I have 2 big issues with the Apple Watch Series 10

Two weeks ago, I upgraded from the 40mm Apple Watch SE 2 to the 42mm Apple Watch Series 10. The new wearable has been amazing, and the battery life of the Apple Watch Series 10 is at the top of the list of reasons. The device typically lasts 30-36 hours on a single charge, and the only thing I’ve changed is the Always On display functionality.

I’ve already used the Apple Watch Series 10 to track my training for my next marathon and even completed my first competitive half marathon with it. Remarkably, I finished a 21K run with 46% battery life remaining, about 16 hours after removing it from the charger.

However, I have a couple of issues with the Apple Watch Series 10 that are very annoying. One of them concerns heart rate tracking during activities, a bug I first encountered in the early beta versions of watchOS 11. The second has to do with weather complications, which can stop working properly unexpected Some Apple Watch users have also encountered this error before.

Fortunately, there are fixes for both, but I’m hoping a future watchOS 11 update will fix them.

The heart rate error

Shortly after installing watchOS 11 beta 1 on my old Apple Watch SE 2, I noticed that the watch was having trouble reading my heart rate during some workouts. Heart rate information should appear on the screen in real time. When it malfunctions, you get a “beach ball”: the heart rate value is grayed out and the heart icon has a small animation to illustrate that the watch is not receiving pulse readings.

I thought the wearable wasn’t tight enough, so I kept adjusting it until the heart rate reading appeared. This used to happen in the first kilometer.

As you can see in these iPhone Fitness app screenshots, the watch can’t record heart rate data. Therefore, it will not appear in your statistics.

An unofficial solution that our editor Zach Epstein let me know at the time was to check your pulse in the watch’s dedicated heart rate app right before starting a workout. I did this for most of the summer until Apple finally fixed the problem. In fact, I got so used to checking my heart rate before starting a workout that I missed the exact moment when Apple fixed the bug. Or so I thought.

I thought the problem was fixed when I bought the Apple Watch Series 10, but imagine my surprise when I discovered that the heart rate sensor wasn’t reading during parts of my workouts. This is a very annoying bug, as I primarily use the Apple Watch to track health data, including workouts.

I experienced the heart rate error during both runs and walks. It usually happens early, as soon as training starts. But I also saw that it wasn’t recording my heart rate even later in my runs.

These cases are short and the solution is the same. I readjust the position of the Apple Watch Series 10 on my wrist, even though I shouldn’t. I did a run where I decided not to mess with the laptop and see how long it would take the sensor to give me readings. It was over a kilometer, which is obviously disappointing.

The time complication error

The weather complication problem is an even older watchOS bug. It first appeared in watchOS 10 about a year ago, but I never experienced it on the Apple Watch SE 2. Or if it did, it didn’t last long. The bug prevents weather information from appearing in complications on the screen. Although annoying, it’s not as bad as the heart rate control problem.

Somehow, the error appeared again and I usually find that my Apple Watch Series 10 does not show weather information in complications. This is another key piece of data I want from the Watch. Since I run and walk a lot, I keep checking the time to make sure I’m making the most of it. The Apple Watch Series 10 weather complication keeps showing me the temperature and other information.

Not sure what is causing the weather problem. It happens when I put the watch on and after I pick it up from the charger. I can’t find any reason why the watch won’t show the time information. I suspected my iPhone 16 Plus internet connection, but it wasn’t.

The solution here is actually very easy. I just need to touch the time complication to load the time app. There, I can move between cities or look at weather parameters for my region. After returning to the watch face, the weather complication displays the missing data. If it doesn’t work on the first try, I go through the process again.

Software may be to blame as I’m running a beta version of watchOS 11. I could either leave the beta or wait for Apple to implement fixes for known bugs.