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User profile for user: jz2006
jz2006 Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

New Apple Watch - unable to pair

Hi,


I was gifted an apple watch 4 back in Feb, but never got around to setting it up (I loved my old watch and didn't want to switch), but recently I decided to give the AW a go, so I took it out of the box and tried to pair it. I charged it, turned it on, paired it to my iphone 7 plus (ios 13.2.3), but it's stuck on the "checking for update" section. It will keep kicking back the error that I'm not connected to the internet, which I definitely am. When I check online forums, most suggestions are to reboot the watch, reboot the phone, and reset the watch to factory settings, which I've done all of them, with no success. Additionally, I don't think there's a way to connect the AW to wifi right out of the box before pairing with a phone first (please correct me if I'm wrong). The only things it lets me do before pairing is selecting language and country. Is there something I'm missing?

Apple Watch

Posted on Nov 19, 2019 9:59 AM

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User profile for user: jz2006
jz2006 Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Posted on Nov 20, 2019 9:25 AM

Quick update: I was able to pair it using my wife's old iphone following the instructions courtesy of notfromusa


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250872344


For reference, I used an iphone 6, which at most can update to ios 12.4.3, which is needed to be able to update the watch OS to 5.3.3 (it won't update to Watch OS 6, but that's ok, 5.3.3 is enough so that when you re-pair it to your current phone, it won't want you to update your watch before continuing). I initially tried an iphone running ios 12.1, and it required an update. If you use iphone 6s or newer and it doesn't have 12.4 installed, the next update would be 13.2.3, which gives me the pairing issue.


Once I paired it to the iphone 6, I updated the watch OS to 5.3.3, then unpaired, which clears out the device but leaves the updated OS intact. I then paired it to my iphone 7+, which now works (without asking me to update the watch to OS6). Once it's paired and synced, it seems that the General --> Software Update function will work (assuming you're connected to wifi).

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User profile for user: jz2006
jz2006 Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Nov 20, 2019 9:25 AM in response to jz2006

Quick update: I was able to pair it using my wife's old iphone following the instructions courtesy of notfromusa


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250872344


For reference, I used an iphone 6, which at most can update to ios 12.4.3, which is needed to be able to update the watch OS to 5.3.3 (it won't update to Watch OS 6, but that's ok, 5.3.3 is enough so that when you re-pair it to your current phone, it won't want you to update your watch before continuing). I initially tried an iphone running ios 12.1, and it required an update. If you use iphone 6s or newer and it doesn't have 12.4 installed, the next update would be 13.2.3, which gives me the pairing issue.


Once I paired it to the iphone 6, I updated the watch OS to 5.3.3, then unpaired, which clears out the device but leaves the updated OS intact. I then paired it to my iphone 7+, which now works (without asking me to update the watch to OS6). Once it's paired and synced, it seems that the General --> Software Update function will work (assuming you're connected to wifi).

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New Apple Watch - unable to pair

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