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Apple watch requires phone update on latest iOS?

I'm trying to pair my Apple Watch with an iPhone 7 and my watch needs an update. It requires me to update my phone first, but when I look at Software Update settings, I have the latest iOS. I've followed the steps on the "Update your Apple Watch" page and have restarted my devices to no avail. How do I pair my devices if I can't update them?

Apple Watch, watchOS 4

Posted on Jun 30, 2020 10:27 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 30, 2020 1:03 PM

This is a known problem ios13 doesn't seem to like watches with watchos5 or below,here is three proven solutions from other forum members.


Quote;

Apple watch 2;

I found a friend, who was on iOS 12 and used his iPhone to pair. Before pairing it asked to upgrade the watch OS (iOS 13 didn't offer this option). After I upgraded the watchos I unpaired the watch from the ios12 phone and then was able to pair it with any iPhone running iOS 13.


Quote;

1st gen apple watch;

pairing was successful on the following device (with associated OS)

to pair via bluetooth I used an iphone 7 with iOS 12, after pairing immediately accepted the watchOS update to version 4.3.2 after everything was successfully equipped with the last update, unpaired the iPhone and the Apple Watch a reset (factory settings) all this took some time but afterwards pairing on an iPhone XR with iOS13 g was a piece of cake.


Quote;

May 9, 2020 4:58 AM in response to Hashimsabbah

Just did this with a series1. I had to pair with the original phone and update the firmware for me to pair correctly. All I did was ask to pair and the update happened on an iPhone 6.



Find a phone with ios12 on it if you can and pair your watch to it,it will ask you to update the watch select yes,after it has updated unpair the watch from the ios12 phone and then pair it with your ios13 phone.

Now you can update to watchos6.

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 30, 2020 1:03 PM in response to reinea55

This is a known problem ios13 doesn't seem to like watches with watchos5 or below,here is three proven solutions from other forum members.


Quote;

Apple watch 2;

I found a friend, who was on iOS 12 and used his iPhone to pair. Before pairing it asked to upgrade the watch OS (iOS 13 didn't offer this option). After I upgraded the watchos I unpaired the watch from the ios12 phone and then was able to pair it with any iPhone running iOS 13.


Quote;

1st gen apple watch;

pairing was successful on the following device (with associated OS)

to pair via bluetooth I used an iphone 7 with iOS 12, after pairing immediately accepted the watchOS update to version 4.3.2 after everything was successfully equipped with the last update, unpaired the iPhone and the Apple Watch a reset (factory settings) all this took some time but afterwards pairing on an iPhone XR with iOS13 g was a piece of cake.


Quote;

May 9, 2020 4:58 AM in response to Hashimsabbah

Just did this with a series1. I had to pair with the original phone and update the firmware for me to pair correctly. All I did was ask to pair and the update happened on an iPhone 6.



Find a phone with ios12 on it if you can and pair your watch to it,it will ask you to update the watch select yes,after it has updated unpair the watch from the ios12 phone and then pair it with your ios13 phone.

Now you can update to watchos6.

Apple watch requires phone update on latest iOS?

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