Apple Watch Stuck in "Preparing" during watchOS 9.6 update

Did you have two watchOS files and one was your update file specifically called ‘update watch 10.4’ or was the only one file called ‘watchOS 10.4’ and you deleted that?

No “storage” or way to delete update. I have iPhone 12 and watch 9 all updated except watch, which has been stuck on updating for 2 days, now.

I wish I have had the same luck. I have restarted my phone and my watch 3 different times; deleted the update files twice and still stuck in Preparing for the 10.4 update >:(

Thank you! 🙏🏾 This combination of steps helped me resolve the issue.

You are welcome.

my one says "2days"😑

it need 2 days to update??? also I can't go to any other options of this app.only this 2 page is available.

Apple needs to fix this asap.😤

Did you find any solution?

Same issue here. 10.4 has been “preparing” for 3 days now. I cant figure out how to stop it.

Deleted 10.4 as described, now it says it is updating to 10.5....which has been sitting "Estimating time remaining...." for 10 minutes now!!!!!!!!!

The following steps are wrong.

If the update won't start:

1. Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
2. Tap General > Software Update.
3. Delete the update file.
4. Try again to update your Apple Watch."

It should be as follows

If the update won't start:

1. Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
2. Tap General > Storage
3. Delete the update file. (Should be close to the top as the list is sorted by size.)
4. Try again to update your Apple Watch."