Apple Watch Series 6 Verizon Connection Issues

I'm also getting this issue. Verizon says the device is not compatible, but its a GSP+Cellular from the Apple store. Verizon kept trying to sell me an apple Watch series 6 that comes out next month. Completely worthless and so far no solution.

I had the same issue, unable to attach my new Apple Watch Series 6 to my Verizon Wireless

account, but after multiple calls and ~3 hours, I was able to get it resolved

through the skilled work of an Adv. Tech Support Rep at Verizon.

In my case, I was replacing an older Apple Watch 3 which made this a bit more complicated,

but I don't think that was material to the blocking issue.

Key Points:

• The Verizon Mobile App needs to be installed on your iPhone and you need to be able to login to it.
• The Watch App on your iPhone will connect to that app during the activation process and you'll need to provide your Verizon Mobile password. This is the same as the VZW web account and password.
• There was a set of Apple Watches sent to the Apple Stores that did not have the IMEI numbers sent to Verizon. If you have one of those watches, you'll need someone at Verizon to manually add the number into their system.
• If you talk to first level tech support at Verizon, and don't get resolution, ask for advanced tech support.
• Once that issue is resolved, Verizon cannot do the activation for you. You will need to do that on your iPhone using the Watch App, which connects to the Verizon mobile App. They can walk you through that.

My detailed experience:

• I bought the Apple Watch Series 6 (with cellular) Fri., 9/18/20, at the Apple Store in the mall in Escondido, CA.
• I setup it up last night. All went fine except connecting the watch to Verizon.
• Initially I had trouble getting the iPhone Watch app to login to the Verizon Mobile App. There were password issues, etc.
• I called Verizon this morning and had a lengthly call, est. 30-45min, with tech support. They asked for the IMEI number, serial number, etc. but were unable to get it working. He eventually concluded that my watch was not compatible with Verizon.
• In parallel I continue to attempt to connect cellular with the Watch app on the iPhone. By this point it too was saying that the watch was incompatible with Verizon.
• I then contacted Apple Support. The Apple agent collected my info, then reached out to Verizon, then handed me off to a Verizon tech from their Advanced Tech Support team.
• The Verizon tech gathered the info, diagnosed the issues described above and ultimately resolved the issue.
• One complication for me was that I was replacing an older Apple Watch. The workflow ended up creating a new phone line at Verizon for my new watch. He offered to delete one of the two lines, but I decided to keep both since my old watch will be passed on to a family member. There is a $30 one time charge for the activation/upgrade. Calling support from an unrelated phone line was also key to getting it solved.
• Net-net, problem solved, after ~3 hours.

I hope all of you are able to get your connectivity issues resolved too.

I am having the same issue. I have talked with senior apple advisor. She could not understand why. Asked me to get a case number from Verizon. I am chatting with Verizon support now. I'm not hopeful.

I have the same issue. Verizon said that my watch is not in the system. Apple couldn’t find it in the system. Apple support told me to get a replacement watch. I went back to the store, returned it and got a new watch, still the same issue. Apple dude told me since I have a business Verizon account im Not able to add it to Verizon. I used my friends phone with a personal Verizon phone and still he couldn’t add the watch to Verizon.

verzion level 2 tech support tolD me over 10 people called and had the same issue. They took my IMEI and said they will need 7 to 10 days to get it added it since their database has not been updated with the new devices. I think that Apple dropped the ball on this.

the Apple genius was not so genius and said sorry you need a different type of Verizon account.

so both Apple and Verizon needs to get their act together.

Same thing happened to me. Called Verizon and fortunate enough to talk to someone with information, she immediately knew that the IMEI needs to be added in their system so she put in a ticket for me to have that added and was asked to try again and activate cellular on Tuesday as it takes a couple of days. I just hope the next person follows through and adds my IMEI number.

Same issue here. Spent an hour on the phone with Verizon. They opened a ticket and said it will take 3-5 days to “resolve”. I know Verizon wants to blame Apple for this, but come on. I better not be charged the ten bucks this month. This is ridiculous.

I have the same issue. From some of the responses above it sounds like we have to wait for Verizon to add Series 6 to their system. If that’s true hopefully they will fix the problem soon. That’s just a minor glitch.

I picked up two new gps+cellular series 6 watches from the Apple store yesterday and neither will connect to Verizon Both devices display an incompatible device error whether I attempt to add them through the watch app or the Verizon device manager page. I was told by Apple that Verizon needs to add the IMEI to their database. I spoke to 3 different people at Verizon all of whom told me that the device is not compatible with Verizon's network and cannot be added to the database. I will be going to the local Verizon store today to see if this problem can be resolved. Although I am aware this is not an Apple problem directly, I feel Apple should reach out to Verizon to address such a large scale issue with the launch of a new product. The finger pointing game has me very frustrated with this very expensive purchase.

Agreed, I don't really know who is to blame for the issue but it seems it should be worked out between Apple and Verizon instead of pointing fingers at each other and leaving it to customers to exchange watches 2-3 times. I would gladly have saved the money and gone with the GPS only for the ease of use!

Same issue here but with 2 Apple Watch SEs which also came out yesterday. Spent two hours last night with Vzw tech support then another hour this morning in person. Latest guidance was to wait a couple days. They never offered to add my IMEIs to their database though.

Just called Verizon back and they said they’re aware of the issue since so many people are calling about it ! Which makes me feel a lot better... so just call VZW and ask to add the IMEI number and they should start an application for it. It should again take a couple days to get in the system. Hopefully it works out.

Same. After talking to an apple rep for 2 hours, it turns out Apple and Verizon are aware of the issue and they’re trying to figure out who’s end the error is on. Of course, there’s no timeline as to when the issue may be resolved, so the cellular portion of the watch is completely useless for now 🙄.

Called my daughters and told them to stop, do not got to verizon to get a new watch, they were actually just entering the shopping center when I DID, sad state of affairs, they cannot get a 5g phone to work and the new ios stinks.

Same issue. Verizon tech support told me they were having lots of issues with the Apple Watch 6 and if I bought it from them they would guarantee it would work. Had to return the watch as they are now out of the band I want and store refused to let me swap the band I had with new watch. They only sell in complete sets. Makes no sense

I believe that Verizon and Apple are aware and have trouble tickets in to resolve. I am told that by Monday (9/21/20) it should be, but who knows. I went through a few people at Verizon who were extremely rude. One told me to trade my watch in for a PayPal credit. It seems it's a matter of getting the IMEI numbers from the watches in a database of some sort into the Verizon system. Sounds like Verizon can manually do this, but it may be a lot of work.