Apple Watch owners stuck in Power Reserve Mode can opt for free repair

Apple has announced that a small number of Apple Watch Series 5 and Apple Watch SE users have been affected by an issue that prevents their watch from charging once it enters the Power Reserve mode. The company recently rolled out watchOS 7.3.1 as a fix for the issue. However, users who are unable to update and are already facing the bug are being offered a free-of-charge repair.

“To check if your Apple Watch is affected by this issue, place your watch on the charger that you normally use, then wait at least 30 minutes,” Apple mentioned in a support page that popped up recently. You can check for the watchOS version of your Apple Watch by going to the Watch app on your iPhone, or the Settings app on your Apple Watch by tapping General > About.

The Apple Watch Series 5 was introduced in 2019 alongside the iPhone 11 while the Apple Watch SE is a fairly new product that made its first appearance last year with the iPhone 12 series. It is advised that you should contact Apple Support to get your repair done free of charge. As always, this will be available as a mail-in repair in eligible markets. The free repair would only be done after an examination process to check if your product is eligible. If you are not facing the above-mentioned issue, then you should probably update to the latest version of watchOS as soon as possible to prevent any issues in the future. The issue doesn’t seem to have affected other Apple Watch models like the Apple Watch 6, but it is best that you update to watchOS 7.3.1 to get all the latest bug fixes and security enhancements. And if you are stuck, contacting Apple Support should be your first option.

Apple iPhone 13 expected to feature Always-On Display, along with 120Hz refresh rate