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A small number of Apple Watch Ultra and Apple Watch Series 8 owners have reported “measurement suspended” errors on the Noise app, suggesting that the microphones are not working.
Apple’s Noise app works with Apple Watch Series 4 or later, and is intended to measure ambient volume. It is specifically intended to alert the user if their environment is noisy enough that prolonged exposure could cause hearing loss.
Some users of the latest watches don’t see noise results at all, or at best get them inconsistently. Instead of a reading, they get “Measurement Suspended” and an explanation that the Noise app is unable to check sound levels.
There are very few reports on Twitter, but more on Apple’s support pages. In each case, the “Measurement Suspended” error message displayed further explains that sound levels cannot be checked when the microphone or speaker is in use by another application. It also cannot be used when the watch is in water lock, i.e. when the watch has been submerged and needs to eject water.
According MacRumors, who first reported the problem, there is a workaround for the problem. Restarting the Apple Watch fixes the problem, although it may take more than one restart.
Sources within Apple not authorized to speak on behalf of the company said AppleInsider that the total number of Apple Watch microphone issues reported to service or support at the same time after release is no higher than any other year, going back to the original Apple Watch. It’s unclear what percentage of the report’s volume is in terms of the total purchase base of new models.
Apple takes action on hardware issues it deems to have a high failure rate based on internal data, and doesn’t pay attention to support pages or news reports about the issues. We recommend contacting Apple Support about the issue if you encounter it, whether or not restarting the watch resolves your issue.