Apple Watch will not connect to iPhone 15

I was having this exact issue all day! While transferring my data from an old iPhone to the new iPhone 15 Pro, my watch "froze" in the process of transferring, and thereafter wouldn't connect to my new phone. I repeatedly tried to connect as both a new and existing watch but was never successful. By this point, I'd already wiped and turned off my old phone, so my top priority was to not have to turn it back on and confirm my watch data was off of it. Without going back into my old phone, the solution that worked for me was:

• powering off and on the iPhone 15
• powering off and on the watch
• once on, going into the watch settings and selecting the reset option. This initiated another automatic power-off, so then I powered the watch back on
• as the watch was powering back on, I went into the watch app on the iPhone 15 and selected to pair a NEW watch. It automatically recognized my watch and began the pairing process--this took less than 10 minutes. Despite having gone through the reset, all of my apps and settings were retained once my watch finished pairing.

Success!

Am I stuck with an overly expensive watch that won’t sync to my iPhone 15 pro max? I need it mostly for directions and calendar of events. I’m ******.

I’m having the same issue as well. I updated my watch to the 10.0.1 update, selected existing device since it’s not new and it’s telling me my phone isn’t compatible with the iWatch7. So I removed it from my old phone completely reset it did the update again and tried to set it up as a new watch. Now I’m stuck with a “bracelet” that has an Apple logo that tells me hello in multiple languages.

I just got the iPhone 15 today only bc my iPhone 12 was dropped badly and I couldn’t turn on the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. I didn’t necessarily need to get a new upgrade but seeing the commercial for a trade in of any condition for the 15 intrigued me. I already HATE this phone and want to return for my 12 again. I can’t get into my apple CarPlay and researched others having issues….and now can’t pair with my watch. I ended up unpairing my watch thinking that would help, but after seeing your post and doing that, i still had to do the upgrade for 10.0.1. Now, after waiting 2 HOURS for the download for the upgrade, the phone NOW can’t find the watch to install. It’s taking me back to the beginning to reinstall. I’m so aggravated bc I’ve been going at it for 6 hrs… with my CarPlay and now my watch, and both still not working. I’m so fed up bc normally newer phones don’t have any issue or give you this much trouble but this new iPhone with the changes to an USB-C, I’m having more issues more then ever. I’m so frustrated and just want to return this phone and get a 12 back so i can access my Apple CarPlay and my watch. I’m not purchasing a new car or watch bc apple decided to downgrade the phone qualities an iPhone normally has…. About to switch phones all together. Ever since Steve Jobs passed, apple EVERYTHING has gone down hill. It’s sad to say but so true.

Same here! Has anyone found a

solution for this???

Been scouring the internet raging about how two expensive, "pro" devices cannot sync with each other. Finally this is something that worked for me. Please try it out before losing your precious watch data (lost a couple of years worth of fitness data a few years ago and I understand how frustrating it gets!). Here you go:

1. Turn OFF your Apple watch/ultra
2. Turn OFF your iPhone 15/15 Pro
3. Turn ON your Apple watch/ultra
4. Turn ON your iPhone 15/15 Pro
5. Open Apple Watch App on your iPhone and continue pairing.

That's it! Worked for me, try it out before erasing your device.

OS details:

iOS 17.0.2

watchOS 10.0.1

I tried to pair old apple watch series 2 or 3 with new iphone 15 with the help of Apple Support on the phone. After a while it was explained that there is a compatability issue with iphone 15 and so it will not work

Same experience here. It will attempt to pair and even restore from my previous "backup", but always hangs up on the "Safety" screen on the iPhone 15 and then you have to try and start the process over again. Multiple attempts with every potential option I can think of, and still not able to pair my iWatch 7 to my new iPhone 15. Very frustrating...

Turning on / off watch / phone and continuing the pairing with update to the watch (10.1.1) worked for me as well. it took more than an hour but at least it finally worked. why, apple, are your products so difficult to sync. prior apple user who tried pixel and now back to apple and just seeing the lag in apple products…yikes, be better! iphone 15 pro max and apple watch 4.

This option including a reset seems to have worked for me. Watch is updating its OS and was recognized by the new 15 pro. I have to say I'm NOT HAPPY about losing 2 full years of workout data to fix this.

For me I just turned off my watch and switched off old phone bluetooth. Then switch it on and opened the watch app in new phone. It alerted the watch to confirm then transfer started. I am happy i didn’t have to go through reset process. I had watch 7 series. Hope this helps

this worked for me. you need your Apple ID password to clear activation lock too.

When you erase Apple Watch instead of unpairing it, the watch is still protected by Activation Lock. Before you can pair Apple Watch again, enter the Apple ID and password that was used to set it up.

1. Open the Settings app on your watch, then tap General > Reset.
2. Tap Erase All Content and Settings, then tap again to confirm.
3. Wait for the watch to unpair.
4. After Apple Watch unpairs completely, you can pair again. You'll need the Apple ID and password that were used to set up the watch.

None of these suggestions worked because I realized my Google One VPN was connected and preventing the pairing and syncing to the watch. Once I deleted that Google One App (which deleted the VPN) the iPhone 15 immediately worked with pairing my Apple Watch.

**Potential Solution**

I had same problem with 15 Pro and Watch 5 - I began when transferring to new phone, prompts kept appearing to connect watch, process began then froze and watched was bricked.

I experienced it all - can’t connect for 8 hours, tried hard reset, network reset etc. no joy.

I solved it by using old phone to fully unpair watch, reset and full reset/ wiping the watch.

Then doing the full off, on of both new phone and watch.

The watch app on the phone then recognised the watch as ‘new’. It proceeded to update OS on the watch. That took 2 hours! Failed. Then another hour. Watch still froze once, so needed to repeat the process. Then froze when setting up Apple Pay. Finally, It took a long time to pair and update - like 45 minutes. But eventually (after skipping Apple Pay during set-up) my old watch is back with all apps etc (despite setting up as new and despite a full reset)… thankfully.

So solution is basically a full hard reset, a bit of luck and most importantly, patience.

Side note: Pro 15 - amazing camera. Good battery and charge but awful setup experience. Overheating, passwords not transferring (work on old phone, iPad and Macbook but not new phone 🤷🏼‍♂️) and all-in-all around 7 hours to get set up.

Nope. Not for me