Galaxy Watch Active black screen

[LuciliaePrincess]

Hello,

I am hoping someone may be able to help me solve the issue I am having with my Samsung Watch Actice. I went for a swim earlier today doing some calm laps around the pool. I felt my watch vibrate a few times but it was just giving me an update on my swimming workout. I felt another vibration but when I looked at my screen it was completely black... Thought it may have died so I placed it on the charger but still nothing, and it did it's normal vibration to let me know its charging. I can turn it on and off but the screen just remains black and the only way I can tell it's off is because when I place it on the charger when it is off it doesnt vibrate. When it is on I am able to touch the screen and feel slight vibrations like I am clicking something, but it just remains completely black. Is this watch really not safe to use in the pool unlike it claims to be and did I just kill it, or is this some type of glitch I am having?

Hoping someone out there has been able to fix this as I love this watch and did not expect it to have any type of problem in the pool.

[TessM]

Hey @LuciliaePrincess ,

did you enable the Water Lock before going into the swimming pool? This can be enabled by following these steps: . On the watch, swipe down the Status panel, tap the Water lock mode icon, and then tap Done.

This can also be turned on from the Samsung Wearable app: Navigate to the Galaxy Wearable app, and then tap Advanced. Tap Water lock mode, tap Turn on, and then tap OK.

[LuciliaePrincess]

Hi Tess,

I did turn Water Lock mode on while I was swimming, however why it was on I could still click my home button and the screen would turn on and show the little water lock symbol at the bottom of my watch face. I had restarted my watch a few times after the black screen happened and I am guessing that must have shut off water lock mode as it was not on when I finally took a look at my phone.

[TessM]

It seems like some water may have ingress the watch, however, it's too early to say without having this examined by one of our engineers. I would suggest reaching our Support Team using any of the contact methods displayed HERE to have a look at your available options. 

[lexica]

This (exactly) has happened to me with my Galaxy Watch Active (bought in 2018). The first time, I returned it for repair, but now it is outside the warranty so I am hoping it fixes on its own. If anyone has any additional experience with this I would love to hear it - please help!

[gemlyds]

I'm also having the same issue. No i wasn't swimming but I was playing VR. It was on last time I check and then It went black I thought the battery was off but It vibrate and I can feel the touch Reponses and even my wearable app is saying that it is on but just black. I try to sent for repair but it's also out of warranty. so I just hope someone find a solution because I would rather get a new watch then getting it fix for 118$

[bshum]

My wife had the exact same model and yes, its' screen dies right after swimming. This is our second Samsung watch device died after swimming so I am not surprised at all. We have the Gear fit pro, which is not swim capable, which is still fine today. For fit pro2, my wife swim with it and it died once within warranty with a messed up screen. (not completely black) Fixed within warranty but then died again shortly after warranty. It can be brought to live intermittently if I disassemble it and put it back together. Now the Watch Active, it was completely black. Brought to Samsung this afternoon and was quoted for at least USD166~180 to fix it (in Hong Kong). While I actually just got a brand new Active2 yesterday for USD230. A brand new parallel import Active can be found at USD135. So, at the end, we have another piece of e-waste on this planet. Quite a disappointment that Samsung does not even have discount trade up offer for loyal customers.

[Mmill77]

Hi, did you ever resolve this issue? The same thing happened to my galaxy active watch 2 while swimming laps in the pool. 

[michele226]

Mine did the same thing after swimming 3 days ago. I had it on water lock. After getting out of pool, I dried it with a towel and was unlocking water mode. First the screen was faded and started flickering. I thought it might be best if I power it off but after I did that, it wouldn't come back on - just black screen. Weird thing is that on the Wearables app on my phone it shows the battery percentage and shows that it is connected. It vibrates every now and then. I guess it's getting texts and notifications. I contacted Samsun support and they told me since expired warranty, I'd have to pay to repair it at around $80. Geez, I already paid $300 for it and had it less than 2 years! I love Samsung products but maybe I should consider a  different watch next time - it's pretty important to me that I have a waterproof watch. I have a pool at my complex, I live right next to the river and occasionally we drive to one of the lakes. Such a bummer!

[bshum]

The water lock mode actually does nothing to its physical waterproof capability. It just disable the touch screen. However, this watch is simply not really waterproof. I did opened my died watch active and there is really some traces of water in it. And if you magnify enough, i can see some traces of copper on the back of the LCD had some tiny corrosion. i.e. it actually gets water in multiple times. Just up to a certain point, it breaks the circuit and dies. So, if $80 can bring it back to live, i think it is good to proceed. However, if you decided to swim with it, it is doomed to be dead. The expected lifetime is ~1 year before the corrosion that breaks it completely. If you are not swimming with it anymore, it is quite a reliable device. The battery should then be the next weakest link and I believe it should last at least 3~4 years based on my experience with gear fit pro.