watch stuck on preparing in update

Hey there, and welcome to Apple Support Communities, peb3473!

From our understanding, when trying to complete your watchOS 7 update, it shows “Preparing” but doesn’t complete the update process. We definitely want to be sure you’re able to update with ease, and would be happy to assist.

To get started, we’d recommend restarting both your iPhone and your Apple Watch. Once complete, we’d recommend unpairing your Apple Watch and setting it up as new, instead of restoring from a backup. During setup, you should be prompted to complete the update of the Apple Watch. To unpair your Apple Watch, follow these steps: Unpair and erase your Apple Watch - Apple Support

Cheers!

I also have the same problem - but I admit I was just "waiting" for it to suddenly get fixed. No such luck.

There is another thread about this at: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251801387

I have a 128gb iPhoneXR which I updated yesterday, 10/20/20. I had read several threads on how to get the Apple Watch Series 3 w/ 4.8gb to update from version 6.2.6. It always said it needed 3+ gb free to update. I took everything off i could think of, and it still said I only had 500mb free.

Thanks to the people who put their information in here, as I followed that and got it to work as follows:

Try#1:

1) RESET the watch on the Watch App. This causes it to save the information to your phone, so takes about 5 minutes to un-pair.

2) Re-Pair and select "restore from backup". The restore worked fine, although it took about 10 or so minutes. When done said I had 3.7gb free and 1.0gb in use on phone. I hope they know that 3.7gb is enough to fit their 3.1gb update in...

3) Try to update from the Watch App to 7.0.3.

----- I got into the same issues w/ "stuck on preparing" for about an hour. I DID NOT attempt to turn off/on Bluetooth as someone mentioned, I took the route of attempting the entire update on the watch. Everything I tried (forcing off Watch App, forced restarts, etc) came back with the "no space for upgrade on watch" issue. The watch now showed 2.6 gb free and 2.0gb in use, even though NOTHING else had changed. It DID NOT show the new version software on the device: I just magically lost 1gb of storage.

Try#2:

Perform (1) and (2) above.

3) ON THE WATCH request the update. Took a long time to download, but finally started "preparing" the 948mb update ON THE WATCH.

I watched the progress, or lack thereof, and was about to get totally discouraged when it seemed to stall at about 10% for a long time. But FINALLY (see details below) the preparing ended.

11:53 Started "preparing" on the watch. Stalled a long time at about 10%, then seemed to take off and move again.

12:30 at about 95%. Again seemed to stall but could tell it was moving ever so slowly.

12:42 Bar looked like 100% and the watch face changed: So I put it back on the charger.

12:46 Update had started: I got the little Apple in the middle.

12:58 was at 25% of progress, when it rebooted.

13:04 was at 67% of "new" pinwheel when it rebooted again.

13:07 COMPLETE

At the end, there was 3.0gb free and 1.3gb in use, and it had 7.0.3 installed!

WHEW. Although I guess I could have left it at 6.2.6, and perhaps as another said here "it may be the last update they allow on these ancient pieces of hardware", I'm now upgraded.

Hope this is of some help to others.

Bruce

I’ve had the exact same experience as the rest of these comments. I’ve done all the troubleshooting. Tried re-pairing, stuck at preparing then it says not connected to internet which it is, never disconnected. Incredibly frustrating as my watch has not been working properly and I was hoping this 7.0.3 update would fix it. I’ve been trying to update this watch for 2 days. So glad I switched from Fitbit...

Thanks for posting Bruce. Mine was stuck at “preparing” for quite a while. Then the watch app showed the option to install, again stuck at preparing for probably 15 minutes, then finally the apple appeared on my watch. That installation took about 30-45 minutes but finally mine is done as well. WHAT A PAIN.

Cheers? Update with ease? Did everything you said and I’m back in frozen prepare limbo. I will never again attempt to download an apple upgrade. Why unleash these of your customers when there’s issues?

I have been stuck on "preparing" for 3 plus hours. This is so ridiculous. I will never update my watch again....if I can ever get it working again. I stupidly chose to update from my phone. Then I got the message that I did not have enough memory to update. But in order to delete anything to get memory, I had to UNPAIR my phone - there was no way to get back to my apple watch app information. So I did that. Then I paired the phone again. The update seemed to download, but now I am stuck on preparing. This has taken hours. They need new software developers!!!! I guess I will call again in the morning (I have already tried two phone calls to Apple). And then I guess I will have to trek to the Apple store. What a mess.

So I woke up this morning and my watch update was still stuck on "preparing" with no movement. So I just turned off my phone, turned off the apple watch. Then I started all over again. I think it is working. I am at the window that says my apple watch is syncing. This is such a frustrating process. I hope Apple will have a team working on it.

My watch is stuck saying “Please continue setup on iPhone”, the update on my phone says Preparing. This has been for hours. I need both my phone and would like my watch. What am I to do with this? I’m so frustrated!

There is no My Watch option on the phone. Repairing says I need an update - that doesn’t happen. I’m in then same boat as the others.

I really understand your frustration. Clearly, Apple needs to work on this problem. I waited for about 12 hours with my phone stuck on "preparing". What finally worked for me was shutting down my phone, shutting down my apple watch and then turning both of them on again and just starting all over. I was able to PAIR my phone again and choose a backup from the day before. I have no clue why this worked.

I also have this problem with updating my s3 to 7.0.3.

Space options - would not install with less that 3.1GB free but even removing everything but native apps did not give me enough space.

I had no option but to un-pair and re-pair as the watch app on my phone wanted to force me to update. I've had to un-pair and re-pair several times.

Initial download of s/w was due to take 30 hours, finally took about 20. I have been stuck at preparing for 30 mins now. Very frustrating!

I finally got out of my tight loop with this issue. I turned both devices off a couple times, unpaired and repaired multiple times, turned in a circle to the right three times, stood on my head . . . I'm not sure what actually worked to have the update and pairing finally happen successfully - hours later. I certainly did NOT set anything to update automatically again!

This whole process was infuriating!

Once mine was stuck in the "preparing" phase, I pushed in the wheel on the watch several time and an option to reset the watch appeared on its screen. I clicked reset, and the watch rebooted. Once this finished, I repaired with my phone and the installation was complete. (Maybe it was a fluke, maybe it wasn't)

Did this already twice. Cant update. Takes hours to download (have super fast internet) and then 2 hours on preparing! I wanted to simply trash the watches, but iphone keeps telling me to update watches. My Worst experience with apple products :-(.

I have the same problem with 7.0.2 update. I tried restarting both watch and phone - and set up the watch as new - no luck. still stuck on preparing

and now it 'failed' stating that it was not connected to the internet - which is false.