With the launch today of the watchOS 2.0 beta 3, Apple has officially confirmed that there is currently no way for users to downgrade the operating system of an Apple Watch to an earlier version of the watchOS without sending the wearable device back to Apple.
Upon Apple's release of beta 1 for watchOS 2.0 after its annual WWDC, users did not expect that they would not be able to downgrade the operating system of their Apple Watch to the stable watchOS 1.0.1 if they decided to install the beta build of watchOS 2.0.
There have been many attempts to try to downgrade the operating system of the Apple Watch, but the only viable option that was discovered was to send the wearable device back to Apple to perform the operation.
Written out in a new webpage within Apple's website that only developers can access is the fact that the Apple Watch will require assistance from Apple Support to have its operating system restored to earlier versions.
Apple also noted that the downgrade process is possible to be done neither by Apple retail stores nor by Apple Authorized Service Providers, ultimately leaving only that one option of shipping the Apple Watch back to Apple so that it can be restored to an earlier operating system.
Users will have no choice but to wait until the Apple Watch is shipped back to them. It is also unclear how much the downgrade process will cost the user.
Apple states that once it receives the Apple Watch, it could take up to three working days before service can be applied to it, and assures that the same device that was sent in will also be the same device that will be sent back to the sender.
The countries where the operating system downgrade service is available include the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and Switzerland.
The difficulty in downgrading the operating system for the Apple Watch should not be too much of a problem. Most consumers will only likely upgrade their devices once a watchOS update has been officially released, while developers and beta testers should already expect issues to crop up by their decision to install a beta version of the watchOS.
However, the decision by Apple to prevent most users from downgrading their watchOS comes with the predicament of a possible botched operating system update by Apple. What if major issues occur from a released watchOS? What will the company tell Apple Watch users who may have barely usable wearable devices while they wait for Apple to release a fix?
