Hi,
Apple Watch 3 did an auto update but it failed, now trying to fix it, tried everything, even reset the watch and now unable to pair as it wants to update otherwise I can't pair it, the update fails with unable to verify message first then if I retry it's stuck in 'preparing' stage forever (waited for more than a day once) Tried to pair it to 3 different phones, all the same. Anything I can try?
Thanks
I noticed something weird with my watch:
before trying to update watch I updated iPhone to iOS 15.7 and after that my watch being on charger started to randomly reboot itself every 5-20 minutes but once I cut the connection with iPhone - it remains to stay on charging normally. When I connect iPhone back - watch starts random reboots again. Also when it's not on charging - it doesn't do reboots. Same thing was happening during update. I did it as Apple recommends - leaving watch on charger, but in that case it was constantly rebooting during transferring file causing interruptions and resumes. Once I figured it out - I no more doing update on charger.
Here is the tip for all of you: the fastest and safest way to update is to make it with watch itself fully charged (to 100%), connected to WiFi and not on a charger (maybe better even to disconnect from iPhone, but not unpair). For me it took 5-6 min to download update on a watch directly from internet. To do so you need the watch to be on watchOS 6+, paired (set up), connected to WiFi. But if you did reset your watch then before starting pairing make sure your iPhone connected to 2.4 GHz WiFi (watch don't support 5 GHz) then it will pass WiFi settings to watch and it will do download directly from internet as well (or maybe transfer by WiFi local network). Previously I did it using iPhone on 5GHz WiFi and it took me 2-3 hours because it was transferring 1.3 GB update file from iPhone to watch using Bluetooth.
Apple watch series 3 still bricked months later with no fix or announcements, shoddy business pricatice.
This watch was being sold through last year, surely they should be maintaining their products.
Very dissapointing.
The same problem still continues, we have been with the same thing for a long time, I think it would be enough time for them to fix that "little problem", since many do need to use the watch, since it is not in bad condition and they still have us waiting for us with a patch or something for the update of 8.7.1
I have done 16.2 ios update at my iphone 14pro max but still it's not pairing with my apple watch series 3. I have hardly used it as it was covid time. And after buying such an expensive phone like pro max 14, I am not able to buy another new watch. Now Apple is forcing to buy a new watch by this 8.7.1 update! They sell such expensive products , so their policy should not be such cheap!!
Got a similar issue. My Watch series 3 keeps poppping up a notification every few minutes saying that no space available. Go to uninstall apps via phone & the uninstall button just spins then says “cannot communicate with watch” yet get notifications on watch from phone! Even clicking the X on the wiggling icons removes the app from the app screen but doesn’t free up any space at all. Even apps that are no longer on the Phone are still on the watch yet when go to remove them, says “cannot communicate with Watch”. Removing & re-pairing watch doesn’t make a difference. Bluetooth is on & connected to phone & both on same WiFi network.
Have spoken to Apple Support who have no idea why it is not working etc & suggest “to buy a newer watch”!!!!
Never again am I buying another Apple Watch if this is going to send a perfectly working watch to the scrap heap.
bro it worked!
they have fixed the watchos 8.7.1 (I guess?) update for the watch 3
thanks @arvsft and @k_p95
guys just follow those instructions and it works.
it was such a relief after I saw the screen.
bye.
Yeah, can't see any other option at the moment, a bit of a drive for us, unfortunately.
Same issue with me, wanted to pair it to IPhone 13 Pro Max. But can’t do it until I update to 8.7.1 but fails saying “unable to verify” painful, tried 100 times. No luck
I have the same issue with my apple watch series 3, I cannot use it without the update and the istore is not very helpful at all!!! so irritated right now
Is anyone from Apple monitoring these forums? When are they going to release a fixed update?
Thanks for that, I'm not sure why Apple is not sending out an advisory, so many wasted hours of the owners and support staff and trips to the Apple Store.
We should wait new version update on future. The apple staff said!
There are no “forced updates” unless you had “automatic updates” on.
No. Apple does not monitor the forums
Can't even set it up as a new watch ios15 force you to update it to 8.7.1 before you can even pair it and freeing up space doesn't help neither.
You can’t pair your watch unless you update, so it’s a forced update.
Apple Watch Series 3 update 8.7.1 bricked my watch
