Apple Watch SE2 farewell
My Apple Watch SE 2 basically died after 3 years or more like 2, really. For the past few months I’d mainly been using it for running and trying to lose a bit of weight. A few days ago I went for a run and noticed mid-workout that it was only tracking time. No heart rate, no distance, and it doesn’t even respond when I raise my wrist.
Here’s what’s not working:
- Heart rate sensor – the app doesn’t work at all, no matter whether I wear it on my left or right wrist, or switch the Digital Crown to either side. The green lights still come on though.
- Compass – just keeps spinning and never finds its position.
- Raise to wake – completely dead.
- GPS – also not working.
I’ve already tried pretty much everything I could think of:
- force restarting it (holding the side button + Digital Crown)
- factory reset and pairing it again, both with my own phone and a different one
- draining the battery completely, leaving it for 48 hours, then charging it again
What’s weird is that all the sensors seem to have died at the same time. The watch was literally just charging overnight on my bedside table. No drops, no damage, no impact, nothing.
So I’ve got two questions:
- Is there anything else I can try, or is this thing basically just a fancy clock now?
- I’m not a serious runner, but I do want a watch mainly for running, and being able to play music directly to my AirPods would be a nice bonus. The cheapest option would be the SE 3, but I’m a bit worried it’ll die the same way (I’ve seen quite a few Reddit posts with similar issues). I’m also looking at the Series 10 and 11. The price difference isn’t massive, and the main upgrade seems to be battery life is the 11 actually worth paying extra for?