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No Metropolitan Face in Gallery or New Faces?

I have a brand new S7 watch. Updated to latest WatchOS. Powered up and down.


I want to try the Metropolitan face but it is missing on both my iPhone and Apple Watch.


It is not listed in the Gallery or "New Faces" section. In "New Faces", I just have 6 options (Pride, Unity Lights, Contour, Modular Duo, Portraits, World Time).


No Metropolitan. Ideas?


Thanks!

Apple Watch Series 7, watchOS 8

Posted on Jan 28, 2023 4:55 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 28, 2023 9:52 AM

I can confirm a few things...


  1. I did get the new faces I wanted when pairing with my wife's phone which is on iOS 16.3
  2. I unpaired and as expected, it will no longer pair with the ancient iPhone SE


This also explains why I was not getting the detailed sleep information this morning.


Spent a lot of time on this. It would be nice for iOS and Watch OS to indicate this kind of thing. My watch claimed it was on the latest OS (which it was due to the old phone) but this is a bit misleading. To be fair, I was surprised it paired but it was crippled.


Clearly it can tell the phone OS as it will now not let me pair. And even when installing the new iOS, it was listed as installed but was really not until I did multiple steps on the current iPhone and watch. Not the smoothest operation.


Will try to see if my wife can setup the phone for me but doubtful as it is not cellular. Will report back just in case it works as the watch and my Apple ID have been used on a watch.


Will put on a shelf as I will not get the phone for a few weeks as it is a work phone. Thanks!

12 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 28, 2023 9:52 AM in response to LD150

I can confirm a few things...


  1. I did get the new faces I wanted when pairing with my wife's phone which is on iOS 16.3
  2. I unpaired and as expected, it will no longer pair with the ancient iPhone SE


This also explains why I was not getting the detailed sleep information this morning.


Spent a lot of time on this. It would be nice for iOS and Watch OS to indicate this kind of thing. My watch claimed it was on the latest OS (which it was due to the old phone) but this is a bit misleading. To be fair, I was surprised it paired but it was crippled.


Clearly it can tell the phone OS as it will now not let me pair. And even when installing the new iOS, it was listed as installed but was really not until I did multiple steps on the current iPhone and watch. Not the smoothest operation.


Will try to see if my wife can setup the phone for me but doubtful as it is not cellular. Will report back just in case it works as the watch and my Apple ID have been used on a watch.


Will put on a shelf as I will not get the phone for a few weeks as it is a work phone. Thanks!

Jan 28, 2023 7:02 AM in response to TexBrit

Something is weird. Can you double check that your watch is running watchOS 9.3?

What version is your phone running? The latest version is iOS 16.3.


In the Watch app on my phone and under New Faces, the first one in the list is the new Unity Mosaic. I am certain that Unity Mosaic was just released with 9.3, I remember reading it in the "What's New".


A lot of the ones that you've named aren't the newest releases.


Nevertheless, have you tried scrolling down the screen to look for the missing ones (i.e. Metropolitan is found when you get to 'M', Nike is found when you get to 'N')?

Jan 28, 2023 8:53 AM in response to LD150

@LD150 - you are right! Watch is Watch OS 8.7 Last night when I got the watch, I updated software. I just assumed it would go to latest Watch OS.


But I am also waiting on a new iphone so used an old original iPhone SE which is on iOS is 15.7.3 which is the latest OS for this old phone. Getting a new one soon...


Guessing it may be because of an old phone but seems strange the other "new" faces are there. No Metropolitan and no Nike faces. It did ask me to update and I did so.


I have unpaired to from the old SE and paired (temporarily) with my wofe's newer phone and am updating to OS 9.3. I am sure this will sort it and will report back.


My only fear is when I pair it back with the SE it downgrades OS (I would hope not!) and/or lose the faces. We will see and I will report back.

Jan 28, 2023 9:07 AM in response to TexBrit

I'm not sure how your plan will pan out for you! It's a good thing that you've got a new phone making its way toward you because I'm not so sure that you'll be able to get it paired back with a phone that is running less than iOS 16.


Please, please do report back. I'm wondering if we'll be able to learn from your experiment in order to help other folks better.


Looking forward to your report!

Jan 28, 2023 9:12 AM in response to LD150

LD150,


I was typing my reply and posted it and then I seen that you replied already saying the same thing.

Do you agree that his experiment might actually be able to provide clues into the symptoms that some people report here when they are having trouble pairing their watches?


Also, you are getting so close to reaching Level 10. That is VERY amazing and I'm watching it closely so that I can be among the first to congratulate you for the job well done!

Jan 28, 2023 9:26 AM in response to Pilerman

The inability to update and/or pair has so many reasons including a router that needs resetting, VPN profiles on the phone, trying to update watch before phone. The worst is out of date documentation on the web saying series 7 is compatible with iphone 6S and later - until the fall of 2022 it was


Jan 28, 2023 10:48 AM in response to TexBrit

Thank you for giving us this update, it is very valuable information!

I can't believe that we just watched a working and paired watch literally have to be tossed on a shelf!! This is epic!


I'm glad that you will soon have a newer phone, I'm saddened by the fact that it wasn't currently en-route though.


The different versions of watchOS and iOS are hard enough to keep straight and then to try to keep track of compatibilities across the different devices and OS's, ugh!


If you don't mind and if you have the time...

I'm curious to learn more about this statement:

2. I unpaired and as expected, it will no longer pair with the ancient iPhone SE

Can you add to this? What were you seeing on the watch at this point? Did it seem to freeze when the phone screen said "Pairing"?


My watch claimed it was on the latest OS (which it was due to the old phone) but this is a bit misleading.

Correct! It was as up to date as it could be considering the the current iOS of the phone in which it was paired to. There almost needs to be some informational screens providing further details. This could be something that I will submit a user feedback on.


What did you mean by "crippled" here:

To be fair, I was surprised it paired but it was crippled.

In your original post, you mentioned missing faces. What else was going on? The sleep tracking wasn't working, yes, anything else? (Sleep tracking, as far as I know, came along with watchOS 9 and iOS 16.)


At this point here:

And even when installing the new iOS, it was listed as installed but was really not until I did multiple steps on the current iPhone and watch.

Did you mean "...when installing the new watchOS..."? And then are you talking about your wife's phone as the "Current" phone?


It has taken me a while just to put this reply together. I'm really eager to find out all I can about these pairing issues because some folks can pair their watches without problems while others really have a time with it. I know that what you just went through and the end result of your attempt contains SUPER valuable info that will help all of the volunteers, on this forum, to help others better!


I truly want to thank you for your time!

Jan 28, 2023 12:33 PM in response to Pilerman

Happy to help. I am an ex software developer (including developing on iPad) and moving from Android to Apple (as I am hooked on Apple Fitness). And I want to harmonize devices with my wife. I see pros and cons of both ecosystems.


To answer your questions...


2. I unpaired and as expected, it will no longer pair with the ancient iPhone SE


Can you add to this? What were you seeing on the watch at this point? Did it seem to freeze when the phone screen said "Pairing"?


I tried a few things. I tried to pair throw the automatic pairing by bringing up the Watch app on my old iPhone SE. It had me put the image of the Apple watch in the field of view with the pulsating cloud screen. It then gave me a dialog saying my phone's OS was too old and out of date.


I then tried to pair manually and it went further but resulted in the same thing.


The phone/watch can clearly see each others OS version and take action...



My watch claimed it was on the latest OS (which it was due to the old phone) but this is a bit misleading.

Correct! It was as up to date as it could be considering the the current iOS of the phone in which it was paired to. There almost needs to be some informational screens providing further details. This could be something that I will submit a user feedback on.


I find this very frustrating. It should have said something like "your phone and watch will work but can not access and do some of the latest stuff as they are not on the latest and greatest" (or something similar). I spent a lot of time thinking I was on the latest.



To be fair, I was surprised it paired but it was crippled.

What did you mean by "crippled" here?


In your original post, you mentioned missing faces. What else was going on? The sleep tracking wasn't working, yes, anything else? (Sleep tracking, as far as I know, came along with watchOS 9 and iOS 16.)


Basically those two things. But I am sure there are others. "Crippled" was perhaps a bit of an overreaction. :-)


And even when installing the new iOS, it was listed as installed but was really not until I did multiple steps on the current iPhone and watch.

Did you mean "...when installing the new watchOS..."? And then are you talking about your wife's phone as the "Current" phone?


This was when I paired with my wife's iPhone on the latest iOS. The watch OS update took a long, long time. I get it as it is a major update. But at one point, the watch said it was on 9.3 and when I tried to do stuff - it was clear the OS was not fully installed. I poked around and had to do a few more things like agree to T&Cs. It was not a straightforward process.


I do find it a shame I have to wait. I did try to add it "as a family member" on my wofes phone but it is not cellular so it did not work. I had a slim hope that it might work as it had been setup once and my Apple ID has a watch added and working earlier that day. But I knew it was a long shot.


Apple clearly knows how to lock down their devices.... :-) The only reason I got the watch is for Apple Fitness. I would have held off but the free work phone made it workable. It would seem that Apple is missing a trick in not letting someone buy the latest and greatest watch and use it. Especially when I have Apple TV (and my wife has an iPad, iPhone and Apple watch). Getting a family member to get a watch is a big ask. And then asking them to make it Cellular is a bigger ask. I have Apple TV - that should be enough (along with a new watch)?


I would have gotten the watch sooner if I could have used it for Fitness with Apple TV.


Once I have the new phone - I will confirm all works as it should. But it will...Thanks!



No Metropolitan Face in Gallery or New Faces?

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