Apple Investigating Display Flickering Issue Affecting Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Investigating Display Flickering Issue Affecting Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2

Apple is investigating an issue where the display brightness briefly flickers or "pulses" on some Apple Watch models when Always On mode is enabled, according to an internal service memo shared with Apple Authorized Service Providers today.

Apple Watch Ultra 2 hero feature white
The memo does not indicate which Apple Watch models are affected, but the issue appears to be most prevalent on the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 models released last month. There are complaints from customers about this issue across the MacRumors Forums, Reddit, and the Apple Support Community website. The issue appears to be present on all watchOS 10 versions, including the latest watchOS 10.0.2 release.

Apple says service providers should not repair affected watches, and instead advise customers to keep their Apple Watch software up to date, suggesting that Apple will eventually make a fix available in a watchOS update. It's unclear if Apple has addressed the issue in watchOS 10.1, which is expected to be released to the public next week.

As a temporary solution, Apple says customers can turn off Always On mode in the Settings app under Display & Brightness → Always On.

Apple Watch Pink Complications
Apple is also investigating an issue where complications like Activity rings on a watch face might "temporarily turn pink," according to the memo. This is another issue that has been reported by some customers online in recent weeks.

Related Forum: Apple Watch

Popular Stories

modular ultra training load

watchOS 27 to Offer New Watch Faces, Including 'Modular Ultra' Variant

Monday May 4, 2026 5:58 am PDT by
For watchOS 27, Apple is testing new Apple Watch faces, and one of them is a simpler version of an existing Apple Watch Ultra watch face that could be coming to standard Series models. Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that Apple is testing multiple new faces for watchOS 27, code-named "Orchid." One of them is said to be a "simplified take" on the...
Apple Announces 2026 Pride Band Watch Face and iPhone Wallpaper Feature

Apple Announces 2026 Pride Band, Watch Face, and iPhone Wallpaper

Monday May 4, 2026 6:05 am PDT by
Apple today introduced its 2026 Pride Collection, including a new Apple Watch band, watch face, and a matching wallpaper for the iPhone and iPad. Apple said its Pride Collection celebrates LGBTQ+ communities around the world during Pride Month in June and beyond. In addition, the company noted that it is proud to financially support organizations that serve LGBTQ+ communities. The new Pri...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium

watchOS 26.5 Fixes Two Apple Watch Bugs

Tuesday May 5, 2026 7:56 am PDT by
watchOS 26.5 fixes two Apple Watch bugs, according to Apple's release notes for the update, which is expected to be released next week. Apple fixed bugs in the Messages and Workout apps:• Fixes an issue where Messages on Apple Watch may use SMS instead of iMessage when paired with a dual SIM iPhone • Fixes an issue where Workout app audio alerts could fail to play if the phone was not...

Top Rated Comments

whoknows2597 Avatar
34 months ago
Here for the “quality control under Tim Apple” posts
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Royksöpp Avatar
34 months ago
Jesus H Christ. What is going on this year? Did they lose all their top software engineers? Overheating iPhones and Screen Retention are huge issues. Now, one of the headline features of the premium Apple watches should be turned off as a workaround? Simply unacceptable for a company of this caliber.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
34 months ago

Jesus H Christ. What is going on this year? Did they lose all their top software engineers? Overheating iPhones and Screen Retention are huge issues. Now, one of the headline features of the premium Apple watches should be turned off as a workaround? Simply unacceptable for a company of this caliber.
It’s possible. Apple is very strict about their employees only working in the office. That’s not attractive to talented software engineers who can work anywhere.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
34 months ago
We came to a point where we are excited about new iOS updates not for the features but for the bug fixes. It’s a joke.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
34 months ago
Let me guess…. It’s a software issue!

What a bunch of morons they have in the software department. I don’t understand why they don’t give a termination letter to the one in charge of software over there. They terminated Forstall over maps. Why can’t they terminate this one over the mess that the whole ecosystem turned out to be???
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
synv Avatar
34 months ago
10.1 Beta RC appears to have addressed the issue, for anyone curious.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)