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Apple Pulls watchOS 5 Beta 1 From Developer Portal After Reports of Bricked Devices

Wednesday June 6, 2018 1:36 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple appears to have temporarily pulled the first watchOS 5 beta from its website after some users reported cases of the software bricking Apple Watch devices.

Several users on the MacRumors forums and over on Reddit have expressed problems trying to get the software onto their devices, with freezes reportedly occurring during the installation phase, particularly on Apple Watch Series 2 models.

Apple has obviously deemed the issues to be sufficiently widespread for it to take action. As such, developers accessing Apple's beta software download portal are currently unable to get a download link and are instead met with the following message:

Seed 1 of watchOS 5 is temporarily unavailable. We are investigating an issue that occurs while updating. If you've experienced any issues, please contact AppleCare.
Both the watchOS 5 configuration file and the over-the-air update have been removed, and right now it's unclear when they will return.

As is often the case, initial software beta releases can be susceptible to bugs and issues which only reveal themselves during device propagation. We'll update this article when Apple fixes the problem and makes a revised version of the beta available once more.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 5, watchOS 6
Tag: watchOS 5
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)
[ 77 comments ]


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friednoodles
16 months ago
Anyone who isn't a developer with a separate device for testing is taking a huge risk by installing a watchOS beta. It's crazy to me that non-developers are installing these developer betas on their watches. The fact that there are never public betas of watchOS should be enough to dissuade people, but apparently not.
Rating: 15 Votes
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keysofanxiety
16 months ago

Apple software is still buggy!


It's a beta.
Rating: 13 Votes
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Candlelight
16 months ago

It's a beta.

I was teasing the guy above me. :)
Rating: 11 Votes
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HiRez
16 months ago
Thanks to all you [S]poor suckers[/S] pioneering trailblazers who test!
Rating: 8 Votes
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justperry
16 months ago
Cue the comments, see Apple's software is still buggy*.


* It's a Developer release, it might contain bugs like this one.
Rating: 6 Votes
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OldSchoolMacGuy
16 months ago
There's a reason that Apple highly highly recommends you install the betas on only test devices. Too many non-developers join in just to get the new versions early and suffer the consequences.
Rating: 6 Votes
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Naraxus
16 months ago
It's a beta. There's bound to be issues. That's why you always put beta software on something OTHER than your primary device.
Rating: 5 Votes
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stoney05
16 months ago
I was super nervous during the update. My watch stayed on the last “tick” for about 15 minutes, and when it finally completed I was stuck in boot loop.

Eventually I force reset it and it booted normally. Guess I got lucky.
Rating: 5 Votes
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Candlelight
16 months ago
Apple software is still buggy!
Rating: 4 Votes
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keysofanxiety
16 months ago

I was teasing the guy above me. :)


My bad, it's sometimes difficult for me to figure out who's being sarcastic over text :oops:
Rating: 4 Votes

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