How to Fix Your Apple Watch’s ‘Ghost Touches’ Problem

The Apple Watch is a wonderful little device. I’m quite fond of mine, and it’s rare for me to go anywhere without. Like most tech, though, it can run into problems. Most notably right now, many Apple Watch wearers are reporting an ongoing issue with “ghost touches,” where the screen responds even though it isn’t being touched. The problem is plaguing users sporting both older models and the newest Apple Watches.

The ghost touch issue isn’t exactly new: Reports about it have been popping up for at least the last couple of years, and Apple still hasn’t publicly disclosed a cause. Though in most cases the problem will be a mere annoyance, it can be serious—especially if you use your watch with the “erase if wrong code is inputted” security setting turned on.

I recently ran into this issue myself with my Apple Watch Ultra 2. All of a sudden my watch display started freaking out, cycling through different apps and options. I tried turning it off, but the ghost touches prevented me from being able to do so, as you have to swipe “Power off” from the touch screen.

How to fix your Apple Watch’s ghost touch problem

So, what do you do in a situation like this? Fortunately, there is a way to hard reset your Apple Watch without using the screen. Just press and hold the Digital Crown and the side button below it until the watch turns off and you see the Apple logo appear on the screen.

If “turn it off and on” seems like a weak fix, it’s worth noting that this is in fact Apple’s “official” solution for the issue. The only problem is, it doesn’t always work—some users report the problem recurs even after a hard reset.

Unfortunately, if a hard reset doesn’t solve your problem, the only solution is to try it again until it does. There’s no other fix at the moment, and considering almost two years have passed since the problem first appeared on the Apple Watch Series 7, it’s unlikely Apple will deliver one anytime soon. And who else are you gonna call?