If your Apple Watch Series 8 won’t swipe up to launch control center, then don’t panic. In this article, I’ll explain why your Apple Watch Series 8 swipe up is not working and show you how to fix the problem.
Swipe up is a very important gesture on the Apple Watch. By swiping up, you can bring up Control Center. Control Center lets you quickly access the features you use most on your watch. For example, you can use Control Center to:
- Check the battery of your Apple Watch.
- Enable Airplane Mode.
- Enable Focus Mode.
- Enable Theater Mode.
- Turn on the Flashlight.
- Silence your watch.
- Use talkie walkie.
However, for you to get to the Control Center on your Apple Watch, you will need to swipe up. If you cannot, you won’t be able to use Control Center. Of course, this does not mean you are unable to use these features. You can access these features via the Settings app.
A number of users have reported that the swipe up gesture is not working on Apple Watch Series 8. The watch is not responding, and Control Center is not opening. In this article, I’ll explain what you can do when your Apple Watch Series 8 swipe up gesture is not working.
How to swipe up on Apple Watch Series 8
There are important notes you should keep in mind for swipe up to workk:
- If you are on the Home screen of your Apple Watch, swiping up won’t work. When you swipe up on the Home screen, your installed apps will be moved up and down. Press the Digital Crown once to go to your watch face, where swiping up will work.
- The Apple Watch need to be unlocked for the swipe up gesture to work.
- Make sure that your finger and the screen are dry. From my own experience, I know that wet fingers cause swiping gestures to result in unwanted results.
- If you are on the watch face, from the bottom of the screen, swipe up gently.
- If you are in an app, you will need to first tap and hold the bottom of the screen and then swipe up. If you do not first touch and hold the bottom, swiping up will just scroll the screen up.
- Clean your watch screen
If your screen is wet or dirty, the watch may not register the gestures. Clean your screen. Use a soft cloth to gently wipe it. Furthermore, if your watch has any protective case or screen cover, it may be the cause of your problem. Get rid of it and test again. If, after taking off the screen protector or case, swiping up works again, clean the case or cover.
Ways to fix Apple Watch Series 8 Swipe Up Not Working
Restart the Watch and iPhone
If swipe up is not working on the Apple Watch Series 8, it could be due to a minor software bug. Restarting your watch and the paired iPhone may get the swipe up gesture working again. First, restart your watch and then the iPhone.
To restart Apple Watch, follow the steps below:
- Press and hold the side button until the Power Off slider appears.
- Drag the slider to turn off the watch.
- Wait for 30 seconds for your watch to turn off. Then press and hold the side button again until you see the Apple logo.
To restart your iPhone, follow the steps below:
- Press and hold the side and one of the volume buttons together until you see the Power Off slider.
- Drag the slider from left to right to turn off your iPhone.
- Wait for your iPhone to completely power off. Then press and hold the side button to turn on your iPhone.
Turn off and on haptics
Some users have stated that toggling off and on Haptic Alerts fixed swipe up problem on their Apple Watch Series 8. Follow the steps below to do so:
- Go to Settings.
- Go to Sounds & Haptics.
- Scroll down to the Haptics section.
- Turn Haptic Alerts off.
- Then restart your watch.
- After restarting, repeat the above steps and turn on Haptic Alerts.
Unpair and repair
Unpairing involves erasing your watch. If swipe up is not working on Apple Watch Series 8 due to corrupt files, this may fix the issue. Please note that non of your data will be lost, as we will use the backup to pair again. Follow the steps below:
- Move your iPhone and Apple watch close to each other.
- Open the watch app on your iPhone.
- Navigate to My Watch, then All Watches.
- Tap the (i) info button located next to your watch.
- Tap the red Unpair Apple Watch button, then tap Unpair again.
- If you are using a cellular model, you will be asked to keep your plan. Select to keep your plan, as we will pair again. Follow the onscreen instructions. Your watch will get backed up automatically during this process, so non of your data will be lost.
- After the unpairing process is complete, your watch will say Start Pairing.
- Follow the onscreen prompts to pair again.
Contact Apple Support
If none of the above steps have fixed swipe up not working on Apple Watch Series 8 issue, you may be experiencing a hardware problem. Your screen may be faulty and unable to detect the swipe up gesture. Contact Apple for further support.