Can't update and pair apple watch

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jimmieant Author

Level 1

37 points

Can't update and pair apple watch

I have an apple watch 4 which hasn't been used for over a year.

When I'm now trying to pair it, it requires the watchOS to be updated.

This is where it fails..

I've tried it on two different iPhones, both running iOS 14.2.

The watch app says "your software is up to date", but from there, I can only tap cancel which brings me to the screen that says it needs to be updated again.

See screenshots below.

There is also a screen recording on the Dropbox link.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nikzv3scg9nj7fa/RPReplay_Final1604819177.MP4?dl=0

Apple Watch

Posted on Nov 7, 2020 11:29 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Community User

Nov 8, 2020 11:08 AM in response to jimmieant

Try this;

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Answer 2

jimmieant Author

Level 1

37 points

Nov 8, 2020 8:25 PM in response to Community User

This worked! Thank you.

I was able to update with iOS 14.2 after the reset.

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Answer 3

Nov 9, 2020 1:46 AM in response to jimmieant

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Answer 4

jimmieant Author

Level 1

37 points

Nov 8, 2020 10:41 AM in response to Community User

Thanks for your help. It makes sense even if it feels like a bug that newer iOS won't be able to update the watch OS.

On my old iPhone 6 with (latest possible) iOS 12.4.9, I tried

Tapped ”Start pairing” -> ”Scanned watch” -> tapped ”update now”
Phone said: ”Activating Apple Watch” for about a minute
Then it popped up a message for just half a second and disappeared by it self saying "Iphone Out of Date", "Your iPhone is out of date, before you can pair it with your Apple Watch you'll have to update it to the latest version of iOS"
Then it started "unpairing" by itself.

--

Then I tried with a iPhone XR running IOS 13.7.

It said the same thing as the iPhone 6. The only difference was that the message didn't disappear by itself and it gave me the option to update phone or cancel pairing.

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Answer 5

Nov 8, 2020 1:33 AM in response to jimmieant

Find a phone with ios12 on it if you can and pair your watch to it,it will ask

you to update the watch select yes,after it has updated unpair the watch

from the ios12 phone and then pair it with your ios13 or 14 phone.Now you can update to a higher WatchOS.

Alternatively contact apple store and see if they will update the watch

through the watch's data/diagnostic port.

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Can't update and pair apple watch

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