Apple Watch update 10.4 stuck at Preparing

Here's what I did and it finally worked. Now the watch charges faster and stays charged longer.

Ultra

Go into Watch app on your phone.

Tap General

Tap Storage

If the update file is there delete it. If its not there, disregard.

Back out to General

Tap software update

It should have the update ready to download.

Before you download, quit the app.

Restart your iPhone.

Restart your watch.

When they're both restarted, give them a few minutes to get their head straight.

Open the watch app and try again.

Watch must be above 50% charge.

Watch must be on the charger.

Update. I deleted the update file from storage. Stopped trying to install the update. Battery life is back to normal.

Appears the update process is corrupt. When stuck in the “preparing” mode, it literately sucks the life out of the battery.

Do not attempt to update until Apple fixes it.

This worked for my wife's watch:

1. On iPhone, open Watch app > Settings > General > Storage > Delete WatchOS 10.4.
2. Turn watch off.
3. Restart iPhone.
4. Turn on watch.
5. Download and Install update again.

My iPhone had over 175GB of memory but upgrade would NOT complete until I either upgraded my monthly cloud storage or deleted vids and pics to upgrade. No fair or right.

Update to this update!!

I ended up calling Apple as it was so *****! I linked the charger to my laptop in case I’d missed an update somewhere & this was causing the issue (it wasn’t!).

It took a number of attempts & it took a while, but I kept deleting it from the watch and starting again.

The adviser did ask me to do a forced reboot of the phone and the watch.

I actually couldn’t get the watch to reset but shut the phone down & went from

there & it did go through.

The prep took ages & the adviser said the download will take twice as long, and it really did!

If it still won’t work, call them! It took about an hour but they walked me through it.

I deleted and hard rebooted both phone and watch and it worked on the third try.

1) Watch app -> General -> Storage -> Delete the update watchOS 10.4

2) Hold both buttons on the watch and it'll hard reboot

3) Just regular restart your phone

4) Try the update again and cross your fingers. Give it an extra min it looks like it's not moving but moves slowly. Also idk if it matters, my phone screen was on the whole time. I had it plugged in on my desk and was watching the progress.

Hey guys, not sure if you all had luck with this update. Just called Apple Support line and looks like this can be fixed by the following steps.

1. 1. Reboot Apple Watch by holding crown and side button (not the Action button) at the same time.
   2. Restart your iPhone too.
   3. Then on iPhone go to Watch app, General, Software Update and the WatchOS 10.4 progress bar should be moving. It should get your software on your watch by now.
   4. Then your watch will be in the update mode (showing Apple logo and a ring of progress around).

Hope this helps.

To delete a WatchOS update that has downloaded but not installed, follow the steps below:

1. Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.

2. Scroll down and tap on "General".

3. Tap on "Storage" at the bottom of the General screen.

4. If the update has downloaded but not installed, it should appear on the Storage screen.

5. Tap on the update and then tap on "Delete Update".

6. After deleting the update, you can try reinstalling it again.Go to the apple watch app on your phone. Scroll until you see General, click that. Find “storage” at the bottom and click that. If the watch has downloaded but not installed the update, it should show in storage. Mine showed it as “WatchOS 10.4”. You should be able to click on that and it will pop up an option to delete the file. Then you can try reinstalling the update again.

Mine was stuck on processing. I deleted the file on my watch app storage (under general > storage) and tried to update and it was stuck again on processing. I re-did that process for a second time and then it finally updated.

I know people have already tried this so I'm confused as to why it worked for me.

I had the same issues. None of the things here worked for me. I downloaded, deleted, redownloaded at least 5 times. The last time, I hard shutdown both my phone and watch. Nothing.

What DID work? Updating to iOS 10.4 directly on my watch. Make sure you delete whatever download you have already, following the many instructions here, and then go to the settings on the watch.

Settings>General>Software Update

Follow the directions, just like you would on your phone. Worked perfectly, it just took a long time. Now to see if it actually solves the quick battery drain issue.

I hope this works for you!

My Watch 8 was losing power fast. I looked at the watch app and it was stuck on “Preparing”. It was at 49% battery. I waited until it was 53%. Then I closed the watch app, powered off the phone, restarted the watch and turned on the phone. Then relaunched the watch app on the phone. Went to software update and it started downloading an then had the install option. It installed fine after all that.

This happened to me a couple months ago. So infuriating. I got past it by updating my phone, then the watch started working again. Make sure your phone is up to date.

I have the update now, so I can’t take a screenshot, but go to

Settings>General>Software Update

Scroll all the way to the bottom. You should see something that says iOS 10.4, click that and there will be a red delete you can click.

Then download the update directly on the watch, not the phone.

I have the update now, so I can’t take a screenshot, but go to

Settings>General>Software Update

Scroll all the way to the bottom. You should see something that says iOS 10.4, click that and there will be a red delete you can click.

Then download the update directly on the watch, not the phone.