Apple Watch Tattoo Trouble

Tattoos can cause Apple watches to malfunction; those who are affected are forced to repeatedly enter their security codes.

18:41 30 April 2015

Early adopters of the new Apple Watch have discovered that the device can malfunction when worn by people with wrist tattoos. The irregularity was first reported by a tattooed user on Reddit who claimed that he is forced to repeatedly enter his security code, would regularly lose connection in his Apple watch, and would get inaccurate heart rate results. 

 

Based on gathered data, it appears that darker tattoos appear to cause more problems than light inkings. 

 

The Reddit user who first flagged up the problem wrote: "So I thought my shiny new watch had a bad wrist detector sensor.

 

"The watch would lock up every time the screen went dark and prompted me for my password. I wouldn't receive notifications. I couldn't figure out why especially since the watch was definitely not losing contact with my skin.

 

"I decided to try holding it against my hand - my left arm is sleeved and where I wear my watch is tattooed as well - and it worked.

 

"My hand isn't tattooed and the Watch stayed unlocked.

 

"Once I put it back on the area that is tattooed with black ink the watch would automatically lock again. Just wanted to give anyone a heads up about this issue because I don't see it mentioned anywhere in Apple's support documents."

 

Apple is yet to issue a comment about the matter.