Samsung Gear S Troubleshooting

The watch will not turn or show signs of powering up.

Make sure the charger is plugged in to both the wall and the charging cradle. If a light does not turn on to indicate charging on the backpack, then the charging cord is faulty.

Make sure the charging cradle is fully charged. When plugged into the charger, make sure the light changes color to indicate that the backpack is fully charged.

When charging, the LED light on the charging cradle is supposed to be on, indicating that the charging cradle is receiving power. However, if the watch does not charge when attached to the charging cradle, the charging cradle may not be properly attached to the watch. Check for missing or bent terminals connecting the charging cradle to the watch.

If the charging cradle is working properly and it's correctly attached to the watch, but the watch still does not charge, you may need to replace the internal battery. See Samsung Gear S Battery/Motherboard Replacement guide.

If there is no issue with the charger or the battery and the watch will not turn on when you press the home button, you may need to replace the home button. See Home Button Ribbon Assembly Replacement guide.

The phone will not receive any cellular data such as emails or text messages.

Check to make sure your phone is powered on. If your phone is not powered on, the watch will not connect to the phone and receive text messages or phone data.

Make sure the phone and watch are in range for Bluetooth pairing to occur.

Check to make sure the Bluetooth is on in the settings of the phone.

Check to make sure the Bluetooth is working correctly on the phone by connecting to another wireless device or phone.

Check your cellular strength. If you are in a dead zone or underground the watch will not be able to receive cellular data. Move to another location. The cellular strength is usually indicated in the top corner your phone.

The touch screen fails to respond when touched

Make sure that the watch is updated to the latest software version to maximize its performance.

If you have a screen protector or case or both, make sure they do not interfere with your access to the touch screen or any of its functions. Try removing the case or screen protectors to see if that fixes the problem.

If the watch is unresponsive, too many apps may be running. Close any applications that are running in the background if you are able to do so.

If unable to, try turning the watch off and on again.

If any of the previous methods are unable to solve the issue, perform a master reset by following these steps:

Confirm that the Samsung Gear S is turned off. Press and hold the power button until “Galaxy Gear Rebooting” shows up on the screen. Release the power button and then press it repeatedly until the “Reboot Select Mode” appears on your screen. Press the power button again to highlight the “Recovery” option on screen. Press and hold the power button once more for five to eight seconds to select the “Recovery” option to reset it to factory settings.

If all of these options fail to fix the issue you may need to replace the screen. See Samsung Gear S Display Replacement Guide

Audio is difficult to hear/understand or audio may be entirely missing. Also watch may not be receiving audio input.

Make sure the audio is turned on in Settings. If audio is turned on check the volume to make sure it has been turned up.

If the audio still does not work after checking the Settings, you have a malfunctioning microphone and need to replace it. See Samsung Gear S Speaker Replacement

If the watch is not responding to any audio input, you may need to replace the microphone. See Samsung Gear S Microphone Replacement Guide.

Watch does not properly attach to the wrist.

Check for tears in the watch band. Check the clasp of the watch to make sure it latches. If there are tears or the wrist strap does not latch, replace the wrist strap.