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Watch is not ringing on incoming calls

I'm on AT&T and my watch will not ring on incoming calls. It can be used for outgoing calls though. It rang once on Saturday and I was not able to answer the call. Now nothing. iPhone functions normally. I rebooted the Watch and the Phone still no go.

Posted on Apr 29, 2015 2:10 PM

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Posted on Jun 17, 2015 5:51 PM

I Had the same issue and after 3 trips to the genius bar i tried troubleshooting the issue myself. At first I thought that an app was causing the delay then I finally figured out it had to do with the number of contacts I had on my phone. Between my different accounts I had 600 + contacts and it would take 5 to 6 rings before it would show on my watch. I reduced the number to 400 hundred and then it would show up after 2 to 3 rings. Finally one I got below 300 contacts I experienced little to no delay. I hope that helps!

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Jun 17, 2015 5:51 PM in response to claudefromcannes

I Had the same issue and after 3 trips to the genius bar i tried troubleshooting the issue myself. At first I thought that an app was causing the delay then I finally figured out it had to do with the number of contacts I had on my phone. Between my different accounts I had 600 + contacts and it would take 5 to 6 rings before it would show on my watch. I reduced the number to 400 hundred and then it would show up after 2 to 3 rings. Finally one I got below 300 contacts I experienced little to no delay. I hope that helps!

Nov 29, 2016 10:21 PM in response to Maricopa101

YES!! You finally solved my problem. So, I was in my car when I was having a problem with my Apple Watch ringing. The phone was connected to two bluetooth devices, the Apple Watch AND the SYNC from Ford in my car, which allows me to listen to my Sirius through my speakers. When I turned off the SYNC and made a test call, the Watch rang. Perhaps this will be addressed in a software update in the future. Thank you again!!

Apr 30, 2015 4:54 PM in response to Maricopa101

Okay. It is fixed. Well sort of.

Apparently the iPhone can only be connected to one telephone device via Bluetooth at a time. My iPhone has been connected to my home cordless system via Bluetooth forever and it works great.

When I disconnected the home phone system calls started coming to my Watch.

So reconnected the home system and no more calls to the Watch. Now I have a choice of one or the other. I choose the home system.

However one more kicker. Even with both systems connected I can use the Watch to make outgoing calls.

Jun 20, 2015 11:38 AM in response to Maricopa101

OK i have seen many of these posts with the same problem and i had the same problem as well.

I was in contact with apple support and they finally gave me an option that worked, and i have not seen it as an option on these forums yet.


1. Un-Pair the watch with the phone

2. on your phone go to settings/general/reset and reset the network settings

3. re-pair the watch with the phone and all should work


I tried everything including all methods on the forums. Nothing worked until i did this.

Good Luck

Nov 29, 2015 10:18 AM in response to Maricopa101

I am so glad I stumbled onto this comment - this fixed my issue of calls going to the iPhone vice watch. I disconnected my iPhone's Bluetooth connection to my home wireless phone system and now when iPhone is asleep, calls go to watch. This has been such a frustrating problem! When I think about it, the fix makes sense, but i doubt it ever would have occurred to me. Thanks!

Watch is not ringing on incoming calls

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