How long does the watch OS7.2 update take to install?

Try updating from the watch itself;

Make sure that your watch is connected to wifi.

On your watch, open the Settings app.

Tap General > Software Update.

Tap Install if a software update is available, then follow the onscreen instructions.

Mine is taking hours to download and now just says “preparing”.

this is completely non sense i bought today a watch series 6, gave a bunch of money for that and I am waiting as long as 3 hours to update this "brand new" device. This is terrible, I am strongly considering returning this product to the vendor, and I bought this one because my series 2 just doesnt want to sync with my phone any longer, I think I should have to stop wasting my time with this gadget

I agree with abs0134. I am looking at 13 hours to get the 7.2 watch os update, just to be able to pair my new iphone 12 to my watch. The 13 hour estimate I am looking at hasn't changed in the last 3 hours. Someone at apple was responsible for this process, and he or she should be called to task for this poor performance.

Agreed! This is nuts and the he fact that I have to unpair and repair just to get it to set reminders, “have space” to update (I have NO third party apps, no music, no podcasts etc. what is the deal?!), count my stands properly, & yesterday it missed a whole section of road I walked on during a workout

My apple watch has been doing the same as carmelswift's. I removed all pictures, music, and all of the 3rd party apps, and it doesn't even do basic functions like pinging my phone any more. I can't event install the update because it does not have enough space. It still keeps reminding me to make more space like removing pictures (I don't have any pictured on the watch). It has been very difficult to use the watch as intended. I also runs batteries like crazy. I think I can only have it off the charger for 2-3 hours before it goes to 10%.

Hi everybody! This update used to give me nightmares. I was really frustrated, because it told me that I didn't have enough free storage, even though I had deleted all photos and other things as well as third party apps. The storage would just not get beyond the 3,1GB necessary to update the watch. This was already a couple of months ago. Today I decided to unpair my Apple Watch (Series 3 by the way) in order to have all settings and media deleted. Once I had started to pair it again the update got started automatically. It took around two hours to download, prepare, and install but at the end it did work. Now I have the new software with the same amount of free storage as I had before the update (2,8GB). I hope this could help.

After a couple of hours of usage I can already come to the conclusion that you should not do the update. The workout app will stop every 11 seconds during workouts if you have a tattooed wrist. Seems to have been a problem ever since OS7 got released since there's a thread here addressing this issue. Just wait for a later version to be released... thank you Apple for nothing

I hope Apple is reading this because this is nonsense. I am reading the replies below and getting the same thing. I updated the iwatch and it said I needed 3.1 of storage space and I only had 2.8. That is BS. I never use this watch but only to walk, phone, and text. I actually wish I had never purchased the thing. Now after being on the phone with customer service for 57 minutes we hung up. I told the rep I was not optimistic but why leave us both sitting on the phone. Last time I updated my mac book pro I went through the same thing-- and it was during tax time. What a nightmare and it never did install the new software. Mac has been disappointing me the past few years. Well still updating........ fingers crossed.

About an hour on average.

Same here.

I started mine at 7:45pm and at 6;45am it says: estimated time is 1 day. Is that right? I can’t leave my phone here for a day while my watch updates...

Mine is doing the same :(

mine says SEVEN days. woohoo. i don’t understand how an update could even take that long. at first, it said three hours but don’t worry it changed to seven days.

The same thing is happening to me, idk what to do anymore