Apple Watch comes loaded with exceptional features like heart rate monitor, fall detection, ECG, and whatnot. But unfortunately, it all comes to no use when your Apple Watch won’t swipe up. Can you relate to this?
Honestly, it’s no fun when your gadget suddenly starts acting up. You cannot use change modes, control centers, or even locate your iPhone when that happens. Luckily, this is an avoidable problem.
After getting queries like ‘why won’t my Apple Watch swipe up’ or ‘why won’t my Apple Watch swipe up and down’, we come up with a bunch of fixes to resolve this problem.
| Key Takeaways: Apple watch won’t swipe up if you have the water lock setting enabledRebooting will fix any bugs in the system, so always try it first.Disable the zoom function if it’s turned onTake help from Apple online support if the problem persists by the end of this guide. |
Apple Watch won’t swipe up – What could be the reason?
Apple Watch won’t swipe up if it has technical or connectivity issues. In fact, recently, Apple Watch users have reportedly been complaining about battery issues and the inability to swipe up on their gadgets, which means you are not alone.
After digging into this problem, we finally found the following possible causes:
1. Software Update
Many users reported that they had never faced this kind of issue until they updated to WatchOS 8.5.1. So this particular update may contain some sort of bugs or glitches.
2. Outdated WatchOS
A dirty screen can also be why your Apple Watch won’t swipe up. A smeared screen can cause difficulty in navigating the gadget’s interface.
3. Greasy or dirty screen
Like with iPhone, it is imperative to update your Apple Watch to the latest version of WatchOS to improve its functionality. Update your Apple Watch’s software and check if it swipes up correctly.
4. Water Lock is enabled
Maybe your Apple Watch is not swiping up because you have accidentally turned on the water lock feature. When this function is activated, the watch’s screen does not respond to any touch on its display.
5. Swiping up with gloves on
It may sound silly, but you do stuff unintentionally when you are zoned out. Your Apple Watch won’t swipe up if you are wearing gloves.
6. Wet or Sticky hands
Dirty hands can cause difficulty swiping up on your Apple Watch. It’s best to clean your hands before using your gadgets.
7. A rigid screen protector
Screen protectors are meant to protect your gadget and not inhibit its functionality. A tough screen protector can disrupt your Apple watch’s touch screen. Hence you face difficulty swiping up your watch.
Before assuming anything worse, check these possible causes until you find the one affecting your watch’s functionality.
6 Quick Fixes to get your Apple Watch to swipe up
Since multiple underlying reasons could be stopping your Apple watch from swiping up, the following are a bunch of fixes you can try to resolve this issue.
1. Reboot/Restart
Rebooting is the easiest way to fix all the back-end issues in a single go. If your Apple Watch doesn’t swipe up, just reboot it by following the below steps:
Note: Ensure your Apple Watch is not on charge, as it won’t reboot while plugged in.
- Press and hold the power button until you see the slider to restart
- Slide the power panel to the right to turn off your gadget
- Wait for a few seconds and press the slide key to reboot
Once your Apple Watch has restarted, try swiping it up again. Hopefully, it will work this time.
2. Force Restart
If the normal restart doesn’t work in your case, try force restarting. Many users have reported that force restart fixed the swipe-up issues with their gadgets. Note that force restart is the same as hard restart, so don’t get twisted in the terminologies.
Note: Before hard restart, ensure your watch is not on charge or in the middle of an update.
Follow these instructions to force restart your Apple Watch:
- Hard press the side button/power key for good 10 seconds
- Once the Apple logo is visible, let go of the buttons
- Now just wait for the gadget to boot up before start using
After a few minutes, when your watch is finally booted up, check if the swipe-up issue is resolved.
3. Unpair and repair the Apple Watch
After trying the above two fixes, if the problem persists, unpair and repair your Apple watch, it may resolve the issue.
Note: While re-pairing your Apple Watch, set it up as a new watch and do not restore it from the backup.
Here’s how to unpair and re-pair the Apple Watch:
- Unlock your iPhone and head to the ‘Watch’ app
- Tap ‘General’
- Scroll down to ‘Reset’ and tap
- Now choose the very first option, ‘Erase Apple Watch Content and Setting’
- Confirm the changes
- Provide your Apple ID Password in the next step to finish the process.
- When done, pair your watch again
Once your Apple Watch has been freshly set up, pair it with your iPhone from scratch. Here is a detailed guide on how to unpair and re-pair Apple Watch, if you still have any confusion.
4. Clean the Screen
This might sound irrelevant, but it is worth the try. Remove the protector from your Apple Watch screen and clean the display thoroughly using a clear, lint-free cloth. Once done, try swiping up your Apple Watch; maybe this time, it will work.
5. Change the Watch’s face
After reading out on the web about how changing Apple Watch’s face helped users fix the swiping-up problem, we thought to share it with you.
- Unlock your iPhone and go to the Watch app
- Tap ‘Face Gallery
- Select your choice of a face from the gallery and hit ‘Add’ to put it as your current face
- Now swipe right or left to change the Watch face
Once you have set the new face, swipe up to check if the problem is resolved.
6. Check Software Updates
If you haven’t updated your Apple Watch and facing issues with swiping up, try updating the software to fix the issue.
- Go to the Apple Watch app
- Tap ‘General’
- Tap ‘Software update’
- Finally, download and install the software
Apple watch won’t swipe up for Control Center
If you are unable to swipe up on your Apple watch to open the Control Center, simply restart your watch. Check method 1 for the instructions to restart your watch.
Apple watch won’t swipe up to ping phone
If you find it difficult to swipe up your Apple watch to ping the phone, you may have a weak connection. Both the gadgets (iPhone and Watch) must be connected via Bluetooth or WiFi to build a strong connection. If either of them is faulty, pinging your phone gets difficult.
Final Thoughts
Despite several users complaining about the Apple watch won’t swipe up issue, the tech giant did not release any official statement addressing the problem.
Most even claimed the problem mainly occurred after updating to WatchOS 8.5.1. While on the other hand, Apple did not acknowledge the issue nor talked about any fixes to resolve it. It is recommended to update your Apple Watch software to the latest WatchOS 9 to eliminate the earlier faulty version and improve your Watch’s functionality.
