r/apple • u/Retroity • May 04 '21

Updating an Apple Watch Series 3 is a nightmare in 2021 Apple Watch

https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/4/22419569/apple-watch-series-3-software-update-reset-bad-experience
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63

u/sav33arthkillyos3lf May 05 '21

Im a bit broke and can’t afford other ones I was gifted this one :/

70

u/[deleted] May 05 '21

I have the S3 and I usually just update if it’s major. I usually skip the small updates because of the storage issue

26

u/[deleted] May 05 '21

Just piggybacking to remind people that the minor update out recently should be done since it’s a security update.

19

u/llII May 05 '21

Almost every update should be done, because they include security updates. That's the problem with devices that don't get updates anymore. Even if they continue to work, you've got a device with known security weaknesses.

1

u/[deleted] May 05 '21

Ehhh, some updates are clearly bug fix focused while others are explicitly security minded and this one is the latter.

32

u/sav33arthkillyos3lf May 05 '21

I’m gonna be honest with you I didn’t even know the watch had updates. I feel stupid.

-17

u/user12345678654 May 05 '21

I'll sell you my silver SE. 40MM cellular. Practically mint condition

Though idk how we would verify each others cred/reliability

29

u/SteveJobsOfficial May 05 '21

I can't speak on your behalf, however between the S3 and SE, it's $199 vs $279 for the smaller variant, or $229 vs $309 for the larger variant.

Some breakdowns in regards to long-term investment:

— Series 3 is the last Apple Watch that uses a 32bit architecture, and will likely lose software support far quicker as Series 4 and later have all utilized a 64bit architecture for longer support

— In similar form factors, you get more screen space without sacrificing size, and actually get the true experience of the Apple Watch

— Since Series 4, Apple has been introducing new watch faces to utilize the screen space, with almost none of them being brought over to the Series 3

— The speaker and microphone are vastly improved, allowing both for you to hear things without having to bring the Watch closer to your ear, alongside others hearing you better

For more details, feel free to browse the compare section between the two models and see whether it's worth the extra $80 for you.

17

u/[deleted] May 05 '21

[deleted]

3

u/TheBrainwasher14 May 05 '21

Can always go used

-3

u/TheRealDynamitri May 05 '21 edited May 05 '21

Can always go used

People sweat on their wrists, have old, dried up water splashes from washing hands after the toilet. Ewwww… Why would you do this?

4

u/proanimus May 05 '21

It’s not hard to thoroughly clean them. My first Apple Watch was used and looked pristine after a couple minutes with a mild cleaner, cheap toothbrush, and compressed air. Easy $100 savings.

1

u/Smithore May 05 '21

Stash this comment for when your son takes an Econ course and is discussing value.

6

u/MrReginaldAwesome May 05 '21

Stick with the S3, it's still an amazing piece of technology, most of the new features are pretty lame to be honest, the core features that the 3 has are awesome and put it miles ahead of all smart watches.

1

u/kenywong May 05 '21

Thankfully the updates should be relatively infrequent (7.4 to 7.4.1 was an unusually short time gap). It’s a big pain, I’ll gripe about it, but I don’t feel it’s worth spending hundreds of dollars to make updates smoother. I’d enjoy the gift.

I bought an S3 myself in 2017, find the updates to be a pain, but otherwise the watch works fine, and I don’t feel a strong need to replace it yet.

1

u/matt12a May 05 '21

S3 is fine. Just install what you need and only do the major updates where you have to reset your phone.