Some Apple Watch Series 4 models repeatedly crashing and rebooting due to daylight saving time bug

Update: The date has now rolled over again in Australia and everyone’s watches are working normally again. Nevertheless, expect Apple to release a software fix for this issue so that it doesn’t affect users in other countries, whose DST transitions are just around the corner.

A bug with the complications on the new Infograph faces in Apple Watch Series 4 is causing some very unhappy Watch owners today. Users in Australia have just experienced the daylight saving time change and are finding their Watches are now stuck in reboot loops.

Specifically, it seems the large Activity complication on the Infograph Modular face is not handling the loss of an hour elegantly, and instead causing the entire device to crash and reboot …

The Activity complication on the Infograph Modular face draws a timeline graph of the current day, showing hour-by-hour data for Move calories, Exercise minutes, and Stand Hours that make up the Activity rings.

In a typical day, there are obviously 24 hours. Although the exact problem has not yet been diagnosed, it appears that the large Activity complication simply cannot handle drawing its graph with one of those twenty four hour missing.

The Watch reboots itself repeatedly, as long as the Infograph Modular face is active with the Activity complication. This becomes an endless loop as every time the device boots, it once again tries to load the complications, fails, and restarts. This continues indefinitely until the watch runs out of power.

The current expectation is that when the date rolls over to tomorrow, the Watch will return to functioning normally. As a workaround, some people have had success removing the Infograph Modular watch face using the companion Watch iPhone app.

Until Apple provides specific steps, we would recommend leaving the Watch alone and waiting it out. Do not bother putting it back on the charger as it will just continue to drain its battery and reboot. Leaving it on the charger in this state will probably not be good for the battery’s long-term health.

It’s not clear if the smaller Activity complications are causing problems, so far it appears to be limited to the large Activity complication in the centre of the Infograph Modular watch face. Naturally, the Activity complication is a very popular choice for users so the number of users affected is significant.

Obviously, Apple will need to release a bug-fix software update to stop this problem from happening again. Most of Europe changes its clocks on the last Sunday in October and the US DST changeover is the 4th November, so Apple has a few days before this issue affects its biggest markets.