Apple Watch Series 3 Stuck on "Preparing" iOS 8.7.1

Oh my, we have an Apple shareholder here. Everyone please stand up 🫡

No need to fight it out at an Apple Store. I went in and they are aware of the issue. Unfortunately the stores are not equipped to force a watchOS update onto the watch. They shipped my watch to a service center and delivered the repaired watch to my house. All free of charge.

There is a second option where you do not have to go into an Apple Store. I had a second series three with the same issue. I called Apple Support directly and they shipped a pre-paid FedEx box to my house for me to ship the watch back to their service center. Drop off the box at your local FedEx or schedule a pick up at your home.

Fast, great service from Apple for an out of warranty product.

I let 2 of 3 series 3 watches in my household fall behind in watchOS updates. My personal series three I did update regularly and it works/updates fine. Seems that if the watch falls too far behind in software updates it causes issues.

ProTip: Don’t drop that you are an Apple retail investor/shareholder when you call Apple support or go into the Apple Store. Absolutely nobody cares about this fact. You will get treated the same and will have to wait for your turn in line behind someone that probably doesn’t own any shares.

You may need to unpair the watch, which will wipe it clean, create a backup and provide enough space for the update to download.

Unpair and erase your Apple Watch - Apple Support

Once done, pair it again, which will force the update through and then you can restore your backup.

I was able to successfully update to 8.7.1.

I struggled with this a few months ago....stuck on Preparing, after attempt after attempt. Even went to an Apple Store only to be told the watch has reached end of life. I abandoned the watched update only to retry after stumbling upon a suggestion.

Try this.

1) Do a Force restart on your iPhone.

2) Immediately afterwards, swipe down and turn off Cellular service; keep Wi-fi On only.

3) Start the Pairing process with your Apple Watch.

4) The download (for me) of the update only took 4 minutes, whereas on previous attempts it showed 3-4 hours.

5) BE PATIENT. The "Preparing..." phase may look like it's not moving but eventually did for me (around an hour), eventually moving into the "Installing..." status.

Hopefully that works for you. Good luck.

Just left the Genius Bar with a solution. What you can do to circumvent this issue is forget the watch from your phone and use another phone to download the OS8.7.1 software. It’s going to take a few hours to download the OS and install it on your watch, but this worked for me. I was told that the common problem in this case is that it’s just a problem with your phone. If it doesn’t work, then it’s a problem with the watch. Be patient, it took us about 4 1/2 hours!

i purchased a second hand iwatch 3 because i just got my iphone 14 pro max, note that my series 1 is working perfectly with my iphone x and 14 pro max, after getting this used iwatch series 3 more than a week ago and since then i have been trying to update it with no luck, it keeps on pausing after estimating time remaining was 6-7 days. it keeps on doing the same thing for more than a week until i tried connecting my iphone to my other phone's internet through hotspot, i noticed that the update is more faster when connected to hotspot than connected in my home internet connection, while connected to my other phone's hotspot, it only took less than an hour to finish the download but not installing. so here's what i did, i connected my 14 promax to my iphone x hotspot, hinish the download and connected it to my home internet from install, now it's working.

I was also experiencing this issue with my apple watch series 3 for the past couple of months, however, after updating my phone to iOS 16.1.1 it finally finished the upgrade to WatchOS 8.7.1 and is working fine again.

Yes, my watch was sent away to their repair center to force the update onto the watch. Luckily it’s a free repair for series 3 owners. Should get it back next week.

I had the similar issue. My series 3 was working. Itchy hand went to update it. My watchOS was 6.3.6. And an error asked me to unpair. After unpaired, factory restored and stuck at preparing. Won’t let me to continue pair the Watch first. MUST UPDATE to continue. My Wifi is good and 1.3GB firmware is downloaded to the watch. I kept on repeating the same steps for 3 weeks but failed. So frustrating and I thought this Watch will be unusable and Apple is forcing us to buy new.

Until two days ago, iOS 16.3 was released. I updated it on my phone. Gave a try in the morning, still stuck at preparing. So went out to work. Then tried another time in the evening and left it be. The next thing I checked, I was so happy the “preparing” has started to move.

Successfully installed the updates and paired it.

Hope you guys also lucky to fix it soon.

Tell them to take it into store. They fixed 2 of my series 3. I did then however then sell both and buy series 8.

That's just not true. Do you own an iPhone which can be updated to iOS 16.1? If you, update your iPhone and try again.

Apple was able to install the latest watchOS. They had to send it away to their repair center. Repair was free and took about 4 days to return the watch back to me.

After speaking Apple Support it no possibility to update and pair the watch for next time. The bug is already known, but nobody can say when and if one update will come. Its really more that no OK, that a watch which was sold still this year is not working and Apple don't have solutions ;)

Did I really buy a watch for 3 years?

Hello guys, The people who are connecting apple watch series 3 with IOS 16.1.1 or earlier you will hit with this situation.

am tried everything reset, erase all data but nothing works.

Finally visited store and they said ios 16.1.1 wont connect series 3 watches and it will wont complete update

Go to your closest Apple Store and ask them to update it for you.

Courtesy of fieryjack:

OK.....Next step is to reach out to Apple Support. Use the Get Support button at the top of his page or schedule a visit to the Apple Store Genius Bar for in-person help.