Does your Apple Watch suffer from ghost touch? Here's a fix while you wait for a more permanent one

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Has your Apple Watch been plagued with ghost touch issues? Some of the best Apple Watch models like the Series 9 and Ultra 2 have been suffering from random inputs like taps and swipes since their release in September, even when their owners aren’t interacting with their smartwatches. Now there’s a temporary fix until Apple sorts this issue out for good.

Ghost touch which also plagues some Series 7, Series 8, and the original Apple Watch Ultra according to Apple leaker Fudge, can be temporarily fixed with just a few clicks of a button. It’s not an ideal solution but Apple is apparently “aware of this issue and is investigating.”

Fudge adds, “We've been told not to replace the watch for this issue but instead to tell you to wait for a software update to address it soon.”

This has JUST been extended to series 7, series 8, as well as ultra 1 just FYIApple has advised us not to replace watches for this issue and to tell people to basically force restart the watch by holding both buttons together for 10 seconds and also keep your watches up-to-date https://t.co/klrVeYhkD0April 10, 2024

What’s the temporary fix for ghost touch on Apple Watch?

There’s a temporary fix if you’re having multitouch issues on your Apple Watch that cause the screen to jump between pages or not read your touch input when you try to interact with the display. Apple says users should force restart their Apple Watches by holding down the Digital Crown and Side Button at the same time until the Apple logo appears.

While this won’t fix ghost touch, it will get you out of frustrating situations where your Watch isn’t registering the correct input. A more permanent fix is expected in the coming months. Hopefully, this will be in watchOS 10.4 rather than in watchOS 11, as that would be some months away seeing as it is expected to be revealed at WWDC on June 10. Until then, you’ll need to force restart your smartwatch every time it acts strangely.

As an Ultra 2 owner myself, I’ve yet to have issues with ghost touch, but the problem appears to be widespread enough to be a reason for concern. Have you experienced ghost touch issues on your Apple Watch? Does this quick temporary fix help? Let us know.

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John-Anthony Disotto is the How To Editor of iMore, ensuring you can get the most from your Apple products and helping fix things when your technology isn’t behaving itself. Living in Scotland, where he worked for Apple as a technician focused on iOS and iPhone repairs at the Genius Bar, John-Anthony has used the Apple ecosystem for over a decade and prides himself in his ability to complete his Apple Watch activity rings. John-Anthony has previously worked in editorial for collectable TCG websites and graduated from The University of Strathclyde where he won the Scottish Student Journalism Award for Website of the Year as Editor-in-Chief of his university paper. He is also an avid film geek, having previously written film reviews and received the Edinburgh International Film Festival Student Critics award in 2019. John-Anthony also loves to tinker with other non-Apple technology and enjoys playing around with game emulation and Linux on his Steam Deck.

In his spare time, John-Anthony can be found watching any sport under the sun from football to darts, taking the term “Lego house” far too literally as he runs out of space to display any more plastic bricks, or chilling on the couch with his French Bulldog, Kermit.