Apple releases watchOS 4.01 software update to address problems with WiFi and cellular.
Apple has released a software update to address a connectivity snag that impacted some of the folks who bought the company’s brand-new Apple Watch Series 3, the first Apple smartwatch with cellular. The pricey ($399 on up) watch is supposed to automatically choose the most efficient network to glom onto in any situation, either a known Wi-Fi network or cellular LTE, without you having to have your iPhone close-by. Some reviewers however, though not me or others, encountered a problem with this conenctivity “hand-off”, leading Apple in search of a fix.
If you have the Series 3 watch, you can find this “watchOS 4.01” fix in the Software Update section of the Watch app on your iPhone. (You won’t see the update if you have an older model without cellular.)
For its part, Apple said the issue at hand, um, on your wrist, was a “rare” occurrence in which the Watch tried “to join unauthenticated (captive) Wi-Fi networks, such as those found in public places like coffee shops and hotels, which direct the user to a web page before the network could be accessed.”
Let me know if you had the problem in the first place and whether the update provides the remedy that Apple says it does.
Email: ebaig@usatoday.com; Follow USA TODAY Personal Tech Columnist @edbaig on Twitter
