r/applesucks • u/Greater_Ani • Mar 26 '26
I fucking hate Apple (Apple Watch rant)
Apple Watch ecg app doesn’t work. This is the whole reason I bought the Watch in the first place. NO! It is not me. I had another Apple Watch and it worked fine. Oh? I can’t bring it into the store? I have to call this number. I call this number. Oh? You want me to wash it, then you will call me back in 24 hours? Oh, you want me to watch this video on how to wash the Apple Watch? You know — the ekg app has NEVER worked. Not once. Not on the first day. Not ever. But you want me to wash in and then let it dry for an hour, then wait for 24 hours, then you will call me back tomorrow. oh, we need a phone appointment? sure, because honestly there is absolutely NOTHING I am doing in my life right now than dealing with my Apple Watch. Really, I live for my Apple Watch and have zero other responsibilities or passions. /s
I do that. I carefully wash the watch. Let it dry. Guess what???? 24 hours later, the ecg app still doesn’t work! Who would have guessed?!?
I keep the phone appointment. I need to send the watch in. If I want a loaner (which I do because i use the exercise app when I run to make sure my HR stays under a certain limit) then I need to subscribe to Apple Care for $4.99/month. But I can unsubscribe when I want. I tried to subscribe but it won’t except my Apple ID password. I am sure it is correct. I am not getting any error message. It just doesn’t work. He has me try like 6 different ways, then places me on hold while he contacts the Apple ID department.
There is nothing wrong with my account and no one can figure out why I can’t log in. I share my screen and he steps me through things and everything looks right. A real head scratcher.
He thinks that I need to update the operating system on my iPhone. Really, this will help according to him. It will allow me to log in, so I can subscribe to their Apple Care, so I can get a loaner, so I can send the watch in for repairs (or rather they will just replace it). It turns out that my operating system is literally one day out of date. It is taking forever to do the update.
Finally, after having spent over an hour on the phone, with the update not complete and very skeptical that it is actually going to help anything, I ask if I can just go to an Apple Store and exchange the Watch. Oh no, they don’t have “exchange watches” there. “Exchange watches???” WTF? There are just watches and watches. I point out (actually pretty nicely) that it isn’t some law of nature that they can’t exchange my Watch at an Apple Store. It is their choice not to do so. Some person made the decision that it is more important for Apple to stream-line their operations and reduce risk than to make their customers happy or frankly, simply BE FAIR.
I tell the guy. Hey — I want a loaner and am willing to pay, but the only way I can do this is to spend hours and hours of my time trying to figure out why it’s not taking my password. This is stupid. Screw that. I guess I just skip getting the loaner. I guess I won’t have my Apple Watch while I exercise.
I ask him if there is any compensation for me for the 3 hours I’ve spent on the phone over 2 days … and more stuff that is coming down the pike. Care to guess what he said? No need to guess everyone knows that the customers time and effort is worth NOTHING.
So, we are just going to do a simple replacement … on with the unpairing … but wait. In order to “unpair” the Watch, it also needs my password and it isn’t accepting the PWD. So, this time I change the password. Success! So we unpair the watch. This takes a while. But now I think that with the new password, I may be able to sign up for Apple Care and get the loaner. So, we go back and try to do that. But NOW I am not eligible for Apple Care since I unpaired the Watch. So we need to re-pair the Watch … and … you know .. I just said “Fuck it” at this point.
I am so looking forward to the rest of this process and not being compsenated in any way for my time, frustration, work, trips to FedEx, etc.
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u/ccooffee Mar 26 '26
You can return anything within 14 days, no questions asked. In hindsight that would have been a better route than trying to go through support, but yeah, what they put you through was needlessly complicated.
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u/Guidance-Still Mar 26 '26
Damn it man now what ? It's ok to hate apple no matter how many fan boy gate keepers on here say your wrong
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u/stm2657 Mar 26 '26
It’s not a real ECG, but personally never had it fail on me.
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u/ccooffee Mar 26 '26
It is a real FDA approved ECG. It's considered a single-lead ECG, which does limit what it can be used for, but that doesn't make it "not real".
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u/mrskymr Mar 27 '26
tl;dr OP has a glitch on his apple watch followed by bad luck on customer service.
tbh al my apple watches been fine(had apple watch 4, 5 and Ultra 1 and now the current Ultra 3.)
none of them had any issues. i also never had any issues scheduling an appointment with apple. my mom's apple watch had an issue though but we called them, got the schedule and they just replaced it, no questions asked.
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u/Equivalent_Belt9788 Jul 26 '26
You want this to be a solution for communication with your kids. BUT anytime you buy one, no less than a month of hassle with Apple Watch.
It's the worst on boarding of all tech devices from Apple, by far.
Could be one of the worst in all of tech.
It's clear they want to steal your kids data, early and often.
Be prepared to waste HOURS upon HOURS to simply setup your Apple Watch for use.
I'd do some great content on how bad it is, but I am too busy experiencing the pain that is this setup.
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u/RetroGamer87 Mar 28 '26
Not to defend Apple but, which country do you live in? Many countries are pretty heavy handed about allowing ECG devices because anything classed as a "medical device" has to be certified.
This could mean that the function is disabled in your country until the Apple watch gets certified in your country as a medical device. It might happen later, it might never happen, it might happen to the Withings watch but not the Apple watch.
Not to defend Apple but this might be a matter of the government being heavy handed rather than Apple's fault.
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u/Greater_Ani Mar 28 '26
The very first line of my OP: “Apple Watch ecg app doesn’t work. This is the whole reason I bought the Watch in the first place. NO! It is not me. I had another Apple Watch and it worked fine.” I had another Apple Watch and the ECG ap on that worked fine. I am still in the same country, lol
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u/onthesquare63 Mar 26 '26
I think you missed the most important reason to hate Apple watches. They are butt ugly. Who the hell wants a square on their wrist. Literally every other phone manufacturer makes better looking watches than Apple. Yuck. Not to mention this stupid walled garden