Need to update my iPhone first before updating my Apple Watch but iPhone is already updated to the newest software

So when I try to update my Apple Watch via the Watch app in my iPhone, there keeps coming a message that I have to update my iPhone first, but when I go to Settings to check, I already have the newest update. Does anyone know how to fix this bug?

Apple Watch Series 8

Posted on Jun 22, 2023 12:40 PM

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Question marked as Best answer

Have you tried restarting the phone and repairing the watch with iPhone? I had this issue a while ago. Don’t remember the exact steps, but I know it had something to do with either unpairing and pairing the watch again, or may be I did a reset of my phone with iTunes and reinstalled the full update

Posted on Jun 22, 2023 2:50 PM

16 replies

Oct 11, 2023 4:39 AM in response to Dpanetta13

Dpanetta13 wrote:

Waited almost an hour for watch to re-pair to phone. Once done I checked watch software update on iPhone. Same error as before. “Update iPhone first”. This only started occurring after upgrading iPhone 11 to iOS 16.7. Watch is series 8 running 9.6.3

Your iPhone 11 should be able to get iOS 17 which will be needed to let your Apple Watch upgrade to WatchOS 10.


Need to update my iPhone first before updating my Apple Watch but iPhone is already updated to the newest software

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