7 Days To Download Slow watchOS Update?

[rcappo]

While I have never updated my watchOS on my series 3 before because my old phone wasn't compatible with any newer watch OS's than the one it came with, when I got a new iPhone 14, I thought it would be easy to update my watch and get it synced. But no such luck. I seem to be the only one that has problems.

Why in 2022 does a 1.4 GB download take longer than what it would have back in the 56k modem days? And why does it have to be on Wi-Fi, we have cell phone data now...

And that trick that others used to turn off bluetooth doesn't work, since the watch has been restored to factory settings and it doesn't know what Wi-Fi is it seems. But I don't even think it is getting the file downloaded either to the iPhone or to the watch. It seems to just time out after 2 hours and it just says Paused.

I have tried it on three different Wi-Fi networks, including at an Apple Store. Which it looks like I will have to go back to tomorrow. Maybe they have a different phone that can be used to update the watchOS, or will that get wiped out when it gets unpaired? Maybe I will have to see if they need to mail it out to upgrade the watchOS, since a few yeasrs ago they had to mail it out to downgrade the watchOS for me...

Or is there some other trick that I don't know about to maybe download the update file in some other method?

 

[bruinsrme]

Series 5 ceramic and series 4 black SS with the 14 pro max.
to say the leasf\t it’s been painful. both watches required the update.
I started off with the ceramic. After several pairing issues it finally connected to started Todosnload the update. It was so slow I. On the 14, set the display to never turn off and went to bed.
it failed the update.
the Watch was unpaired and decided to the Watch up as new. The update went smooth.
unpaired the Watch to set the Watch up from back up.
this took forever.
the b;ack SS is updated but the Watch says 9.o2 while the phone still things it’s on 8.6

 

[rcappo]

So I took my watch into the Apple store today and they are sending it away to get the software updated. I was on watchOS 4.6.3 I found out. I don't know how they plan on doing this upgrade to watchOS 8, because they said that there might not be enough memory available on this watch.

I just wonder if I am going to get back a refurbished watch or the one I had...

 

[OriginalAppleGuy]

Wow. Looks like you should have upgraded from that 3GS a long time ago ;-). Pretty sure older Apple watches update over Bluetooth from the iPhone. So you may have a fast WiFi connection, but you are limited to BT speeds for the actual update. Also - there could be a LOT of things getting updated from the old version to 8.7.1.

I recall my Watch 2 and 4 taking a long time to update from one version to the next. Sometimes, the update would estimate a much longer time than it usually took. Seven days I've never seen. But there's a good chance it wouldn't have taken the actual 7 days.

 

[FunkyTang]

It took me about 12 tries to update a SS S3 to WatchOS 8.7.1. I just had to unpair and install as a new watch with no backup. It would keep stalling at preparing…