'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?
ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.
When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.
ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.
WatchOS 10.4 busts annoying Apple Watch 'ghost touch'
A few weeks ago, reports emerged that Apple Watch Series 9 or Apple Watch Ultra 2 users were experiencing unintended touches and swipes on their displays, causing the screen to jump about and behave erratically without any input from the owner.
Dubbed 'ghost touches,' this issue has caused mayhem for users, ranging from the embarrassment of making accidental calls or sending typos in messages, to more severe issues such as being locked out of their device completely because they couldn't enter their password.
Also: My MacBook Pro stopped charging - here's how I fixed it for free
I know it was annoying because I was affected. It wasn't bad, and I was convinced that it was oversensitivity in the display's touch mechanism because it seemed to get worse when I wore clothes that generated more static charge (such as a Gore-Tex jacket). It was annoying, but at least I never got locked out of my Apple Watch.
Who you gonna call?
Well, Apple's advice to retailers was to hold off on any repairs while it investigated the issue, and it was reported that carrying out a hard reset -- by holding the crown and side button at the same time for 10 seconds until the Apple logo disappears -- seemed to sort out the issue temporarily.
Last week, Apple pushed out WatchOS 10.4 to Apple Watch users, and along with some improvements, bug fixes, and security patches, this update also, in Apple's words, "resolves an issue that causes some users to experience false touches on the display."
Release notes for WatchOS 10.4.
But does it work?
I installed the update on my Apple Watch and immediately noticed that the touch display no longer felt as... touchy. It's still responsive, but it now feels more precise and deliberate. I also noticed that wearing my rainproof jacket no longer caused the display to go crazy.
So, the ghost has been well and truly busted.
If you've not installed this update, I recommend you get onto it. Fire up your iPhone, open the Apple Watch app, then tap the My Watch tab and then tap General > Software Update to get the ball rolling.