Built-in Apps Disappearing After watchOS 26 Update on Apple Watch Series 7

[Yigit Ipeker]

After updating my Apple Watch Series 7 to watchOS 26, the built-in Apple apps started disappearing on their own and won’t reinstall. Apps like Weather, Books, Notes, Music, etc. keep vanishing, and they occasionally try to reload but fail. This is the first time I’ve experienced such an issue. What could be the reason?

 

[jigzaw]

Hm yeah, I have a Series 7 and I haven't updated yet. So far I'm content with iOS 26 on my iPhone 16 Pro, but I'm nervous about updating the watch because it's 4 years old now.

Anyone else have experiences with watchOS 26 on the Series 7?

 

[goldmac2006]

Y’all running RC or public release? If it’s the RC leave feedback. It may be a bug with Liquid Glass

 

[forzagaribaldi]

Using 26 on a S7 here with zero issues spotted and all apps present as far as I can see.

 

[AlecEdworthy]

I have a brand new series 11 paired to my iPhone 15 Pro and I think I'm seeing the same issue. Some of the stock apps are missing (eg Calculator, and yes, the app is on my phone and works), and I am getting repeated (perhaps 10 so far today) prompts to approve the Weather widget to use location data. When I go to the App Store on the iPhone and search for Calculator the Open button is greyed out and it says Needs iPhone. Earlier today the shortcuts app was missing from the watch but when I looked later it had appeared.

Anyone got any ideas please? Should I reset the watch and do it all again? Bit of a PITA if so as I'm away from home currently.

 

[AlecEdworthy]

Ten minutes later I look again (was trying to restart the phone) and calculator has magically appeared. Any ideas?

 

[Yigit Ipeker]

I have a brand new series 11 paired to my iPhone 15 Pro and I think I'm seeing the same issue. Some of the stock apps are missing (eg Calculator, and yes, the app is on my phone and works), and I am getting repeated (perhaps 10 so far today) prompts to approve the Weather widget to use location data. When I go to the App Store on the iPhone and search for Calculator the Open button is greyed out and it says Needs iPhone. Earlier today the shortcuts app was missing from the watch but when I looked later it had appeared.

Anyone got any ideas please? Should I reset the watch and do it all again? Bit of a PITA if so as I'm away from home currently.

This is exactly the same situation I’m experiencing. I still don’t use the watch, because whenever I turn it on, the Weather app on my iPhone shows the same issue, and other apps also fail to load. Without the watch, the Weather app on my phone works perfectly fine with no problems.

 

[Devnul0]

Every morning when I wake up and take the Watch (U1) off the charger, the Messages and Reminders apps are gone, as is the Reminders complication from my Infograph face. They will reinstall on their own, but only if I open the App Store app on the phone. This also means that every day the first time I start Messages on the iPhone (16pro) I get the prompt asking if I want to allow Focus notification status to be shared, despite having that completely turned off in Settings. I can reproduce this behavior by rebooting the Watch, too.

 

[AlecEdworthy]

Are we thinking this is a watchOS 26 bug?

 

[goldmac2006]

Are we thinking this is a watchOS 26 bug?

Certainly it is.

It happened in betas before too.

 

[AlecEdworthy]

Anything we can constructively do to feed this back to Apple?

 

[goldmac2006]

Anything we can constructively do to feed this back to Apple?

Y’all on RCs or updated to public release from beta can use feedback assistant

 

[AlecEdworthy]

I'm thinking of resetting the watch and setting it up as a new watch. Anyone tried that yet?

 

[goldmac2006]

I'm thinking of resetting the watch and setting it up as a new watch. Anyone tried that yet?

You can also delete the update file that got corrupted and reinstall it

Someone on my beta thread tried it

 

[AlecEdworthy]

You can also delete the update file that got corrupted and reinstall it

Someone on my beta thread tried it

Update file? Have you got a link please? I haven't upgraded as I'm using a Series 11.

 

[goldmac2006]

Update file? Have you got a link please? I haven't upgraded as I'm using a Series 11.

Ohhh mb. That’s only if you have to download a beta or software update and it can’t install, then you can delete it off your iPhone.

IPSW ain’t a thing here.

Here’s the link on how that Apple Watch Ultra dude did it on my beta thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...d.2458443/page-26?post=34155782#post-34155782

 

[AlecEdworthy]

Ohhh mb. That’s only if you have to download a beta or software update and it can’t install, then you can delete it off your iPhone.

IPSW ain’t a thing here.

Here’s the link on how that Apple Watch Ultra dude did it on my beta thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...d.2458443/page-26?post=34155782#post-34155782

Yeah, reading that thread it seems like a totally different issue that the poster was solving - poor update download speeds rather than missing disappearing apps as we're discussing here. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[goldmac2006]

Yeah, reading that thread it seems like a totally different issue that the poster was solving - poor update download speeds rather than missing disappearing apps as we're discussing here. Thanks for the suggestion though.

no problem just wanted to check in ~

 

[AlecEdworthy]

I'm thinking of resetting the watch and setting it up as a new watch. Anyone tried that yet?

OK, so finally got fed up of the magically disappearing and reappearing apps and decided to Erase all Contents and Settings this morning and then set up as a new device (I'd intended to do this when switching from my Series 3 but misunderstood one of the prompts). So far so good. Took it around 90 minutes to complete the installs of all the apps but so far everything has installed and stayed installed. Fingers crossed this is the solution 🤞