Apple says bands attached to Apple Watches sent for service won't come back

Apple Watch with band removed (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

Apple says watches sent in for service must have their bands removed first.
Any bands sent with watches will not be returned.
This hasn't always been the case, however.

Apple has updated an online support document to tell users not to send their Apple Watch bands when their watches go to Apple for service. The same goes for any other accessories, too.

The same support document used to tell people that they "don't need" to send any accessories with their watch, but that stance has now changed as spotted by Apple Insider.

Apple Watch having band changed (Image credit: iMore)

Your Apple Watch band and any other accessories that you send won't be returned, so please remove them before sending your Apple Watch in for service.Learn how to remove your band. If you have a Link Bracelet band, remember to separate the links before you remove the band.

It isn't clear why this change was made and in all likelihood, we'll never know. For now, you're probably best learning how to change Apple Watch bands just in case.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.