Apple Watch Water Lock issue after swimming on WatchOS 26

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Level 1

55 points

Apple Watch Water Lock issue after swimming on WatchOS 26

Hi, I go swimming everyday and since the introduction of WatchOS 26 after my swim, I like to manually turn water lock on and off again about 5 times to make sure all water is out of speaker properly, but sometimes after my swim, when I turn it on manually the water lock symbol doesn’t flash on watch face and I can use watch normally and if I go into control center, water lock icon is lit up as if it’s activated but it’s not. Is anyone having the same issue ? Watch is on WatchOS 26.1 latest update

thanks in advance

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Apple Watch Waterlock

Apple Watch Ultra 2, watchOS 26

Posted on Nov 11, 2025 7:01 AM

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Answer 1

Ingo2711

Level 10

80,181 points

Nov 11, 2025 12:26 PM in response to alistairmck

Did you already try to force restart your Apple Watch?

To force restart your watch, press and hold the Digital Crown and the Side button together for about 10sec, until the Apple logo comes back again.

Do you start a swimming workout before you submerge the watch, which will enable the Water Lock feature automatically?

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Answer 2

alistairmck Author

Level 1

55 points

Nov 11, 2025 3:38 PM in response to alistairmck

Hi, no I shut down then restarted watch. I always wait till the 3sec timer before submerge it in water. It’s only started this since watchOS 26. I’ll bare with it till Apple fixes, don’t think it is a hardware issue so not to bother with Genius Bar etc although I do have apple care on it. I’ll wait till another update hopefully fixes the issue.

thanks for your help.

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Answer 3

Ingo2711

Level 10

80,181 points

Nov 11, 2025 9:35 PM in response to alistairmck

You're welcome 🙂

You should let Apple Techs know directly about this issue by using the Feedback link. This is the only way to make them aware of problems with your watch or watchOS.

Feedback - Apple Watch - Apple

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