Apple Watch Series 3 update 8.7.1 bricked my watch

Could you please tell me which ios and iphone to update?

Be patient. Mine looked stuck, but them moved slowly. It took over and hour on preparing.

Same problem here, hoping they just fix

the update so I don’t have to pay to get the Watch forcefully updated at an Apple Store, just want to say that I’ve tried every troubleshooting option I’ve seen out there, seems that the update is just completely broken. Even tried it on 3 different iPhones updated to the latest software and put it right by my router, no luck.

Exact same problem here: Held off on ios 15/16 update because of bugginess and still using an Apple Watch 3 without issue. Finally updated over the weekend due to app incompatibility and have spent the last four days attempting to apply the WatchOS 8.7.1 update that Apple has stated is compatible with iOS 16, but it refuses to update constantly stating "unable to verify". I expected this, even though I specifically looked it up and everything states Watch 3 is compatible with iOS 16. Very annoyed, as I would have held off on the iOS update until this was fixed, now I have a Watch that was working four days ago that I am completely unable to use. Apple, please address this in a future software update ASAP.

I agree , I purchased mine yesterday and I can't even erase anything as mentioned above cause I can't even get past the very first screen. Mine gets stuck in Preparing... and regardless of any troubleshooting done it will simply not get pass that.

Still the watch is not updated and I took this one as a new from online merchandise after broken two previous watch.

I don’t know if this issue is happening globally then apple should do a deep dive into it.

don’t play with people emotions.

i have tried my job’s wifi, my home’s wifi, a friend’s wifi, and no matter what its the same error message. What’s frustrating is that the watch was fine, until the mandatory update. Now it’s an unusable expensive watch stuck in update mode.

and, of course, I’ve tried to get help at the Apple Store and they said to just a new expensive watch.

fyi, each time I tried both devices were plugged in and not touched for the full 2 hour + update attempt each time.

GGAU2020 wrote:

Thanks, so it's something different then.

it could be what another mentioned after I said my daughter did the watch update prior to installing iOS 16, which she has also installed on her phone Xr now. Are you running iOS 16 on your iPhone? I can’t remember

Ok so that rules out the iPhone iOS I suppose. It’s unfortunate you can’t just pair a watch without the updates being done. I wonder how my daughter got so lucky with hers installing. Others have lucked out as well though.

See if you can turn on automatic updates for it tonight while it’s charging overnight to see if it works on its own at all. This way you’re not watching it trying to keep cancelling.

Mine is completely new , I purchased it the on 20th, I did all the troubleshooting I listed before and nothing... I get stuck on a forever preparing loop ... You know the worst thing is that its support to be a watch and I can't even use it do get the simplest of all its functions which is that , view the current time ... Apple please patch this issue ASAP with the needed update.

The same problem here. We are about more than a hundred people with this issue, I think they should do something. I’m new on apple, I’m trying to be an evangelist but, I got this issue after buying a brand new Watch S3. Ask me how do I feel. How’s that possible, that a digital empire like Apple doesn’t know that single problem or at least say something. Right now I have a S3, later will be an Ultra, but with this customer service I need to consider if I want to continue here.

I tried much more than you can think of. This is not the case your advices for.

The problem is in update itself or process of updating.

The only solution here is another update should be released to fix this issue.

Oh yes you are. Try using your watch with a new phone which is exactly what Im trying to do for my wife. Her phone died so its useless. Had to get a new phone. Guess what, cannot use it without updating. I call that forced.

this is a brand new series 3 Apple Watch out of the box. I updated my software on the phone and this is an hour and a half into the update. It looks like it’s going to work so be patient because it takes a long time