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How to Fix Apple Watch Black Screen or Won’t Turn On

Last Updated on August 7, 2016 by John

If you rely on your Apple Watch on a daily basis for productive tasks and business related, having it always turning off or partially working is not acceptable in any cases.

My friend brought home an Apple Watch yesterday, the device stopped working. It won’t turn on at all even though we were charging it for several hours. It turned out that there was something wrong with the charging cable.

light-bulb-power-on

However, before we came to the conclusion, I did some basic research about this particular issue with Apple Watch not turning on, and it turned out that besides the charging cable, other factors could cause it to die as well.

In this post, I’ll list some of the problem as well as solution related to this issue.

Check the Battery & Charging Cable

This is what I did the first thing we noticed that my friend’s watch is dead. What you can do is check whether it’s the battery that is dying or something else inside is not working properly.

You can do so easily by plugging your Apple Watch in a charging stand and wait for it to charge. If hours have passed by, and nothing is showing up, then observe the charging cable.

Image Credit: A Blog To Watch

Image Credit: A Blog To Watch

First thing first, is your charging cable in good condition. Make sure the back and head of it are dry and clean. See whether each end of the USB connector is fully pushed in. A lot of people manufactured their charging stand where the charging head has to align accordingly with the back of the watch.

Charging on a Computer

If you want to charge your Apple Watch via a computer, be sure to use a USB 2.0 or 3.0 port or else it won’t work. Also, the desktop or laptop has to be on and awake while the charging process is in session.

Note: Don’t connect the USB to an external computer part such as a keyboard. Some keyboards have an additional port but don’t use that. The cable has to be plugged in directly to the computer. Otherwise, it will not give power to the watch.

Black Screen

Sometimes this happens to my watch as well, where the device just shows a black screen and nothing else. I remember clearly that it still got some battery life, enough to not marked as low power status.

apple-watch-on-wrist

Try pressing and holding both Digital Crown and side button for about 10 seconds until the Apple logo shows up. This is force restart, and it help fixing the black screen error on Apple Watch.

Power Reserve

This one is a bit different since users can see that their Apple Watch screen is on but are not able to entirely use any features on it. All you can see is a red bolt icon next to the time.

Whenever this happen, it means your watch is now in Power Reserve. What’s that? This feature allows you to continue seeing the time on your watch while saving battery. Therefore, forcing all other functionality to shut down.

To turn off Power Reserve, all you have to do is press and hold the side button till the Apple logo display on the screen.

Over to you

Hopefully, all the solutions we provided above will get your device running again. If not, continue reading this post and contact Apple for further support.

 

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Filed Under: Tutorials

Comments

  1. Blanca says

    April 29, 2016 at 5:11 pm

    Thank you. I was starting to freak out, I have only had my watch for 35 days and it went black on me and didn’t want to work. I tried the To turn off Power Reserve, all you have to do is press and hold the side button till the Apple logo display on the screen.” and it WORKED!!!!! Thank you!!!!

    Reply
    • John says

      April 29, 2016 at 11:16 pm

      Hey Blanca,

      Thank you for stopping by. I’m glad that you for the issue resolved.

      Reply
  2. Angie Lininger says

    May 14, 2016 at 11:22 am

    This still did NOT fix my problem. It still won’t go from the black screen. Tried everything so I’m not real happy seeing how I’ve had it for less then a month….

    Reply
  3. Erika says

    May 15, 2016 at 8:37 am

    Same thing just happened to me. Was working fine a minute ago and it was fully charged. Now I have a black screen and the reboot option did not work for me. Very disappointed.

    Reply
  4. John says

    May 16, 2016 at 1:33 pm

    My is not turning on too.It shows the battery sign and a sinosoidal wave.Iv only had it for 2months

    Reply
  5. Shawn says

    May 25, 2016 at 2:06 am

    Mine is not working either. I put it on the charger and the apple logo goes on and off as if it turning on and off itself. It doesnt even go to the clock face. None of the solutions work for me.

    Reply
    • John says

      May 25, 2016 at 3:15 am

      Hello Shawn,

      Sorry to hear that. Can you describe to me what went wrong with your device. Did you do anything technical with the Watch before this happen?

      Reply
    • Aubry says

      June 13, 2016 at 3:27 am

      What did you have to do to solve it I’m having the same problem

      Reply
    • Nicole says

      August 21, 2016 at 1:19 am

      Me too! Had it a month.

      Reply
  6. Bob Keenan says

    May 31, 2016 at 10:11 pm

    Just had the same thing happen to me. The hard reset work. But then I was thinking…. WHY? There are lots of posts on how to fix it but not many on why this happens or that Apple recognizes it as a problem and is working on a solution

    Reply
    • Chevy says

      July 15, 2016 at 12:55 am

      I agree, I had to bring my watch back to the Apple Store because nothing I tried fixed the issue, they “sent” the watch out for repair and then a week later same thing again, but no clear explanation on why this is happening. So once again I have go to the store again. VERY frustrating

      Reply
  7. Enwongo says

    June 17, 2016 at 7:35 pm

    I want to thank you for your post. The tip on holding both Digital Crown and side button for about 10 seconds until the Apple logo shows up – worked for me.

    Thank you again

    Reply
    • John says

      June 17, 2016 at 10:39 pm

      No problem at all. Thanks for letting us know.

      Reply
  8. Veronica says

    June 20, 2016 at 4:13 pm

    Yeey !!! Thank you so much for these tips !! I had that problem with the black screen and for a moment I clearly thought it will be dead for forever.

    Reply
  9. Michelle says

    June 20, 2016 at 5:42 pm

    Thank You!
    My watch was only 5 days old and was having the black screen issue. Your post helped better than Apple Support!

    Reply
    • John says

      June 20, 2016 at 7:13 pm

      Awesome!

      Reply
  10. Ann says

    June 22, 2016 at 11:51 am

    My Apple Watch died after 2 months. I put on charger with no results. On 2nd day, I again put on charger and screen appeared with what looks like diagram of charging cord displayed with green lightning bolt. I had never seen this displayed before. It is now working, but I will keep my appointment with Genius Bar just in case

    Reply
    • Parianne Tilley says

      July 8, 2016 at 2:44 am

      So did yours just start working again?! Mine is currently doing this same thing?! I am flipping out haven’t had this thing about a couple months!!

      Reply
  11. Jamie says

    June 22, 2016 at 1:13 pm

    Has anyone had any luck with the total black screen and the resets not working. I really need my watch for work!

    Reply
  12. Nutty says

    June 29, 2016 at 12:14 pm

    Thnx a ton.My screen went blank.FORCE RESTART helped.

    Reply
  13. Joy says

    June 29, 2016 at 5:36 pm

    My watch went black and wouldn’t charge. I tried all of Apple’s instructions to no avail. My friend had the same happen to hers. She told me to impair my watch and start over. It’s working fine now.

    Reply
  14. Deborah Ingram says

    June 29, 2016 at 10:30 pm

    Thanks this helped!!! Went blank and the force reset did the trick. Thank you – this is the first time this has happened and I have had this since 12/2015.

    Reply
  15. Kate Bates says

    July 2, 2016 at 11:36 am

    Thank you for this fix! When my Apple Watch went black, I went to the Apple site for guidance. They said hold the side button until the Apple appeared. No luck. Found your site and you recommended holding both buttons. Voila! It worked.

    Reply
  16. Foxliam says

    July 3, 2016 at 7:44 am

    THANK YOU! Holding both the digital crown and side button at the same time for about 10 seconds until the Apple logo shows up worked for me. It has over 49% battery left so I don’t know why it went black but I’m glad it’s back. THANKS!

    Reply
    • John says

      July 3, 2016 at 7:55 am

      Hey, glad to help.

      Reply
  17. Paul Rodriguez says

    July 3, 2016 at 3:18 pm

    It seems this is a common problem. I’ve had my watch for about a month and now it’s the SECOND time this happens and NOW I CANNOT get it to turn back on!!! this is annoying. For what I invested in this watch?? For a little more I, could’ve gotten a Movado or Bulova. Watches Ive had over 20 years with no problem.

    Reply
  18. John says

    July 6, 2016 at 5:09 pm

    OMG. Thank you so much. I had my watch for around a month now and it went black in the middle of the day. Thought that i broke it and was flipping out. Thanks so much.

    Reply
  19. Derek says

    July 7, 2016 at 10:31 pm

    Very scary when it happens… just don’t panic. And make sure you press both buttons and firmly hold them both down for a minimum of ten seconds.

    Reply
    • John says

      July 8, 2016 at 12:50 am

      Thank you for sharing.

      Reply
  20. Elena Lane says

    July 9, 2016 at 8:29 pm

    My watch seas working fine this morining then all of a sudden stopped. I thought maybe didn’t charge all the way so put it on charger still nothing bought new charger tried the hard reboot nothing. Don’t know what to do

    Reply
  21. Liz E says

    July 11, 2016 at 1:23 pm

    Thank you!! I have had my watch for almost a year and was in a panic when the screen went black! Holding both buttons down worked great! Hopefully it won’t happen again

    Reply
  22. Jan says

    July 11, 2016 at 4:52 pm

    Thank you SO much, John! OMG I spent an hour on the Apple site and got nowhere. I tried all the steps the suggested, but my watch was still black. The site said i needed to send it to them but first I needed to type in the serial number. I tried 5 times to put the number in, which was correct all long, but each time I was informed that it was incorrect! Total frustration!!! I went searching for help & miraculously, you were there! The site was not clear that both buttons needed to be depressed simultaneously! You made it clear & it worked! You saved me from being w/o my watch for weeks!!! Thanks!

    Reply
    • John says

      July 14, 2016 at 1:28 am

      Awesome. Thanks for the kind comment.

      Reply
  23. Missey Collins says

    July 13, 2016 at 1:45 pm

    I’ve tried all of the above steps with no luck. Is there something else I can do to get my apple watch back up and running. I tried holding both buttons for 10 plus seconds with no luck. Any other suggestions?
    Thanks

    Reply
  24. Caroline says

    July 14, 2016 at 4:14 am

    Yay it worked!!!!

    Reply
  25. Adam says

    July 18, 2016 at 2:58 pm

    Thanks for the help! It worked for me. Sorry if it didn’t help you, good luck and hope you find a fix!

    Reply
  26. George says

    July 20, 2016 at 12:44 pm

    Thank you. The two button rule worked. Thought I wasted $800 with taxes and extended care. 4 watches in two months later, I found your post.

    Reply
  27. Sorin says

    July 29, 2016 at 5:27 pm

    Hi, my Iwatch get black display. I restart with two buttons ,apear the logo apple but the display still black. The voice over talking,but without display. How i can fix to see all icons again,to have back in normal operation?

    Reply
  28. J says

    August 1, 2016 at 2:12 am

    I just bought mine, sealed and still in the box brand new ( but bought second hand) I cannot turn it on, but it appears to be charging. Is this normal and how long should it take to be able to power on?

    Reply
    • John says

      August 1, 2016 at 5:37 am

      It should take a few hours.

      Reply
  29. Carrie says

    August 2, 2016 at 3:42 am

    Problem is the Black Screen. Hard reset won’t work for me. Any other suggestions? If I missed them on this forum I’m sorry.
    thank you

    Reply
  30. Jim Gossett says

    August 20, 2016 at 11:42 am

    Reset worked to fix my black screen. Thanks!

    Reply
  31. skram says

    August 21, 2016 at 5:43 am

    I misplaced mine, and found it in the car about 4-5 days later in 90+ weather. I plugged it in to charge, and it’s been doing so for the past 3 days. Still hasn’t turned on. All I get is the image of a charger and green lightning symbol when I plug it in, if I press the crown and or the other button I get the same thing, but the Lightning symbol is red..nothing seems to work and I’m beginning to think that my watch is fried.

    Reply

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