Apple Watch Series 3 replacement after 7 years

TidBITS Talk
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My spouse and I both have had a Watch Series 3 for a long time. I purchased mine in November 2017, and she liked it so much that she purchased hers several months later.

Her Watch started shutting down or restarting unexpectedly earlier this year, and after trying the usual troubleshooting she received a Watch SE as a birthday gift in March. She’s very happy with it.

I knew that Apple claimed to have fixed an unexpected restart issue for Watch 3, and Watch 3, only, back in 2020. Our Watches were both long past the 7.0.3 update where that fix was said to have been made, but are no longer receiving updates after WatchOS 8.8.1.

So, my Watch started “stopping” this week. And rather than waste time trying to troubleshoot a 7 year old device that has lasted longer than any other watch I’ve ever owned, I’ve decided to replace it with a Series 9.

Sure, like every other Apple device I’ve ever owned, there are a lot of advancements from the old model. But, also like almost every Apple device I’ve ever owned (with the exception of a Performa Mac or two), the Series 3 Watch has done pretty much everything I’ve ever expected of it. I’ve never had to worry about removing it when I’m swimming, or laying brick, or any other activity. In fact, Apple encourages me to keep wearing it whatever I’m doing.

When Apple users start fretting about higher upfront costs for a Mac, or iPhone, or Watch, or worry about the “walled garden” of xOSx apps…just look around at the corresponding universe of Windows and Android products. At my last gig, the tech coordinator fretted about my “intrusive” Mac, while thinking nothing about discarding a Windows machine rather than attempt a major OS update on it. Friends who have had Android watches routinely trade them out every 2 or 3 years. Same with their phones.

Meanwhile, I’ve had MacBooks (and PowerBooks before them) routinely serve from 5 to 7 years; iMacs 10 years (and counting); iPhones 5 years; and this Watch that operated continuously, including nightly charging, since 2017.

I just can’t think of any major downside to such durable service.

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I should also mention…

I visited with my younger brother last week. He has had health problems all his life (now in his mid-60s). Over this past year he has been suffering epileptic-like seizures. He lives alone, though that will soon change.

He has a Watch Series 3 as well, and told me that he wears it to monitor his sleep. About the only way he knows he has suffered a seizure (the effects of which can last up to 18 hours) is by looking at the sleep reports on his iPhone when he feels he has lost awareness of time.

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It also gives credence to the saying that “you get what you pay for”. I know one person in particular who admires the heck out of Apple products, yet doesn’t understand why they cost more than his Android/Windows counterparts!

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They don’t cost more than all Android/Windows devices. High end PCs and phones from Dell, HP and Samsung cost just as much (and sometimes more) than Apple equipment.

The difference is that these manufacturers also make cheap equipment, while Apple doesn’t (their low-end equipment is also pretty powerful - there are no stripped-down bargain basement models).

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My personal experience with that idea: adult daughter who dropped 3 different iPhones into the toilet (!), then decided she could only trust herself with a cheap Android phone.

In that case I’m glad she had an alternative, since she wasn’t going to change her habit of flushing relatively expensive Apple equipment.

Also what @Shamino said.

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That’s a different take on the phrase “flushing money down the toilet”.

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Sheesh, I never said that all Android/Windows products were cheap to buy. I just don’t happen to know anyone who purchased those brands and went with their expensive models.

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FWIW, my work phones are all Android (because I need them for running in-house built Android apps), and I’ve always had the company spring for high-end models. And they’ve mostly worked great.

My current one is a Samsung Galaxy S7. Yes, it’s an old model, but it was the latest and greatest when I got it in 2016. And, despite the fact that it can’t run Android versions greater than 8 (the current version is 14), it is still surprisingly useful. I plan on getting the company to replace it one of these days, but I hate replacing stuff that still works.

My previous work phone was a Motorola Atrix 4G. This was a bit of a disappointment - it wasn’t nearly powerful enough to be used as a laptop replacement, as they were promoting at the time, but it was far from a cheap phone - $600 in 2011, when it was new. I used it (mostly just for phone calls) for five years until the internal speaker died, at which point I replaced it with the Galaxy I’m using today.

I think I also had an LG model of some kind, but I can no longer remember what model. It may have been a cheap model.

And then there’s my first smartphone (before the iPhone was available for Verizon), a first-generation Motorola Droid. I don’t know what it cost (it was massively discounted in exchange for a 2-year contract), but it was far from cheap - at the time, there were no cheap smart phones. I loved that phone, and it had a lot of novel features that nobody else had for years, like integrated car-mode and nightstand mode (triggered by carefully positioned magnets in the matching docking stations) but as first-generation equipment, the software requirements quickly outstripped its capabilities, so I ended up replacing it a few years later with an iPhone 4S (the first iPhone available for Verizon’s CDMA network).

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I know; go back and look at my post again. It just happened that her choices for cheap smartphones were limited to those models, which kinda supports your overall point.

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I set 'em up. You knock 'em down. :slight_smile:

One outcome (so to speak) is that her photos with one of those cheap phones are so good that she’s started using them for illustration. It doesn’t hurt that she’s been stationed on Oahu for the past three years…pretty darned scenic there.

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Since you agreed with Shimano (your response two posts ago), I was directing that at him, primarily.

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While apple products certainly outlive most Android/Windows devices they have their share of wear too. In three aspects:

  1. Battery life shortens with age until it becomes practically unusable. You don’t want to wear a watch that needs three recharges a day. You don’t want a laptop that runs flat after one hour.
  2. New features are unavailable on old models.
  3. Older models can’t be upgraded to the latest OS.

Thus, while you can certainly keep Apple products in usable working order for 6-7 years (or even more), it does make sense to upgrade to a newer model at a certain point, even if the old stuff still boots and works.

You can create your own schedule of upgrades depending on the criticality of those new features to your needs. E.g., skip one or two generations between upgrades.

One thing about the watch, while the 3 may have served all your needs, you’d be amazed how many of the new biometric and health features on the 9 can be considered needed.

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7 years is a good life for any tech product. I’m using an Apple watch series 6 which I bought when first released in 2020. I replaced the battery earlier in the year as it seemed a waste to throw it away rather than ‘recycle’ it with a new battery. It will happily last a couple more years and I’ll then look at an Ultra.

On the other hand my 30 year old Tag is still going strong but a bit more costly to maintain. It’s currently in for it’s biggest service ever (movement replacement, battery etc) which is $360. Nice watch though and I’ll pass it along to my son when my time is up :) I suspect it will be increasing in value by then.

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I agree with your second and third points; but battery life had never been an issue with my Watch 3, even after 7 years. It would work reliably for a full day, and still have between 30 and 40% charge on it after 16 to 18 hours of wear when I popped it on the nightstand charger. That’s well over 2,000 cycles over the years, and it still seemed healthy.

I should note that wearing my Watch included manual labor, walking (I don’t run!), swimming, cycling, and lots of similar activities over the years. Even if it hadn’t been updated since sometime last year, it functioned flawlessly during a recent trip to Hawaii, and enjoyed accompanying me while I snorkled on a reef off Oahu.

Your general point is a good one, but my experience with Apple products is that they tend to outlive my interest in them. If I waited for the battery to become unusable on the Watch Series 3, I suspect it would be another 2 or 3 years before I would be forced to discard it. As it is, I’m finding the features on the Series 9 will carry me for the next 7 or 8 years, or perhaps longer.

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On a series 6 I’d definitely have that service done. And you’re in the process of molding that Tag into a family heirloom.

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I have a series seven that is just now showing signs of battery issues. The settings app says my battery is at 78% capacity. If I use the watch to navigate, play music, or track a fitness routine, it goes to low-power mode or dies early in the evening (I don’t track sleep, charge overnight, and wear it from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm). I found that turning off the display always on allows me to get through the day without problems if I don’t use it too much. Nevertheless, I plan on upgrading to series 10 when it is available.

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You’re probably already aware but if your battery life is < 80% Apple will ‘replace’ your watch battery for $100 + shipping of $6. I say ‘replace’ because they actually just send you a new version of the watch you send them. I just did this with my v5 and have a like new/scratchless face and 100% battery.

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That makes sense, perversely. Unlike fine traditional watches, the Apple Watch has a huge assortment of parts carefully fitted in and then glued in such a way that taking them apart is nearly impossible unless your objective is recycling.

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I recently replaced the battery on my 6. The original lasted over 3 years and if I can get another 3 years for $130 I’m happy. As much as a new watch would be nice, the current one does everything I need. I’ll look to upgrade when this battery dies.

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I would disagree. Looking at iFixit’s procedure for replacing a Watch series 6 battery, it’s time consuming and a pain in the neck, but not really much more difficult than replacing the battery in a modern iPhone.

I suspect Apple does it this way because they either don’t have enough watch-repair jigs to distribute to all their stores, or because they don’t get enough battery replacement requests to make it worth distributing equipment and training to all their stores.

I expect that after giving you a replacement unit, they send your old watch to a central location where they can install a new battery, replace the screen (if necessary) and wipe its memory, for later redistribution as a refurbished watch.