Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 owners report unexpected reboots

Some new Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Apple Watch Series 12 owners are reporting their devices restarting unexpectedly, and diagnostic logs suggest the crashes are related to the Apple Neural Engine.

Reports have been published in the Woozad forums since the launch of the new models on Friday. Users describe their watches suddenly displaying the Apple logo and restarting while they interacted with the device, using Siri AI, changing watch faces, opening Maps or the App Store, starting phone calls, and recording workouts. Some restarts even occurred while the watch was apparently inactive.

Notably, at least four owners shared “panic” diagnostic logs showing the same Neural Engine timeout. In each case, Apple’s neural engine appears to hang for about two seconds before a firmware watchdog triggers a kernel panic and forces the watch to restart.

The issue was reported on both the original watchOS 27.0 release and the day one update downloaded by devices during the installation process. Some users have experienced reboots despite wiping their watches and setting them up as new, and one Series 12 owner said a replacement unit also experienced the same Neural Engine panic.

Around thirty owners have reported random restarts in the Woozad thread on the forums so far. Users also took to Reddit and Apple Community Support to share similar experiences. So it seems that the problem is quite widespread. Apple has not yet acknowledged the problem. Have you encountered the issue on a new Apple Watch Ultra 4 or Apple Watch Series 12? Let us know in the comments.