Apple Watch compatibility

no it can't. i just got my apple watch se 2022 version and i tried connecting to my iphone 6s and iphone 7 Plus. both couldn't sync or get pass the setup at all. contacted apple support and they had no solution after trying every troubleshoot steps. on the apple watch support, it mentioned it need iphone 6s and above as well as ios 15 and above to work. both my iphone 6s and iphone 7 Plus already updated to the latest ios 15.7. tried rebooting/ restarting, deleting apple watch app and reinstalling, tried reset my setting, all cannot work. in the end, apple support tell me to return the apple watch instead as it seems the new apple watch only can support IOS16 onwards. this is really a bummer... haizz

yes required ios16. i just tested it and it couldn't work with ios 15.7. i just got my apple watch se 2022 version and i tried connecting to my iphone 6s and iphone 7 Plus. both couldn't sync or get pass the setup at all. contacted apple support and they had no solution after trying every troubleshoot steps. on the apple watch support, it mentioned it need iphone 6s and above as well as ios 15 and above to work. both my iphone 6s and iphone 7 Plus already updated to the latest ios 15.7. tried rebooting/ restarting, deleting apple watch app and reinstalling, tried reset my setting, all cannot work. in the end, apple support tell me to return the apple watch instead as it seems the new apple watch only can support IOS16 onwards. this is really a bummer... haizz

no, watchos9 requires an iphone with ios16

Yes!

I want the new Apple SE watch but I have an iPhone 12mini with iOS 15 with no updates and it requires iOS 16. Is this true? I’m so bummed!