Some third-party Apple Watch Series 7 apps are missing their icons

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Apple Watch Series 7 Aluminum colors
Apple Watch Series 7 Aluminum colors (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

  • Some third-party Apple Watch apps are missing icons when installed on Apple's hot new thing.
  • Third-party apps like CARROT Weather, Drafts, Fantastical, and PCalc are missing icons altogether.
  • Missing icons means it can be impossible to tell which app is which.

Update, October 15 (08:00 am ET): The current working theory is that something has gone awry with the way the App Store has handled Apple Watch Series 7 apps — some apps are also experiencing complication size mismatches, too.

Anyone frantically setting up their hot new Apple Watch Series 7 might be in for a tricky time when installing some third-party apps — because their icons are missing.

As I've noticed on my own Apple Watch and has been confirmed by others, some third-party apps are simply not having their icons rendered on-screen. That, in turn, can make it impossible to tell which app is which depending on the app view you are using.

One way around things, at least for now, is to switch to the list view — at least you have the app's name to go by!

Initial suggestions are that the issue only impacts apps with vector icons, with PCalc developer James Thomson pointing out that the problem isn't present in the Apple Watch simulator on a Mac. That might suggest that the problem is Apple's to fix, rather than something developers can do — beyond switching away from using vector icons, presumably.

Impacted apps at the time of writing appear to include:

  • CARROT Weather
  • PCalc
  • Drafts
  • Dice
  • Fantastical

It's possible others are also impacted, however.

I've reached out to Apple for comment on what could be going on here — I'll update this post as and when I receive a response.

It's worth noting that this issue only appears to crop up on Apple Watch Series 7, rather than older watches running the same version of watchOS. Despite being the best Apple Watch it has shipped to date, Apple's new wearable is already suffering some issues right out the gate, it seems.

Update, October 15 (08:00 am ET) — Complications, too!

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

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.