Apple watch is pairing but not synching with iphone

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Level 2

404 points

Apple watch is pairing but not synching with iphone

I have a 1st gen Apple Watch and an iphone 6. (Both appear to have latest available version of OS as of writing.) They've been working great together until they stopped about a week ago. (I don't believe this coincided with an update -- although Apple sneakily pushes those when I'm not looking --, and I have not changed any settings.)

Here are the symptoms:

The watch still successfully "pairs" with the iphone. By that I mean that watch seems to still recognize that it's connected to the iphone: if I turn off the iphone (or just bluetooth on the iphone), then the red "no phone" icon appears at the top of the watch face, and when I turn the phone back on then it goes away (or turns green if I've swiped up on the watch).
However, no data seems to be moving between the two: activity doesn't sync, I no longer get watch notifications about new e-mail or text messages, "find my phone" doesn't work, and the time zone doesn't update on the watch when I travel.
For what it's worth, my watch no longer seems to unlock my macbook.

How can I force my watch to sync with my phone? I don't want to lose data accumulated on the watch (e.g., activity history) since this problem. (And yes, I've tried turning it off and turning it on again... and the phone too.)

Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks!

iPhone 6, iOS 9.2

Posted on Mar 13, 2018 10:54 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

julieda

Level 7

32,024 points

Mar 13, 2018 12:05 PM in response to Mike G.

If your Apple Watch still can't connect, unpair your devices, then pair them again: On your Apple Watch, tap Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings. On your iPhone, open the Apple Watch app, tap the My Watch tab, then tap your watch at the top of the screen. ... Pair your Apple Watch and iPhone again.

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Answer 2

Mike G. Author

Level 2

404 points

Mar 13, 2018 12:08 PM in response to julieda

Hi,

Thanks. (The picture you attached illustrates what I meant about the watch "knowing" it's connected to the phone. The icon in the top left is green when the phone is present/on/transmitting but red when it is away/off/airplane-mode.)

For the unpair-then-repair, will this cause me to lose data stored on the watch since the problem started?

Thank you,

Mike

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Answer 3

Stewie3G

Level 2

368 points

Mar 21, 2018 4:02 PM in response to Mike G.

Good afternoon.

I am a bit late to the party and I was wondering if your problem got solved somehow. With things that specific, going to the Genius bar works magic.It’s free and if your device needs replacement and is under warrantly you’ll walk out with a brand new one.

Now, on your post, the thing that got me wondering is that according to your post you appear to still be running iOS 9.2. When you say « appear to be running the latest version » please specify what these are. One thing that may explain this kind of issues, as it appears your phone and watch are properly paired, is the two OS may be out of sync (meaning you may have updated your phone and not your watch).

Did you consider that the issue may be on your iPhone side?

Check that your Bluetooth is on on your phone - happens to me all the time. Also, if there is any icon displayed on your Watchface or in your Control center- please specify.

Status icons and symbols on Apple Watch - Apple Support

Check in the Health App, at the top of the Today tab there is an Activity card, is it also not synced?

What Julieda recommended, delete from the watch, seems a little scary and I would be worried about data loss. In the Watch app, there is an Unpair button that looks safer to me (My Watch tab at the top tap on your Watch then on the ‘i’ button and Unpair Watch). I would follow these instructions and if all goes well, a backup of your Watch data will be created.

Unpair

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204568

Pair

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204505

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Answer 4

Mike G. Author

Level 2

404 points

Mar 15, 2018 4:35 AM in response to Mike G.

Update: I just got a warning message on the watch stating that I need to enter my icloud password on this device. How do I enter an icloud password on a watch?!

(And still no word on whether there will be data loss from following the above directions...)

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Answer 5

Mike G. Author

Level 2

404 points

Mar 24, 2018 10:52 PM in response to Stewie3G

Thanks. There were no indications of problems on the phone side. (Yes, Bluetooth and wifi were on, etc. And, it's suspicious that my watch stopped unlocking my computer at the same time.)

Unfortunately un-pairing then repairing did not work. The phone decided it was unpaired from the watch but the watch believed it was still paired with the phone. So I ultimately had to reset/wipe the watch then re-pair it with the phone. I lost a week's worth for health data from the watch -- and it took almost an hour --, but otherwise, things are back to normal.

-Mike

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Apple watch is pairing but not synching with iphone

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