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When setting up my Apple Watch....stuck on software update page on my IPHONE. No option to set up from backup or new watch.

  1. phone and watch are ALREADY UP TO DATE
  2. We have unpaired and re-paired the watch several times to my iPhone
  3. for a split second a notification pops up on my phone,

(*after taking a photo of the little circular image on the WATCH with my phone Per set up instructions*).

the notification says: the Apple Watch software is out of date and that we will need to update it. The options are: Dismiss or Update.

BUT the pop-up disappears before we can select anything. The only reason we were able to see what it said, is because I took a photo of it with my friend’s phone with “live” photo taking option in the iPhone camera, I then went back and look at the short video/photo which caught the split-second notification (hence blurry photo).


we read somewhere that in order to set up a Series 3 Apple watch with the current iPhone software is to have NO LATER than the software update #12.

is this true?


Basically, we have been stuck on the “Software update” step of the set up process On the Apple Watch for days it seems now. But the Apple watch (series 3) and iPhone 11 just can’t seem to pair together.

The iPhone doesn’t recognize that there is a watch connecting to it, but it is able to recognize it for a short time when it is able to take the photo of the circular image on the watch. (As mentioned above)

again WE HAVE restarted both watch and iPhone, and both ARE up to date to the newest software.

Posted on Sep 4, 2020 3:33 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 4, 2020 3:42 AM

If you have an Watch Series 3 running watchOS 5.x or lower, yes you need to pair with an iPhone running iOS 12 to update the watchOS to the latest 6.2.8.

After that you can un-pair from iOS 12.x iPhone and then pair why an iPhone running iOS 13.7.


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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 4, 2020 3:42 AM in response to PortlandSarah1993

If you have an Watch Series 3 running watchOS 5.x or lower, yes you need to pair with an iPhone running iOS 12 to update the watchOS to the latest 6.2.8.

After that you can un-pair from iOS 12.x iPhone and then pair why an iPhone running iOS 13.7.


Use Contact Support link at the top right of this page.

When setting up my Apple Watch....stuck on software update page on my IPHONE. No option to set up from backup or new watch.

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