r/watchOSBeta

hey everyone, need some advice/experience here.
after updating to watchos 27 beta 2 developer i caught a weird bug. the digital crown has become very stiff/hard to press, but the scrolling works perfectly fine.
i tried the official apple video on cleaning the apple watch (washing it under water) — didn't help at all.

questions:

• was there ever a haptic feedback on a simple click of the crown, or is it pure mechanics?
• could this be a software bug in the beta (like taptic engine somehow blocking the click) or what?
• has anyone experienced this on recent betas?

current problem: the stiff click is super annoying, but i don't want to take it to repair if it's just a software thing.

would appreciate any thoughts/solutions.
p.s. apple watch 11, watchos 27 dev beta 2

Long story short, I was trying to update my new Series 11 to WatchOS 27 b2 and was constantly hit with an error message about checking for updates. I talked with Apple Support and they had me go through the usual steps up to and including unpairing and resetting the watch. To my amazement, all it did was make it to where almost all the default apps are greyed out and are “unable to install”. The only apps installed are Settings, Phone, Photos, and the App Store.
Has anyone experienced anything like this before, and if so, what steps did you take to resolve it. I’ve tried multiple resets and setting it up from multiple different backups.

The watchOS dev beta 2 has finally arrived for Apple Watch Ultra 3.

After installing watchOS 27 dev beta on my Series 11 watch I noticed that it was no longer maintaining a bluetooth connection with my phone (17 pro running iOS 27 dev beta 2).

Tried to resolve that for a bit and then decided to unpair and reset the watch. Now, I’m completely stuck: After scanning the watch during set-up it initially connects, but no matter which path I take afterward it fails.

It says there’s an update available for the watch.. I try to install, it fails (lost communication). I’ve also tried skipping the update and restoring from a backup. Fails. I try setting up as a new watch. Fails.

I’ve removed all other watches from my iphone and made sure there are no existing watch profiles associated with my Apple Account / Find My. I tried activating with wifi on and off (cellular only). Never makes it past the initial pairing step. I’ve reset network settings on my iphone. I’ve connected to a Wi-Fi 4 network with wpa2-only. No dice. I’ve removed all vpn profiles. All the same result: Failing right after initial pairing.

The only detail I’ve been able to uncover is seeing the “temporary“ watch name after it fails and then falls back to ‘unpairing’ it. (see screenshot)

I never had a dev beta with this level of bug before. I can’t use my watch.

I’d appreciate if anyone has any last-resort suggestions of how to resolve this.