My download of Apple watchOS 10.4 STOPPED during "preparing" and won't advance.

Applewatch 7 / iphone 15Promax -

Same situation - 1,5 hour of preparing with no visible progress

Deleted / restarted everything 2 times.

halfbaked / Downloaded/ deleted update file 10.4 was 1,04 GB ( !!! )

is the full download like 5 GB ?

Just tried the update last night. Did not work. Sat on preparing all night long. Deleted it. Restarted everything and it does the same thing. Pretty frustrating. Guessing we will need an update to fix the update.

I’m in the same situation. Followed everybody’s advice here and no success. Left it on the charger overnight and it was still on “Preparing” in the same spot 8 hours later. Guess I’ll be using 10.3.1 for a while longer.

15 pro max + series 9. I tried reboots, deleting and redownloading several times. After I removed my card from the apple pay and downloaded a new watch face it worked. 10.4 yay. I would expect a different user experience though after paying 2 kilos.

After 4 times restarting / removing upload ( suggested here )

- it finally updated ......

( but i lost a good night sleep )

My guess is Apple did something to improve the package

Extremely frustrating update -worst ever.

But at last I got 10.4

Apple qatch 7 , iphone 15 Promax

update - before I posted this reply, I had my watch on preparing on the new update (after downloading it) around 13 mins after made this reply, my watch went to install the update, I am replying to my post to let everyone know it's now working on my end

Exact same thing happened to me. My Apple watch (series 8) doesn't keep the battery charge so the first thing I was going to do was install the updates and if that doesn't help, reset my watch. The updates got stuck on "preparing" for all day. But the suggestion below worked to actually finish the updates.

1. Delete the watch 10.4 program in storage from the Watch App.

2. Set up “ Password Off” in the Watch App.

3. Reboot both iPhone and Watch.

4.Receive and install Watch 10.4.

I solved the problem by adding “step 2.”

Ok. So I chatted with support. I was told to shut the phone down first. Then the watch. Then power them back on and put them both on the charger and try again. For some reason that seemed to work and it is moving along now.

Same issue; noticed battery on watch dying after 12-14 hours. Spotted that update was stuck at around 60% 'preparing.' I've turned off automatic updates. I've deleted the download on the phone, I've turned off both the watch and the phone numerous times. At the moment it's having another go telling me it'll be around an hour ... but I know it's going to fail again.

[Edited by Moderator]

Same problem here, but I solved it as follows:

1st I deleted in the apple watch app > General/storage/ WhatchOS 10.4 update.

2º I turn off the iPhone and the Apple Whatch

3º I turn on the iPhone and clear the RAM Cache: On an iPhone 12 Pro like mine: volume up key / volume down key / press and hold the power button and DO NOT RELEASE the button until the white power apple appears (yes I know, the turn off the phone bar comes out. Don't listen to it and don't release the power button until you see the white Apple logo. It takes a few seconds)

4º I turn on Apple Watch and once turned on I reset the RAM Cache also: Press and hold both buttons The button and the crown until the white Apple logo (the same, it takes a few seconds to appear and do not release them until then)

5º I enter the Apple Watch app on the iPhone General/System Update and start again (It says that the update to WhatchOS is 750 Mb) Keep the Apple Watch on the charging dock and make sure that both iPhone and Watch are on the same WIFI network.

The download takes a while, but less than before. What takes a LONG time is to prepare the update once downloaded and update the watch. But between an hour and a half and two hours

Be patient and stop looking at the screens. Leave the Apple Watch charging, the iPhone if you can too, side by side and leave them there quietly for an hour and a half or two. When you come back they will be ready to be both used.

I Hope it help

Best wishes

Pablo

I have the same problem with my Apple Watch Series 4 44MM and my Iphone 11 ProMax 256 GB , it has the latest IOS , more than 50% battery charged in both elements , any help , I am having trouble not using my watch, thanks in advance.

I followed a fix i foound here which didn't work:"on iPhone of to watch, then general, then storage-if download 10.4 is there delete it...I did then attempted to download again and it got a bit past half loaded and stopped in exactly the same place again 'preparing' Help please.

The solution that worked for was power off the watch.

press and hold the button below the crown wheel until the emergency screen appears and tap on the power switch symbol.

after the watch has powered down, press and hold the same button to reboot it.

10.4 should now load.

I agree, this update is ridiculous, all of these work arounds that everyone has tried I’ve never had any problem updating before. Have a iPhone 15 pro, latest update and Ultra watch with 10.3. This is an Apple problem. I’ll try a few more things, but most mentioned have not worked. Maybe I’ll go to the Apple Store and let them figure it out- maybe