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

With a little more research I found out the iPhone X is not compatible with iOS 17 and therefore I won’t be able to update my Apple Watch 6 above OS 9. I have to purchase a new iPhone XS or newer to get OS 10, even though I have a perfectly fine iPhone X.

As mentioned before, the message is misleading. The message should say “OS 10 update is only available for iPhone XS and later. “

So I bit the bullet and unpaired and then re-paired my watch and have now been able to successfully install watchOS 9.5.2, finally. Thanks for the help.

A rather long and cumbersome process and not one I’d like to repeat very often.

Not sure if this will help everybody else, but I just experienced this issue and found a way of updating without having to reset.

When checking for an update, I got the prompt to update the iPhone first, so rather than clicking the button to go to the iPhone update, click cancel instead. That should drop you back to the watch settings menu, where you might be able to check for updates and this time successfully update.

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.

unpairing and repairing worked like charm. 👍

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

What model iPhone? What iOS version is on it? What is current version of watchOS?

Tap on: Settings > General > About

I was in the exact same spot and updating to iOS 17 fixed it.

Wanted to provide an update since I now know the fix. One of my family’s iPhone 14 pro max phones was dropped recently. Screen and case were cracked so insurance replaced phone. When I got it, I had no choice but to upgrade the IOS to 17.2. It also forced an update to my iwatch to v10. The problem is now gone! There are a few cosmetic changes to the watch that we are not too pleased with (like switching to the command center now takes pushing the side button on the phone and to change watch faces you must now long press the watch face then you can scroll through your saved faces), but overall we are pleased now.

I have restarted both the iPhone and watch with no change to the issue, But haven’t unpaired and re-paired yet. Trying to avoid that if I can in the hope it might be that the update hasn’t been pushed out to us here in Australia yet or something. Will wait a few more days. Thanks for the suggestion though.

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

No luck fixing bug by re-pairing Apple Watch 6 (9.6.3) with iPhone X (16.7.4). Restarted both devices after pairing. Same message. Guess I will wait for next iPhone update. I think the problem started after last two iPhone updates.

I have iPhone 11 Pro Max and Apple Watch Series 4. Went to update Apple Watch via iphone app and I got the Update iPhone first. So I went to settings and updated the iphone os to 17.5.1.

Went back to update watch os and I get the same message - watch is still is 9.5.1. Btw clicking cancel just takes me back to the watch name - Update required - and so you can’t get past it to edit other settings it just forces you into ‘Checking for an update’

I’m stuck in vicious cycle - if I try and update os on the watch - I get ‘unable to check for update’ message on watch.

This is pretty shoddy from Apple - PLEASE sort this out.

Does anyone know of a workaround?

Thanks

i just want to know whether my software is updated now?