Read messages on iPhone are showing unread in Apple Watch

Hi, I received a lot of bad advice about this issue, and people kept saying there was no way to sync messages between iPhone and Apple Watch. This is not true. I had the same problem, and I was able to resolve it. It just requires making sure your iPhone and your Apple Watch are both syncing to iCloud. Try this (from your iPhone):

Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > Messages

If the toggle button is off, turn it on.

If the toggle button is already on, turn it off and then back on.

Good luck!

Hi, all I can tell you is it's working for me. I literally just received a text message on my iPhone and it was mirrored to my Apple Watch. When I checked the message on my iPhone, the "unread" indicator disappeared from my Apple Watch right before my eyes. This was not the case until I went into the iCloud two days ago and flipped the toggle for "Messages" off then back on.

Also, you might try looking in the Watch app settings and making sure everything is set to mirror.

I know this is a frustrating issue, but if I got it to work, I would assume others can too. Please let me know how things turn out.

First of all, the dismissive, condescending tone is not necessary. I'm just telling you my experience. Second of all, the texts I received a few minutes ago were from my brother, who has an Android phone. I don't know if that constitutes SMS or not.

Sorry, but if you were told that activating iCloud Messages would remove messages from your Apple Watch when you say delete it from your iPad you were given bad information. To date this is not the case although it would be nice if it was. The Apple Watch is the one exception to how that works since it gets mirrored notifications from the phone.

And yes, I have done everything you said. Maybe in watchOS 9

An iMessage (meaning it came from another iOS device), which is started initially (meaning read on iPhone FIRST) will indeed show as read on Apple Watch. This will NOT work with SMS messaging at all, no matter what you've tried or posted.

If you are referring to SMS or iMessages it has always been that way, the Watch does not support iCloud Messages.