Watch app (iOS) crashes on launch

I contacted Apple Support and wanted to share what worked for us (that did not involve a complete restore of the iPhone):

1. Reset All Settings on the iPhone (Settings --> General --> Reset All Settings). You do not lose media or things like game data, but things like cards in Wallet, Passcode, and FaceID will be reset.
2. Reset All Settings on the Watch (Settings --> General --> Erase All Content and Settings).
3. You should now be able to delete the Watch app from your phone. Delete the app completely - do not just remove it from the Home Screen - you want all the settings and data gone for the app.
4. Go to the App Store and download the Watch app again.
5. You should now have a working Watch app that you can use to re-pair with and manage your Apple Watch.
6. You'll need to re-enter settings on your iPhone such as FaceID and Passcode.

I hope this helps other fix this issue.

After backing up the iPhone, reset it completely, and setting it up again from the back up I was still unable to delete the app by clicking on it.

I had to go to

Settings > General > iPhone Storage > Watch App > Click Delete

After that I was able to re-download it from the App Store and it stopped crashing

Hope this helps someone

Try- general-i phone storage-scroll down to watch app, click on it , remove all back ups, delete app, go to app store, re install app, worked for me. You cannot delete app on home screen

I think I solved this problem. Force press the Apple Watch App from the App Library (swiping all the way left on home screen). Drag the Watch icon to the home screen. Delete. Re-install the Watch App and re-pair your phone.

Pairing to another phone wont change the state of your phone, only the watch. I tried that and it didnt help. What I did to resolve the " you cant delete your watch app because its paired" issue - I backed the iphone up to itunes. then reset -erase the phone. Then restore from backup. Then delete the watch app. then download new watch app. then paired to watch. Working for three days OK now. Be VERY careful with the backup and restores so you dont lose any data!! I also have backups to Icloud.

What I did to resolve the " you cant delete your watch app because its paired" issue - I backed the iphone up to itunes. then reset -erase the phone. Then restore from backup. Then delete the watch app. then download new watch app. then paired to watch. Working for 10 days OK now. Be VERY careful with the backup and restores so you dont lose any data!! I also have backups to Icloud to be sure. There is a tip above to remove the watch from bluetooth manually before the backup which I had also done. Seems like a good idea. Good luck

I had similar probs, i have an xr and apple watch 6, worked for 2 days then app crashes and wouldnt sync, went to apple store, they didnt sort it but they backed all my stuff to i cloud, did a reset but still wouldnt work, tried to delete app on homescreen but unable to, but i stumbled on i phone storage, had phone on charge and connected to wi fi, scrolled to apple watch, clicked it, clicked delete app, to my surprise it deleted it!!!!! I re installed from app store and now the app is working ok at mo

Wanted to give an update. I decided to give the iOS 14.5 beta a try today as a last ditch effort before returning the watch this weekend. Great news, it worked for me as well. I did have to reset the watch in order to pair it again so I did lose whatever data may have been saved, but ill take it if it means I now have a working watch, something I didn't have the past 3 months. For those of you still stuck, I would say hold out for the 14.5 release as it looks like it should fix the issue.

Guys, I can confim that iOS 14.5 update finally fixed the issue! After uprading it asked me to pair Apple Watch automatically and it works perfectly. Finally!!!

I got it to work!!

1. erased and reset watch
2. backed up iPhone, erased and restored from backup
3. once iPhone was restored I was able to delete and watch app and re-download it.
4. watch app finally worked and I was able to connect and setup my watch as a new watch.

Hope this helps someone!

Thank you! It works and it is pretty simple. My watch is back in the game!

I was tired waiting for an iOS release that “should” fix the issue months after.

To elaborate a bit more, the key action is to remove the Watch app by plugging the phone into a computer and typing a command line.

In order to do that: (with a Mac) download the app “mobiledevice” in your Mac (1 command line with “brew”), plug your iPhone into your Mac, make sure your phone trusts the computer and the computer trusts your phone, type 1 command line to remove the package com.apple.Bridge (which is the package for the Watch app).

And you are good! The Watch app is deleted on your phone. You can now download it again from the AppStore, erase your watch completely and reinstall it.

did you delete the watch app on the phone after the reset? if it is unpaired you should be able to delete the app and reinstall it from the app store

I was on 14.2 when my new series 6 watch disconnected and the watch app started crashing. Deleting the watch app - or getting to a state where you are able to delete it - is key to resolving the issue as a fresh download seems to fix the issue for some.

This totally worked for me!!

I think the key is to remove your watch from BlueTooth manually before running a back-up, then when you restore from this back-up the Watch App has no reference to a paired phone and enables you to delete the app (and re-download from the AppStore).

In my case having tried everything I had already factory reset my Series-6 before I got to this solution, but after a long Restore another 15 minutes to set-up the watch again wasn’t going to bother me.