Apple Watch stuck on Photos warning message

I have an original Apple Watch (sometimes referred to as a series 0), paired to an iPhone 7, both running the latest OS versions.


Today, for the first time ever, the watch displayed a screen showing the Photos app's icon and the message, "No Photos - To sync photos, choose an album from the Apple Watch app on your iPhone." This seemed odd, because I've never used the Photos app on the phone, have no photos stored on it, and didn't do anything with the app just before this.


If I press the watch's crown, it shows me the cloud-like display of icons of all the installed apps. I then tried pressing the crown again to return to the normal clock display, but instead it returned me to the screen with the Photos app's warning message. No button presses or swipes of any kind gets me back to the clock display -- it only toggles between the display of all the app icons, and the Photos app warning message.


Next, I tried restarting the watch by holding down the side button and dragging the Power Off slider to the right. This did not resolve the problem.


I then did a force-restart by holding down the side button and the crown at the same time. This also did not resolve the problem -- it display still only toggles between the display of app icons and the Photos warning message.


So I then tried resetting the watch's settings by opening the Settings app on the watch, then General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings. When it restarted and I re-paired the watch with my iPhone, it asked if I wanted to restore from a backup (there was only one, apparently created about the same time I did the reset) or set it up as a new watch. I chose to restore from the backup. Unfortunately, it then reverted to the same behavior of displaying only the cloud of apps icon or the display of the Photos warning message.


Here are my questions at this point:


1) Should I reset the watch's settings again, but this time set it up as a new watch? If I do this, does it mean I'll have to re-install or manually configure the apps I added myself?


2) Is there any other course of action I can try to resolve the problem besides doing such a reset?

Posted on Sep 28, 2017 4:21 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 29, 2017 2:24 AM

Hi


I suggest that you select an album in the Watch app on your iPhone from which to sync photos to your Apple Watch:


On your iPhone, in the Watch app, go to: My Watch (tab) > Photos > Synced Album > select an album (such as Favourites).


If necessary, create a new album on your iPhone, add a single photo to it and select to sync that album:


Organize photos and videos

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 29, 2017 2:24 AM in response to FrankO23

Hi


I suggest that you select an album in the Watch app on your iPhone from which to sync photos to your Apple Watch:


On your iPhone, in the Watch app, go to: My Watch (tab) > Photos > Synced Album > select an album (such as Favourites).


If necessary, create a new album on your iPhone, add a single photo to it and select to sync that album:


Organize photos and videos

Sep 29, 2017 7:11 AM in response to Jonathan UK

Thanks. When I followed your instructions, the random photo I'd selected became the wallpaper on a new watch face that combined the photo with digital time. Apparently through some random swipes or something, it thought that I wanted to set up the Photo watch face, and got stuck partway through. Once I did that, I was able to select my preferred watch face. The only slight nit now is that, when I scroll through the watch faces, I see the Photo face as an option displaying this odd, random photo I'd picked. I guess I can go in and customize it to remove that photo. Thanks again.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Apple Watch stuck on Photos warning message

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.