Why won’t the Apple Watch app open?

This actually worked! hard to imagine. The downfall was a lost some apps (not the end of the world). you will lose all of your iMessage conversation. So now the watch works, and the fitness app works also. I have 2 watches, the first series and the series 6. Can a guy pair both watches so he could wear the older one for work and the other for other occasions ? Thank you so much for the help! I really appreciate it!

Hi emalynn208,

I posted a solution to this problem on another thread and it has worked for 5 other people so far, so it is worth a shot for you to try as well! My solution also doesn’t require a factory reset, like some others I’ve seen. See solution below:

Anyone having issues getting into the watch app so you can unpair your watch and delete the app, try out my solution! This will allow you to delete the watch app completely so you can re-download it fresh from the App Store, which will fix the glitch problem the app is having. It doesn’t require you to do a reset and erase. It has worked for 5 other people now, so I’d say it’s worth a shot for anyone else having this issue. 

1. On the watch go to settings > general > reset > Erase All Content and Settings
2. Go to your Bluetooth settings on your phone and if you see your Apple Watch, click on the 'i' and click "Forget this device"
3. Go to "appleid.apple.com", scroll down to devices and you should see your apple watch. Click your apple watch and select "Remove from account".
4. Next you will need to turn off "Find my iPhone", which should turn off activation lock on the watch. On your phone go to settings > click your name > Find My > Find My iPhone > toggle this off
5. Next step is to go go settings > general > iPhone storage > scroll to the Watch app and "Remove all backups". I saw someone do this somewhere else, saying that there might be corrupt files in the backups, so removing them might be a good idea. If you do have a backup and want to try without this step, it might still work, just wanted to mention this.
6. These next steps have to be done quickly. Do a Hard reset of your phone (quickly press volume up > quickly press volume down > press and hold side button until Apple logo appears and then release side button). Once the phone turns back on, you should have enough time to be able to get into the app and then unpair the watch, but you have to do this super quickly before the app kicks you out. Make sure your app is on the first screen once you unlock your phone, because you don't have much time from when the phone turns on from the hard reset to when the app will crash. I also recommend disabling your passcode if you have one to get into your phone quicker. 
7. Next, go into the app, and once loaded, quickly press "All Watches" in top left screen > Click the 'i' next to your watch > then click "Unpair Apple Watch".
8. After you click "Unpair Apple Watch", a pop up at the bottom appears where you have to click “Unpair Apple Watch” again. After you have done this, you should see a screen where it shows it is unpairing your watch. Because you turned off Find my iPhone in the previous step, this should have turned off the activation lock, so you shouldn't have to type in your Apple ID password. Once I got to this point, the app didn't kick me out and I was successfully able to unpair my watch.
9. After the unpair is completed, go back to your apps and you should have the ability to completely delete the Watch app. First remove the app from your home screen and then completely delete the app from the app library.
10. After you have deleted the app, go back to the app store and download the watch app again and you will be able to get into the app with no issues and start over with your watch.

Since I did this, my watch has been working perfectly. Like I said, this solution has worked for 5 people now, so worth a try especially if you don’t want to erase your phone completely and deal with that. Let me know if this works for you!

just seems like a lot of work to get your Apple Watch to work with your apple iPhone. very frustrating

The erase all and restore procedure does not work. My iwatch 1 with the app worked with the app no problems for years. Now I have an iwatch6 and the app opens for a split second and then nothing. such bs.

If you’re trying my solution, make sure you are doing a hard reset otherwise just turning the phone off and on will not refresh the app’s memory and won’t allow you enough time to get in and unpair the watch. I understand this may not work for everyone, but I’ve seen people have to do this maybe a dozen times or more to get in fast enough to unpair successfully. But they did get in.

Hard reset: quickly press volume up > quickly press volume down > press and hold side button until Apple logo appears and then release side button.

That’s not the kind of “reset” I’m talking about. This kind is actually a reboot of the phone where you turn the phone off an on again but not via the traditional way. It’s called a “Force restart/reboot” (that’s what my instructions above were about). This kind of reboot doesn’t erase any data but refreshes all your current apps memory and is supposed to fix the apps of any issues like freezing, lag, etc. In my experience with this issue, when I preformed a forced reboot of my phone and after the phone turned on again, I was able to get into the Apple Watch app for a few seconds (maybe 10), which was enough time to unpair my watch, so I could then delete the app and redownload it from the App Store new. I understand you erased your phone to start over, but since the Apple apps come already installed on the phone, you probably still need to delete the watch app completely and then redownload it again in the App Store. Doing this has fixed the problem for me and some others.

After speaking to a couple employees from apple and trying many things, we found a solution that worked for me. You must restore your iPhone using a Mac or windows 10 PC. After you restore the iPhone, it will restart. When setting the IPhone up, only Sign In with Apple ID. DO NOT USE A BACKUP! Using a backup from your iPhone or the Mac will not fix your issue. Only Sign In with Apple ID, then you should be able to open the app.

the app only opens for a split second

I am also having the same issue and this didn’t work for me either. The app only opens to a black screen for a second.

I have performed the hard reset where the phone is erased and you have to start all over as if you just purchased the phone

I spent most of the day yesterday trying all of the options described in the forum with no luck. yes I have tried "your" way with no luck either

Hopefully Apple will come with a solution soon. Good luck!