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Can’t pair to new phone after factory reset

My Apple Watch series three won’t pair with my new phone. I factory reset it to do so, and open the app on my phone to pair, and it starts the process, and then my phone tells me the watch needs to update. When I try to update it from my phone, it then says the software is up to date. So I can’t pair the watch cause it keeps bringing me in a bug circle of updating that I can’t do.

Apple Watch

Posted on Nov 1, 2020 7:42 AM

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Posted on Nov 6, 2020 5:54 AM

That doesn’t help cause it’ll start to pair then tell me that my watch needs to update, and when I go to update it from my phone, it says it’s up to date. But it won’t pair cause it says it needs an update

3 replies

Nov 6, 2020 9:51 AM in response to BrandyHitchens94

Hello BrandyHitchens94,


Thanks for the follow-up info. Now we'd like to have you erase the Apple Watch, and then set it up as new with restoring from a backup. Then you can pair it to the new iPhone, and perform the necessary update. Follow the steps here to erase and set up if needed:


Unpair and erase your Apple Watch

Set up your Apple Watch


Let us know the outcome, and we can go from there if needed.


Have a great day!

Can’t pair to new phone after factory reset

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