If you’re an Apple Watch Series 3 owner, you might want to keep it out of certain hospital environments.
A number of users have commented that their Apple Watch Series 3 have undergone unexpected reboots in the intensive care units of some hospitals. This suggests there may be specific ICU-related equipment used in hospitals that could be interfering with Apple Watch Series 3 with or without cellular functionality.
In the case of one user, an Apple Watch Series 3 unit he’d bought for his wife regularly experienced reboots every 60-90 minutes when wearing Apple Watch in the ICU setting. Even though the Apple Watch was replaced with a new unit, the issue persisted.
Similar stories have been reported since the device’s release last fall. The solution to avoiding reboots in the ICU environment seems to be using the Apple Watch in airplane mode, although that stops the Apple Watch from receiving alerts.
Apple has stated in the Apple Watch user guide that interference with medical devices is to be expected. The company has stated that a “pacemaker, defibrillator, or any other medical device” could be affected by Apple Watch “components and radios that emit electromagnetic fields” although it doesn’t specifically say the Apple Watch itself should be affected by those devices.
Given what’s been reported online, the issue does not seem to exist on Apple Watch models prior to Apple Watch Series 3, but seems to occur on both GPS and GPS + Cellular models. Apple introduced a built-in GPS with Apple Watch Series 2, however, so it’s unclear what may have changed since the issue occurs on Apple Watch Series 3 without LTE.
It’s possible the issue, which appears limited to the specific Apple Watch generation in specific hospital environments, could be resolved through a software update in the future.
If you’ve seen this issue on your end, please let us know about your experience in the comments.
Via 9to5Mac and discussions.apple.com