Apple Watch 3 First Time Set Up - Iphone Not Connected To The Internet Error

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Level 1

4 points

Apple Watch 3 First Time Set Up - Iphone Not Connected To The Internet Error

Hello hoping someone can advise on this issue.

I have Apple watch series 2 paired with my Iphone 12 Pro Max, I purchased this used October 2023. My daughter wants an apple watch, I found a brand new still sealed Apple watch 3 which I've been trying to pair with her Iphone 12 mini, but no matter what I try the pairing fails at the point of updating the watch OS with error advising the Iphone is not connected to the internet.

I've tried all the fixes I can find here and online, such as connecting to 2.4ghz wifi, clearing connections on the phone, reset the watch, updating IOS etc etc. I've spend a full day researching and trying the various fixes.

I've tried pairing the watch with 3 Iphones, all running latest IOS, all fail at the same point.

From what I can determine the watch should be compatible, well it must be if I was able to pair series 2 Apple watch, Series 3 should also work right?

I initially thought this issue was because the watch has never been activated, maybe it's not compatible with newer IOS, but reading through the numerous threads on this topic it's not unique to new watches, or the series 3.

If anyone has any ideas over and above the documented fixes, I'm all ears!

Thanks

iPhone 12 Pro Max, iOS 17

Posted on May 26, 2024 2:34 AM

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Answer 1

WheelieNick

Level 8

38,643 points

May 26, 2024 2:54 AM in response to PaulWuk1

The watch should be compatible but pairing an Apple Watch 3 to a newer iPhone can give all sorts of issues i am afraid.

Try And both restart the iPhone and the watch before attempting to pair again. What I did eventually was pairing the watch to an older iPhone, and then make a backup if that one, and then put the watch over with the backup but this is only a process for enthousiasts and hobbyists, not for standard users

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Answer 2

PaulWuk1 Author

Level 1

4 points

May 26, 2024 3:17 AM in response to WheelieNick

A family member is still using an iPhone 7 I did wonder if it would be possible to set the watch up on that phone, unpair it, remove from iCloud/find my etc and then try and pair it with my daughters iPhone 12. I’m going to try this today.

thanks

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Answer 3

PaulWuk1 Author

Level 1

4 points

May 26, 2024 11:38 PM in response to PaulWuk1

finally after 12hrs of trying yesterday the watch is finally paired with the iPhone 12, this is how:

initially I tried to pair to an iPhone 7 Plus running the latest iOS it can, I think it was 15. Got the same need to connect to the internet error. Tried several times and was about to give up when the iPhone 7 received a call, I passed it back to the owner, when the call was over we noticed the watch os update was downloading, it got to preparing stage and hung, we left for an hour before resetting the watch and unpairing.

I decided to try my daughters iPhone 12 again and at the point of checking for software updates I placed a call to the handset, answered it and left the call open while checking the phone watch app, sure enough the software update process was running!

I’m not sure if first connecting to the iPhone 7 helped or not, but it certainly looks like placing a call at the point of checking for software did something so it could well be a workaround for this issue. I’m certainly not unpairing the devices to test this theory!

It wasn’t all plain sailing from there, it took a total of 12 hours to set up the watch, download kept pausing displaying a message saying download will commence when you’re connected to wifi, the same happened at the preparing stage and updating the watch itself.

So for anyone who gets past the iPhone is not connected to the internet error at the start of the pairing process, stick with it, leave the phone and watch near each other on charge and hopefully you’ll have the same success.

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