Apple Card not supported on 1st gen Apple Watch

[Joesg]

I wasn't able to add my Apple Card to Apple Pay in my Watch, so I called support. After about 3 hours of back and forth with various techs and two case escalations, a senior technician informed me that the new Apple Card is incompatible with the 1st gen Apple Watch. There is no information about Watch compatibility anywhere so I thought this needed to be shared.

I'm disappointed in Apple that my only option is to buy a new Watch...

 

[xraydoc]

I wasn't able to add my Apple Card to Apple Pay in my Watch, so I called support. After about 3 hours of back and forth with various techs and two case escalations, a senior technician informed me that the new Apple Card is incompatible with the 1st gen Apple Watch. There is no information about Watch compatibility anywhere so I thought this needed to be shared.

I'm disappointed in Apple that my only option is to buy a new Watch...

This has been posted before. Somewhere I read that it's supposedly to be fixed with a software update.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-card-on-apple-watch.2191479/page-2#post-27621993

 

[Dwood1970]

Apple’s website says you need the latest version of WatchOS and the first gen only goes up to 4.3.2 I believe. This may be causing the issues. Maybe they will fix that.

 

[Suttree]

This should not come as a surprise to anyone. It’s Apple. Wanna use the Apple Card on your Apple Watch? Pay up. Of couese, they are going to lie and say there are ALL sorts of technical reasons they can’t, meanwhile every other credit card has no issue being used with first-gen Apple Watches. Tim Cook’s Apple.

 

[xraydoc]

This should not come as a surprise to anyone. It’s Apple. Wanna use the Apple Card on your Apple Watch? Pay up. Of couese, they are going to lie and say there are ALL sorts of technical reasons they can’t, meanwhile every other credit card has no issue being used with first-gen Apple Watches. Tim Cook’s Apple.

Except the Apple card is a bit different. Not sure if you have one yet, but you can actually change the card's physical number on demand if you believe the number has been compromised. Normal credit cards would otherwise issue you a new card. Perhaps this is one reason that a more recent version of watchOS is required (to handle the card's ability to do this).

Just a theory. But like was noted above, perhaps a fix is coming.

 

[Suttree]

Except the Apple card is a bit different. Not sure if you have one yet, but you can actually change the card's physical number on demand if you believe the number has been compromised. Normal credit cards would otherwise issue you a new card. Perhaps this is one reason that a more recent version of watchOS is required (to handle the card's ability to do this).

Just a theory. But like was noted above, perhaps a fix is coming.

I don’t see Apple offering a “fix.” It can’t be called a fix when it was never an intention to offer this ability with first-gen watches in the first place. I see Apple withholding this feature to encourage OS updating, which can only happen if you update your hardware. With money.

 

[sjinsjca]

I don’t see Apple offering a “fix.” It can’t be called a fix when it was never an intention to offer this ability with first-gen watches in the first place. I see Apple withholding this feature to encourage OS updating, which can only happen if you update your hardware. With money.

That's not what I was told, by Apple. But, we'll see.

 

[Suttree]

That's not what I was told, by Apple. But, we'll see.

Fingers crossed--BUT--elsewhere I read comments on Twitter where people were told by Apple support that the first-gen is unsupported by choice. And in the past I’ve gotten mixed messages from Apple’s customer service.

Agent 1: Yes, you can do this.
Agent 2: No, you can’t do that. I don’t know why Agent 1 said you could.
Agent 1: Yes, you can absolutely do that. I don’t know why Agent 2 is talking about.

 

[MVMNT]

At least you can use your Apple Card to buy a new watch...

 

[CWallace]

Since the first developer betas for WatchOS 5 were released, it was made clear that the Series 0 Watch would not support said OS. There were plenty of threads on this site about it.

And based on articles, Apple Card requires WatchOS 5.3 so it was clear that the Series 0 watches would not support it (at least at launch).

 

[Allyance]

I have a series 1 and my Aplle card does not work on it. I am waiting to see what they announce in September, I will get new watch either way towards the end of September, mainly for the improved heart monitoring and fall alerts.

 

[MrUNIMOG]

I have a series 1 and my Aplle card does not work on it. I am waiting to see what they announce in September, I will get new watch either way towards the end of September, mainly for the improved heart monitoring and fall alerts.

Your Series 1 supports watchOS 5 and 6 so Apple Card should definitely work on it.

 

[Brien]

Apple’s website says you need the latest version of WatchOS and the first gen only goes up to 4.3.2 I believe. This may be causing the issues. Maybe they will fix that.

Same as AirPods v2. Series 0 is dead.

 

[Solver]

I suspect some people (like Apple support) are getting confused with the terminology between first generation Apple Watch, which is commonly called the series 0, and the series 1 Apple Watch.

I have an Apple Card and the only Apple Pay transactions I’ve done are from my Apple Watch series 1. They all worked and I got the 2% cash back.

The Apple Watch series 0 will never be able to use Apple Card without a specific update only available from Apple, if they decide to create and release it.

 

[Solver]

Deleted

 

[MrUNIMOG]

The Apple Watch series 0 will never be able to use Apple Card without a specific update only available from Apple, if they decide to create and release it.

However, that might just need to be an update to iOS, not the Watch itself. Probably could be handled by the Apple Watch App on iPhone, so that Apple Card would appear on the Watch just like any other ordinary Apple Pay enabled credit card does, once added.
[doublepost=1567440951][/doublepost]

Same as AirPods v2. Series 0 is dead.

You can connect 2nd gen. AirPods via Bluetooth settings on the Watch. Well, or just get 1st gen. AirPods instead.

 

[sjinsjca]

That's not what I was told, by Apple. But, we'll see.

Unfortunately, this is still the status, after updating to iOS 13.1.2. Attempting to add the Apple Card to my Series 0 yields message that WatchOS needs to be updated, but no WatchOS update is available or has been for many months.

 

[Mercenary]

Unfortunately, this is still the status, after updating to iOS 13.1.2. Attempting to add the Apple Card to my Series 0 yields message that WatchOS needs to be updated, but no WatchOS update is available or has been for many months.

Use that shiny new apple card to buy a shiny new apple watch.