Is the display on your Apple Watch Series 9 or Ultra 2 flickering? Here's the fix until Apple investigates further

(Image credit: Future)

Has your brand-new Apple Watch been plagued with a flickering display? If so, Apple is searching for a fix, but there’s an easy solution to your problem just now.

According to an internal memo shared with Apple Authorized Service Providers, Apple Watches on watchOS 10 can be affected by a flickering display. This issue affects owners of the brand-new Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 more than most and is likely to be fixed in a future watchOS update (watchOS 10.1 with Double Tap is expected next week).

Until then, there’s a quick fix to stop your Apple Watch from flickering, as shared by Apple itself.

How to fix a flickering display on your Apple Watch

Until Apple provides a software fix for the flickering display issue on the Apple Watch, the company has advised customers to turn off their Always On Display. While not ideal, it solves the issue in the meantime until an actual fix is out in the wild. Here’s how to turn off the Always On Display on an Apple Watch:

Apple Watch Ultra 2 Always on display settings — (Image credit: Future / Apple)

Open Settings
Tap Display & Brightness
Toggle off Always On

Unfortunately, this is the only way to stop your Apple Watch display from flickering at the moment. Apple has advised Authorized Service Providers to not perform hardware repairs on these affected Apple Watches and instead remain patient for upcoming software updates.

iMore has reached out to Apple for comment.

Time for disappointment — iMore’s take

Telling people who have purchased expensive tech products to avoid using the product in the way it was advertised until a fix appears is incredibly disappointing. While we don’t know how many users are affected by this issue, and personally, my Ultra 2 has had no problems at all, it’s worth considering before you purchase one of the new Apple Watch models.

Apple is usually fantastic at finding software solutions to bugs, and with the imminent release of watchOS 10.1, we fully expect this flickering issue to be fixed. Until then, you can either turn off one of the Apple Watch’s best features in the Always On Display or opt for an intermittent disco party every time you check your wrist.

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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.