Watch app (iOS) crashes on launch

Same issue here. I have an iPhone XR and over Thanksgiving weekend I picked up a new Apple Watch series 6 to replace my older series 2. It worked great for a week or two and then stopped connecting to the phone. I followed the steps here without much luck. I have contacted apple support multiple times now and have reset my phone no less than half a dozen times without success. The phone does not show the watch in Bluetooth, I unpaired it a few weeks back when first trying to resolve. I have followed the steps and completely reset the watch, completely reset the phone and restored from a backup that was created after removing the watch from Bluetooth and still no luck. The only option I have is to remove the watch app from the home screen but not fully removing it from the phone. I am at a loss and now I have a non-functioning watch as I cannot pair it to my phone. I even tried the steps listed above where you do not restore the phone but just reset settings. No luck. Apple support today told me to call back when they are open next and get my case escalated but in the mean time I was hoping someone here might have another suggestion.

Thanks Mike, I gave that a shot but unfortunately it still did not work for me. Its like the watch is still somehow attached to the phone, but I cannot figure out how. The watch itself has been fully reset to factory settings, all backups have been removed, I did an iCloud backup without the watch app being backed up, the watch itself does not show up in Bluetooth as I unpaired/forgot device about two weeks ago. As soon as I do a restore on my phone and then backup via the most recent iCloud backup, I get a message that pops up that says "Unlock Apple Watch with iPhone, When apple watch finishes syncing, you can open the apple watch app to turn on unlock with iPhone"

Once you did the back up, did you delete the Watch app from the app library? For some reason, even after taking the watch app from the restore on the cloud, the watch app will still be on your phone, it was at this point that the phone finally let me delete the watch app.

I called apple support this morning and ended up talking to a Sr. Advisor. She had me reset my phone again but not login to my apple ID account and basically set it up as new. Once it got to the main screen I was able to open the watch app and pair without issue (not too surprised). She then had me login to my iCloud account and told me everything would update back to my phone...turns out that was not the case at all. My photos showed up but I lost everything else, app data, messages, email, etc. I had hung up with her as it was going to take some time but this is not an acceptable answer to get the watch to work. I ended up resetting and restoring from my most recent iCloud backup again to get all my data back but as expected, the watch app still does not work. I may call them back and see if we have any other options, but starting from a basically fresh start isn't going to work for me.

This solution did not work, at least for me. Did the exact same steps and I am still unable to remove the Watch app.

After that, I had the Apple Support over the phone and this is unbelievable: at the beginning she said they are not aware of such problem and at the end she confessed that engineers are aware of it and working on it. Not sure which answer is correct regarding this issue is going since September 2020.

The solution I was offered, with no garantee she said, is to do a backup and restore the phone to be able to delete the app and then reinstalling it. This solution is not an option for me, considering what could happen when erasing a phone and restoring it.

Other alternative she said: wait til they fix the problem.. either by sending back the watch to Apple and buying a new one when the problem will be fixed (with this solution I keep the guarantee intact) or by putting the watch in a drawer and wait (guarantee will pass).

Truly unbelievable for one of the most important company in the world. My watch is unusable since Christmas and will stay until they fix the soft, this can take weeks or months she said .. what a shame.

It would be difficult to do a video of the iPhone backup and restore process if that's what you're asking. YouTube might have some?

Here is a video of the steps I described on an iPhone, and the steps are similar on the Watch.

https://youtu.be/XZ6sOs8rNE4

I had my Iwatch series 3 absolutely perfect condition worked great until the update I tried for like a week to update aeveral times a day and nothing worked. Tried everything Apple keeps telling everyone to do and nothing. Called Apple support and they couldn’t do anythjng set me up with a service center bestbuy git to my appointment waited 40 mins to have them tell me apple does guve them anything to work in apply products so nothing they can do. called apple support again talk to the Supervisor she actually took over my phone and saw that it paired and started download but wouldnt go through finally they sent a box and said they would take care of it at no cost. Sent it in it got to service and said ohhh we found something else wrong with it ummm excuse me worked JUST FINE before ur update. Now instead of taking care of it they want me to pay 160 bucks the same price as a iwatch series 3 from best by hmmm coincidence I think not. Argued with them and the guy said ok we are going to send it back cause its under a ticket for this problem and once its return guve this reference number and we will fix it no cost. Well after they send it out they send me an email saying that they wont even fix it for the 160 bucks anymore. They just told me they would and sent it back to get it outta their hands and tell me they wouldnt do anything and wouldnt accept it back! BUT when i finally get it and call them if they still refuse guess what i have the phone call recorded. All there updates do something bad to your product to get you to buy the newest model. Which is why they keep getting sued soo over Apple.

A pure joke Apple.. my watch is now not working for 1.5 months and resting in a drawer waiting for an update..

350€ product paired with a 900€ phone from the same brand and an unprofessional and unreliable app in the middle that crashed and makes it useless, or maybe as a paperweight.

Has anyone with this problem tried

iOS 14.4 as long as watchOS 7.3? If yes, does it miraculously solve something?

for me the update to 14.5 public beta solves the problem but i need to repair the watch. 100+ days of data lost 😭 at least i can use the watch again. please make a backup before updating and if you are not sure regarding betas, don’t touch it!

Thanks a lot for your reply!

So a possible fix would come in the 14.5? Good to know..

Considering an official iOS/watchOS release candidate produces bugs, not sure if I would try a beta one.. so I believe you imply that nothing is fixed in the 14.4 and our watch need to wait few more months before being in service again with the next RC

iOS 14.4 was out officially 9 days ago and it does not fix the problem. I have tested it and app still crashing and of course not being able to delete the app due to a paired watch that cannot be unpaired.

The next iOS (14.5) would be out in 1.5 month, so around March 15th. Let’s hope it will fix the problem as indicated by petrolhead_ch.

That would only be 3 months with a crashing app and an unusable watch..

Has anyone else had success with the 14.5 Beta? I am coming up on my 90 days to return the watch this coming Saturday 2/20 and was planning to take it back as its been nearly 3 months without a working watch. I am willing to get the 14.5 Beta a try until the official release comes out if it means I would have a working watch again, but don't want to go through the hassle if it still seems to be hit or miss for solving our issue.

I haven't tried yet but you can use third party software on your Mac to remove the Watch app and then reinstall it from the App Store. I got my wife's watch working that way w/o resetting her phone. I'm not posting the solution here but you can definitely try to search for my solution. It does need you to know how to use some command line tools.

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.

Same thing happened with me. I have an iPhone 7 with iOS 14.4, paired with Watch Series 2 for a long time. Yesterday I bought Series 6 and paired with iPhone successfully. Then I used Watch App on iPhone the whole day for faces customisation, apps installation, WatchOS update etc. Today I noted that Messages didn't update on Watch. I found on forums that I should disable/enable Messages sync on Watch App, but faced a crash on Watch App starting.

Restarting an iPhone did help.

iPhone 7 - iOS 14.4, Apple Watch Series 7 - WatchOS 7.3, and old (still paired Apple Watch Series 2 - WatchOS 6.3)