Apple Watch Lifecycle: End Of Life And Support Status

Last updated on January 16, 2024

The Apple Watch is a line of smartwatches developed by Apple Inc. It is a touch-screen smartwatch capable of fitness tracking, wireless communication, swappable faces, seamless integration with other Apple products, and much more.

Support status guide

End of life (EOL) is the end of a product’s useful life. When a product reaches the end of its life cycle, the manufacturer no longer supports it. The following table explains the different phases of a product’s lifecycle. Testing status is when the product is initially released and EOL is when product support is no longer offered. The time between these two points is the support timeframe.

Testing

The software is not yet publicly available. It is in testing phase i.e., alpha, beta, release preview etc.

Active

The software is actively supported by the vendor.

Phasing Out

The software will soon reach its end of life. You need to look for upgrade or migration options. The software will automatically go into phasing out status 2 months before end of life.

End Of Life

The software is no longer supported by the vendor. You need to make sure your system and environment are safe.

Version

Released

Discontinued

Supported

Ultra 2
6 months and 3 weeks ago
(22 September 2023)
In Production
Supported
Series 9
6 months and 3 weeks ago
(22 September 2023)
In Production
Supported
Ultra
1 year and 6 months ago
(23 September 2022)
Ended 7 months and 1 week ago
(12 September 2023)
Supported
Series 8
1 year and 7 months ago
(16 September 2022)
Ended 7 months and 1 week ago
(12 September 2023)
Supported
SE (2nd Gen)
1 year and 7 months ago
(16 September 2022)
In Production
Supported
Series 7
2 years and 6 months ago
(15 October 2021)
Ended 1 year and 7 months ago
(7 September 2022)
Supported
Series 6
3 years and 7 months ago
(18 September 2020)
Ended 2 years and 6 months ago
(14 October 2021)
Supported
SE (1st Gen)
3 years and 7 months ago
(18 September 2020)
Ended 1 year and 7 months ago
(7 September 2022)
Supported
Series 5
4 years and 6 months ago
(20 September 2019)
Ended 3 years and 7 months ago
(15 September 2020)
Supported
Series 4
5 years and 6 months ago
(21 September 2018)
Ended 4 years and 7 months ago
(10 September 2019)
Supported
Series 3
6 years and 6 months ago
(22 September 2017)
Ended 1 year and 7 months ago
(7 September 2022)
Ended 1 year and 7 months ago
(13 September 2022)
Series 2
7 years and 7 months ago
(16 September 2016)
Ended 6 years and 7 months ago
(12 September 2017)
Ended 3 years and 7 months ago
(15 September 2020)
Series 1
7 years and 7 months ago
(12 September 2016)
Ended 5 years and 7 months ago
(12 September 2018)
Ended 3 years and 7 months ago
(15 September 2020)
1st Gen
8 years and 11 months ago
(24 April 2015)
Ended 7 years and 7 months ago
(7 September 2016)
Ended 5 years and 7 months ago
(17 September 2018)

Apple Watches use the Apple WatchOS, and hence, are only supported as long as the device supports the respective operating system. The Apple Watch loses support as soon as it no longer supports a newer version of WatchOS.

While some Apple Watches have been discontinued, Apple continues to support them as they are still being used.

The table below lists the smartwatch models and their supported watchOS versions:

Apple Watch Supported watchOS version
Ultra 2 10
Series 9 10
Ultra 9, 10
Series 8 9, 10
SE (2nd Gen) 9, 10
Series 7 8, 9, 10
Series 6 7, 8, 9, 10
SE (1st Gen) 7, 8, 9, 10
Series 5 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Series 4 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Series 3 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Series 2 3, 4, 5, 6
Series 1 3, 4, 5, 6
1st Gen 1, 2, 3, 4