought that was a dumb idea. But then I started to think deeper. Every time I had this problem, I recalled that I had washed my hands maybe an hour or two prior. I also recalled that I wasn't particularly careful with splashing. Did a quick test by letting some suds splash onto my AW band and the results were SHOCKING! I got a rash within 30 minutes or so.
Now, when I wash my hands, I'm very careful to not splash soap too high up my wrists. If I do, I rinse my watch and my wrist. As long as I'm careful, I have zero issues.
Indeed, all kinds of people have all kinds of nasty reactions to all sorts of household products. It’s why “hypoallergenic” is such a thing. And it’s not at all hard to imagine somebody who’s fine with brief contact with a certain product but who has a bad reaction with the same product when the contact is prolonged.
Perfect example: splash a bit of bleach on your hands, wash it right off, and (with rare exception) you’re just fine. But put just one drop of bleach on a bit of clothing and wear it the whole day and you’ll get a rash — especially if the cloth is skin-tight.
There’s a really good chance that you’re only sensitive to certain ingredients in the soap, so changing to a different kind of soap might be a good idea regardless.
And the objection that these happen “suddenly” … you’re certainly suddenly aware of them, but that doesn’t mean that they’re happening suddenly. Everybody who’s only discovered a mosquito bite that “suddenly” started itching hours after coming indoors should be able to relate. Heck, just last week, I “suddenly” noticed a rash on the inside of my arm … that I eventually figured out was from my backpack strap. But it’s a sure bet that it didn’t actually happen “suddenly” the moment I noticed it. And, incidentally, the presentation of the rash was not unlike that of a burn — as anybody who’s ever experienced “rope burn” or “road rash” should be able to attest to.
A watch that actually gets hot enough for the heat to burn is one whose battery is experiencing thermal runaway. The watch will be unambiguously permanently damaged, in a very obvious manner. As in, swollen, split case, scorch marks, absolutely zero chance of it turning on or charging.
b&
No conspiracy, just an employee who can't remember every detail of the literally thousands of people they have served in the last 6 months. I see clients daily (far fewer than the number of customers an Apple retail employee would see per day) and I can tell you that without looking back at the client's records there's no way I would remember something I did for a specific client 6 months ago.
There were tons of complaints on MacRumors about this same issue. I’m sure Apple was aware of the problem. I’m careful to make sure any product I buy works the way it should before the 14 day window wears out as Apple rarely takes responsibility for any issues after the return window.
My iPhone 12 Pro had terrible battery life - wouldn’t make it through the day - common with those phones. I brought it to Apple to get the battery changed. Thank goodness I made the tech look at it all the way around and write down the near perfect condition. They scratched the phone all to heck. They wanted to give me the battery for free but I told them that wouldn’t take away the scratches. They ended up giving me a new phone.
Just chiming in to say that I picked up my AW Ultra last week and noticed it being sore the other day, and today my skin appears to be blistering. I'm going to switch my watch to the other arm tomorrow and see what happens. I basically took my AWS7 off and put the new one on in the exact same spot. Have owned several and have never had this happen. Not sure if this is because I tend to wear the Alpine Loop pretty tight or what.
Is an odd one . I have the same problem ! I’ve worn aw since the 0 ! Never had a problem ; now with the ultra I do .
I moved to other wrist and just couldn’t manage to operate it lol
Back to the left and again I’m getting same
I do keep it clean ( I never washed my 4 in two years )
It’s odd how the mark is just like a mozzie bite and tends to stop being irritated and disappears in a few hours !!??
I moved to other wrist and just couldn’t manage to operate it lol
Back to the left and again I’m getting same
I do keep it clean ( I never washed my 4 in two years )
It’s odd how the mark is just like a mozzie bite and tends to stop being irritated and disappears in a few hours !!??