Apple Watch cellular setup fails with 'Couldn't Sync iCloud Data' error

I was having the same issue and ended up going to the Genius Bar at my local Apple Store and they were able to figure it out. The issue was I had another Apple device (iPad in my case) with the Apple ID I was attempting to set up on the Apple Watch, and that other Apple device did not have a passcode setup/enabled. Once I put a passcode on the other Apple device, I was then able to enter that passcode on the new Apple Watch when asked and everything else in the setup completed as normal. Hope this helps.

Amazingly this worked. Signed out on an old ipad, signed back in with his apple ID. It took awhile to log out of icloud, then log back in. Still had one more false start, where it said it could sync icloud data, but i just started the process over (for like the 15th time) and it finally let me proceed.

Have been an apple user for many (many) years and this is easily the worst set-up process for an apple device. Really convoluted and bad. Apple REALLY needs to fix this. It's Christmas day and I just spent two hours setting up a WATCH. A @^%$%&* watch. Really absurd.

So thank you for saving me!

OK after hours and hours this worked for me. I just searched for “iCloud data” in iPad settings (one that was signed into my child’s iCloud account). I selected “Advanced Data Protections” and followed the prompts to delete any backups (like Health Data, etc). This didn’t change anything on her iPad and I was able to MANUALLY (not QR code) sync her watch. Ignore as many prompts as you can (set up later) and that worked for me.

I was setting up the a new apple watch SE for my son as a stand alone device and I kept running into the watch saying "Couldn't Sync iCloud Data To continue using iCloud to sync your end-to-end...need to delete current data stored in iCloud". This issue occurred anytime I attempted to configure the watch for a family member.

I worked with a senior advisor in two 1.5 hour long sessions without them able to figure it out.

We tried

• deleting old devices associated with the accounts
• disabling 'find my' on my son's device
• turned off my son's ipad
• doing the flow on wifi and then on cell phone data
• logged into my son's ipad and checked if anything was pending for my son's account in the settings
• I was able to configure the watch as my own and I updated the watch OS version
• I created a brand new child account and tried it with that

None of this worked. Eventually after 3 days and probably 10 hours of trying to characterize the problem, I found a work around that got me passed the problem. What worked for me was:

Signin with my son's account on an iphone, set up the watch using the "setup the watch for myself" flow. Once the watch was completely configured to my son's account, I unpaired and reset the iwatch, I signed my son out of my iphone and restored my phone from backup (to clear up anything his account might have done to my phone). After everything was reset and I was logged into my phone with my own account, I went through the flow of setting up the watch for a family member and this time it worked perfectly. The watch is now working perfectly for my son and I'm able to manage the watch from my phone.

It appears that installing the watch from the "for myself" flow did something to clear out the problem with his iCloud account. After that it unblocked the ability for me to set the watch up for him as a family member of mine.

Like Jeff posted what solved the problem for me was setting a passcode on the Ipad where I signed in with my daughters iCloud account. Then redoing the hole process on the watch. This time when it tries to login on the watch it will ask for the passcode.

Here’s what I did. Who knows why it worked but hope it’s helpful:

• kept iPhone logged in to my Apple ID
• on an iPad I logged out of my Apple ID and logged into my son’s Apple ID. That had already been created awhile ago and was on Family Sharing
• on the iPad it took awhile to sign me out because it said it had to clear iCloud data. But finally did.
• I then followed prompts to unpair the watch and start all over.
• the first time it got me further but stalled out when it asked me for the passcode for the iPad.
• so I started over again
• this time it accepted the passcode and it allowed me to fully set up
• he’s now happily riding around on his bike showing it off to his friends and I’ve texted him to see it in action. 👍🏼🙂

I'm not sure why this process is so convoluted or what the iPad had to do with anything in the universe. But after two wasted hours that’s what finally worked.

I wish you luck and definitely sympathize.

Dear Watch OS team, please fix this mess. Signed: lots of frustrated parents who you hung out to dry on Christmas.

Now I have solved this problem!The cause of this issue is that the Apple account you created/separately logged in to on your Apple Watch is unable to sync iCloud, the solution is to just log in to the Apple account you logged in to on your Apple Watch on another Apple device (iPhone or iPad) and follow the instructions to sync or delete the data that can't be synced!

After struggling with the setup of Apple watch SE 2 until late night, I gave up. The next day, when I went to try again from scratch, there was a software update. Once this update was installed, I had no problem setup the watch. Thanks whoever fixed this in the back end.

This worked for me. I was trying to set up an Apple Watch with a Child (Family Member) account. The Child had no other Apple devices. I had to find a spare device (iPad), wipe it, and set it up using the same Child's Apple Account account. After the iPad completed setup, there was a prompt to wipe the Child's iCloud data, so I did that. Afterward, I was able to pair the Apple Watch using the Child account.

Hello, I have resolved it. I think this is a bug in iCloud system for Apple Watch.

Apple Watch can not sync which one is the best version of your iCloud backup data when you logged in different devices with the same your iCloud account before. So You need to use another good iphone(newly version iPhone Xr/12/14/15) to setting and logging in-and restore backup with your iCloud account, then you will find lots of old devices with the same account in list of the phone. You can sync all data of icloud and delete all old devices. Now your iCloud is clean and synchronized, your Apple Watch could be used now. Good luck! We find the bug of iCloud for Apple Watch.

What an appalling experience trying to setup a family watch.

This is the second family watch I have had to setup and both times took me at least 8 hours of searching and trying the various answers on this and other forums.

What resolved it for me was the suggestion already mentioned here, that you need to ensure the iPad that is signed in under the family member ALSO has a passcode set. I didn’t have that setup on the family members iPad and as soon as i set a passcode on it I was then able to successfully setup the family watch and get past the dreaded ‘unable to sync iCloud data” followed by the ever useful “reset end to end encrypted data” message which leads to nowhere.

Hope this also helps someone!

I suggest you start a chat with Apple support. I did that and it still didn’t work. The chat person then had an Apple guy phone me. It finally worked for me this way.

Incredibly frustrating. After 6 weeks, 4 hours in an apple store, + 2 hours with Apple Support, and many more hours on my own trying to update/sync/delete iclouds, I was told today by Apple Support that it's a 'known engineering issue' that syncing an Apple Watch to a childs iCloud account is not working due to "Cannot Connect to Server" error and there is no known timeline to resolve! I bought this apple watch for my sons 12th birthday -- I am now out the cost of both the watch and also paying for a monthly sim activation for a device that cannot be used due to Apple Engineering issues 😤 Really unbelievable that Apple can sell a product for a child that cannot be linked to a child icloud account to be managed by the family.

I am facing the same issue. I am setting up apple watch SE 2 for my son as a stand alone device. Just created a brand new apple ID for him. Still encounters the same error message. He doesn't have any other apple device besides this apple watch that I am trying to set up for him. I can't imagine what kind of icloud data he could have. Very frustrating.

Imagine having to spend your Christmas eve troubleshooting how to setup an Apple Watch for my daughter.

The installation was going just fine before I had to stop for lunch. I made it so far that it was asking me to setup her contacts. Once I returned from lunch the setup timed out. I had to restart. Now it is unable to login because of an issue to sync data. I log on to her new Icloud account and it is empty. There is nothing to sync. Clicking the button to delete all data on the icloud account from the Watch does not work. It just fails. I have now taken an ipad and logged on with her account. Even here it is asking me to delete all data on the icloud account before it can proceed. Seems to work since I can continue. Return back to the watch, same problem.

Since I am running out of options other then setting up the watch on a different icloud account altogether or creating a new icloud account, I guess i need to visit the store tomorrow when they opened. What a miserable experience.

[Edited by Moderator]