watchOS 10.4 has fixed one of the Apple Watch's most annoying bugs — “ghost touch” no longer affecting users

Apple Watch Series 9 review
(Image credit: Future)

Have you been finding your Apple Watch reacting to taps and touches that aren’t there? Update your Apple Watch to watchOS 10.4, and the most annoying bug of the last few weeks will finally disappear. 

Originally spotted back at the start of February, “ghost touch” is a name for a mysterious phenomenon where some Apple Watch screens jumped around erratically without user input. 

Ghost touch was causing major issues for some Apple Watch users, leading to false touch problems. Even the best Apple Watches were affected, leading to users getting locked out and disabling their devices when putting in their passcodes. 

As well as fixing the ghost touch issue, watchOS 10.4 also adds an option to ignore Double Tap when in Apple Vision Pro, alongside a whole host of new emojis to use when typing. Finally, notifications have been expanded to allow users to read messages in multiple languages, and a few small bugs have been fixed.

How to get watchOS 10.4

There are several ways to get the latest version of watchOS. First, you can update watchOS from your iPhone by clicking on the watch app and then “General.” From here, you should see “Software Update,” which will give you the ability to update to the latest version. 

You can follow the exact same steps from your Apple Watch to get the latest update but if your watch is suffering from ghost touch, it may be easier to do it from your iPhone. If the new watchOS update is not there yet, there’s a chance your device doesn't support the latest watchOS or your Apple Watch automatically downloaded and installed it overnight.

Though we don’t quite know how this ghost touch bug came about, we’re glad to see it fixed once and for all.

More from iMore

James Bentley

James is a staff writer and general Jack of all trades at iMore. With news, features, reviews, and guides under his belt, he has always liked Apple for its unique branding and distinctive style. Originally buying a Macbook for music and video production, he has since gone on to join the Apple ecosystem with as many devices as he can fit on his person. 


With a degree in Law and Media and being a little too young to move onto the next step of his law career, James started writing from his bedroom about games, movies, tech, and anything else he could think of. Within months, this turned into a fully-fledged career as a freelance journalist. Before joining iMore, he was a staff writer at Gfinity and saw himself published at sites like TechRadar, NME, and Eurogamer. 


As his extensive portfolio implies, James was predominantly a games journalist before joining iMore and brings with him a unique perspective on Apple itself. When not working, he is trying to catch up with the movies and albums of the year, as well as finally finishing the Yakuza series. If you like Midwest emo music or pretentious indie games that will make you cry, he’ll talk your ear off.