Last Updated on September 20, 2017
A funny thing happened to my Apple Watch the other day, and the result is I’ll have to get used to looking at my watchless wrist for a few days.
I really like my Apple Watch. I’m sure, if you’re a Droid fan, you can tell me what some other brand of watch does just as well.
But you’d be wasting your time: I’m an Apple guy…so I’m not interested in a Droid wearable that’d have to connect to a Droid device I am also not interested in. (Believe it or not, I actually did try a Droid a few years back; I was less than impressed.)
In any case, my iPhone informed me there was an update available for my Apple Watch. So, like most people, when I had a bit of spare time, I thought I’d just upgrade and see what, if anything, was new.
Then a funny thing happened: the upgrade wouldn’t download.
At home, my iPhone indicated the download would take “a day,”  leading me to wonder what, exactly, the watch could possibly do with that big of an update to it. But it kept losing a connection with my home Wifi, something I tend to blame on my provider, not the phone.
At work, the phone decided the update was only about 615MB in size, a comparatively reasonable update, I’d think, but after deciding how big it would be, it never proceeded to download it.
I contacted AppleCare and got a considerate agent who spoke clearly and was easy to understand. (It’s ironic that one of the few places I can get someone who can speak clear English and is actually helpful is a place I almost never have to call.)
He walked me through several procedures that should have worked. They didn’t.
So I made an appointment with a Genius at my local Apple Store. Yes, I chuckle as I typed “made an appointment with a Genius.” It’s their title, not mine. The genius to whom I was assigned turned out to be a senior at a nearby college who’s studying computer engineering. He tried a few additional steps and said something had definitely gone awry with the watch, which now would only display the apple logo at the center of a wireframe circular design that reminded me of the old Spirograph toys we had as kids. (Remember them?)
So he said the watch would have to be returned for repairs, or, more likely, a replacement. I should receive it, he said, within five days.
In the meantime, I’m going to have to find my old watch, wherever I put it, and hope the battery works.
I’ve worn a wristwatch since I was about 12. I know the kids these days prefer not wearing one and relying on their phone instead.
For me, I’ll check my bare wrist 50 times a day the same way I’d flip on a light switch during a power outage.
Old habits do, indeed, die hard.