Apple Watch Won't Pair to iPhone

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8 points

Apple Watch Won't Pair to iPhone

I just purchased a new/used apple watch from online. When trying to pair the watch to the phone by the viewfinder, it takes a few minutes then the screen disappears and goes back to the original screen as nothing has happened. When trying to go with manual pairing, the 6-digit code never shows up. No error messages are shown after this so can't see what it could be.

I have done everything from reseting my phone's network to the watch itself and still won't pair. At first I thought it might be the bluetooth due to when trying to pair and going to the bluetooth settings, you can see the Apple Watch get connected and then dis-connect from the phone however when going to the watch for pairing, my phone will recognize it giving me the option to 'pair with this iPhone' plus there is nothing online stating that this is an issue even when researching for a few hours.

I did have an apple watch in the past and may of not properly taken it off my account however it does not show up for me to unpair it. I'm trying to see how to get this fixed so I am not out some money as right now it's just a fancy paper-weight.

Any help would be amazing, thank you in advance!

Apple Watch

Posted on Jun 3, 2020 6:32 AM

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Answer 1

Jun 3, 2020 7:06 AM in response to kevinklimek

The person you bough the watch off needs to follow these steps;

What to do before you sell or give away your old watch

If they can't or won't then you won't be able to use the watch because it is activation locked,

Read here;

About Activation Lock

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Answer 2

Jun 3, 2020 6:41 AM in response to kevinklimek

What model of phone is it?.

Which model of watch is it?.

Which version of ios is on the phone?

Which version of watchOS it the watch running?

What error messages are you receiving?

A bit more info please.

Sounds like you've bought a watch with an activation lock on it.

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Answer 3

kevinklimek Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 3, 2020 6:51 AM in response to Community User

I have an iPhone X, the watch is a series 2. I have IOS 13.5.1 on the phone.

As the version of watchOS, I am not 100% sure as I can't get past the pairing step of the watch. There are no error messages that show up when trying to pair.

To get the activation lock off of it, how would you continue with that or get it off?

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Answer 4

kevinklimek Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 3, 2020 7:13 AM in response to Community User

I bought the watch from a third party so I'm not sure that I'll be able to get this. Is there a way to check to see if that is the problem/issue? Checking if their is an activation lock on the device?

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Answer 5

Jun 3, 2020 7:19 AM in response to kevinklimek

Because you can't do anything with the watch is a sign that it's locked to another phone,you really need to contact the 3rd party you got the watch off,only they know for sure if there is an activation lock on it.

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Answer 6

kevinklimek Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 3, 2020 7:40 AM in response to Community User

I've tried contacting the 3rd party, and they are not sure if it's locked to another phone. Would calling up Apple support help with this finding out? Or is it basically just a paper weight until then?

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Answer 7

kevinklimek Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 3, 2020 7:44 AM in response to kevinklimek

Found this on one of the articles; "If you can, try to pair the watch with your iPhone. If you're asked to enter the previous owner's Apple ID password during setup, Activation Lock is still on."

I am not asked to enter a previous owner's information so it doesn't seem that it is on activation lock

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Answer 8

kevinklimek Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 3, 2020 5:41 PM in response to Community User

Update: I have been able to update and try to pair it with the newer iPhone however I keep on getting the error message 'Unable to Check for Update - Checking for a software update failed because you are not connected to the Internet'. However I am connected to the my internet. Do you happen to know what to do?

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Answer 9

Jun 3, 2020 7:45 AM in response to kevinklimek

Ok then try this first;

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Answer 10

Jun 3, 2020 8:02 AM in response to kevinklimek

If your phone is on ios13 and the watch is running watchOS5 or lower then;

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Answer 11

Jun 3, 2020 4:08 PM in response to kevinklimek

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Answer 12

kevinklimek Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 3, 2020 7:54 AM in response to Community User

I have tried this a few times and yet cannot get the 'erase all settings' prompt to show up.

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Answer 13

kevinklimek Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 3, 2020 8:19 AM in response to Community User

I’ll give this a try when I find an ios12 device, unfortunately I do not have one near me at the moment.

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Answer 14

kevinklimek Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 3, 2020 2:14 PM in response to Community User

Update: I have found a phone that has IOS12 on it and it is currently downloading the latest update on the watch.... so far looking like great news. Thank you so far for your help!

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Answer 15

kevinklimek Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 3, 2020 6:02 PM in response to kevinklimek

Edit: Now when going through, it states that the watch is up to date but it won't get past this point of setup.

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Apple Watch Won't Pair to iPhone

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