Apple Watch update 10.4 stuck at Preparing

Have the same issue. Losing 100% charge in few hours and update stuck at preparing

Its been on charge all night with 60% prepared and no movement! AND on top of that since the update a few days ago my watch wont make it through the day without a charge so desperately need this update

I have done all the things listed here and other spots. Even left it going all night and still won’t finish the update. I deleted it and I guess will just wait for Apple to figure it out.

To delete a WatchOS update that has downloaded but not installed, follow the steps below:

1. Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.

2. Scroll down and tap on "General".

3. Tap on "Storage" at the bottom of the General screen.

4. If the update has downloaded but not installed, it should appear on the Storage screen.

5. Tap on the update and then tap on "Delete Update".

6. After deleting the update, you can try reinstalling it again.Go to the apple watch app on your phone. Scroll until you see General, click that. Find “storage” at the bottom and click that. If the watch has downloaded but not installed the update, it should show in storage. Mine showed it as “WatchOS 10.4”. You should be able to click on that and it will pop up an option to delete the file. Then you can try reinstalling the update again.

I have now deleted 3 times. Twice stuck at preparing. Once stuck at downloading but hasn’t done anything on the watch. This is a disaster!

I’m currently having this problem and it’s now April 12th, so I’m assuming it hasn’t been figured out. I have Apple Watch Series 8 and it’s been preparing for almost two hours now. I only tried to update it because I fully charged my watch before bed and woke up to it completely dead, and update was the only Apple solution I could find.

I have the same problem, can't install the watch update 10.4 stuck al preparing and lost 80% of charge in 5 hours yesterday...

Hi,

How did you delete the update? I couldn’t find how to stop the “preparing “ status that it stuck on.

I deleted update file and will just wait for the next update. I’m tired of wasting time and getting frustrated with this s minor update.

I was finally able to update my watch ONLY after I deleted several videos to free of storage for the update. I have plenty of memory on my watch and phone but Apple must require enough space on your iCloud storage... which Apple was asking me to upgrade my cloud storage. But instead I just deleted videos (quickest way to free space). Not fair that Apple does this, in my humble opinion.

But anyone with issues, try upgrading cloud storage or deleting videos from cloud and then see. I bet it works then. Sneaky Apple... just sneaky.

I tried software update on the watch and I got the same message. An Apple Tech is going to call me back. In the meantime, I deleted the “preparing” 10.4 file from general settings on my iPhone, as listed above, and it seems to restore the watch battery back to normal. I’ll see what the Tech has to say about the iOS 10.4 update.

Same with me can’t update watch

I have the same problem. I waited to install because I was out of the country. Now not only will it update but the watch lost 70 of a 100% charge in 4 hours on my wrist last night.

This is ridiculous. I've tried the recommended steps multiple time, yet it continues to get stuck on Preparing with no useful information. Best information is: try again. Apple used to be better.

I've tried all of the above and it still locks up on "preparing." Frustrating!