Apple Watch Series 8 and Ultra launched a few days ago. It’s already in the news: not for how great an upgrade of form factor they are but for issues that expensive watches like them shouldnManyarge number of users have reported online that the microphone on some new Apple Watch Series 8 andra models are persistently unresponsive after an unspecified amount of time. This then causes the apps that rely on them to show up errors and stop working.
These users have taken to the Apple Support Community forums and MacRumors forums to relay the screenshot below showing the following error notification from the Noise app. It also prevents system functions, including Dictation, Handwashing detection, and Siri from working:
Measurement Suspended
The Noise app cannot check sound levels when Apple Watch is in Water Lock or while the microphone or speaker is in use.
If reports are to be believed, the issue can be temporarily fixed by rebooting the Apple Watch until the bug ultimately manifests itself again. This could suggest that the problem is software-related rather than a hardware defect.
Updating affected Ultra watches to the latest post-release version of watchOS 9 doesn’t fix the issue that Apple is unaware of. The company has been replacing new models under warranty until it patches the bug in a forthcoming software update. We’ll update this article if we learn more.
The Apple Watch Series 8 and the Watch Ultra were announced at Apple’s ‘Far Out’ event on September 7.
The Series 8 was made available a few days later, while the Ultra was out on September 23.
