What to Do When Your Apple Watch Freezes
The Apple Watch is a highly reliable device, but like any computer, it can occasionally experience software glitches. If your Apple Watch becomes completely unresponsive—meaning the screen won’t swipe, the Digital Crown doesn’t do anything, and the side button won’t wake the display—a standard restart won’t work. Instead, you need to perform a Force Restart.
A force restart cuts the power to the device and forces the watchOS operating system to reboot. It is a safe procedure and will not delete any of your personal data or settings.
How to Force Restart Your Apple Watch
The method to force restart an Apple Watch is exactly the same regardless of which model you own (from the Series 1 all the way to the Apple Watch Ultra).
- Locate the two physical buttons on the right side of the watch case: the Digital Crown (the round dial) and the Side Button (the flat, pill-shaped button below it).
- Press and hold both buttons simultaneously.
- Keep holding both buttons down for at least 10 to 15 seconds. Ignore any sliders (like the Power Off or Emergency SOS slider) that might appear on the screen during this time.
- Release both buttons immediately when the white Apple logo appears in the center of the screen.
Your Apple Watch will now reboot. Because it is recovering from a crash, this startup sequence might take a little longer than usual—sometimes up to a minute. Once it finishes booting, your watch face will appear, and you will be prompted to enter your passcode.
What If It Still Won’t Turn On?
If you held the buttons for 15 seconds and the screen remains completely black, the battery is likely completely drained.
- Place the Apple Watch on its magnetic charging puck.
- Wait at least 30 minutes to give it a sufficient charge. Sometimes a deeply depleted battery requires time before the screen even shows the charging icon.
- Once it has charged, try the Force Restart method again while it is still on the charger.
If the watch still refuses to turn on after a long charge and a force restart, there may be a hardware issue requiring assessment by Apple Support.
