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Apple Watch Series 3 Owners Now Required to Perform Restore When Updating Due to Storage Constraints

tarrant said:
I’ve had to do the pair/unpair dance for all of the 7.x releases … until 7.4.

With both 7.4 and 7.5, the update just worked, so long as I initiated it from the watch. I did get the warning for the 7.5 update, but restarting my watch let me update it without issues.

So … it “almost” just works ;-) and it’s honestly much better than it was.
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It just works for me. Check your free memory, I’ve never had a problem and load lots of betas
 
keco185 said:
The fact that Apple still sells these things new is a crime
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I talked a friend of mine into taking a look, I had just been gifted one SE and was all excited by the novelty. Later on he tells me he bought a Series 3 because it was a few bucks cheaper... I said nothing, but damn, with these new updates he is gonna hate it and probably hate me too. I think in this specific case Apple made a downsell.

jz0309 said:
unpair/pair is a p.i.t.a. process and I cannot imagine how long it takes on a S3 (I just had to do my S4 for a replacement, ApplePay setup, unlock Mac, unlock iPhone when wearing mask ... took at least 45 min) - bad news for S3 owners, I feel for you :(
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Agreed. I did it a couple of times at the very beginning on new SE, mostly because I messed it up and started from scratch... it was long and annoying even if it was a mostly empty profile. The ApplePay cards you mention are probably the worst since it has to go through the bank apps in my case and wait for a reply back.
 
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ouimetnick said:
I know a friend with one, it’s junk, slow and choppy. Apple should have discontinued it last year.
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Yah right. I have one it’s fantastic. I use turn by turn directions, Cardiogram, music, phone, maps, walk/run tracking. Never slow, never choppy. And I’m on developer beta, so I have a lot of logged data. Your friends “problem”. Might be no free memory. You should check that

oh, and my daughter still uses my old series 2(?). It still works great
 
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amartinez1660 said:
I talked a friend of mine into taking a look, I had just been gifted one SE and was all excited by the novelty. Later on he tells me he bought a Series 3 because it was a few bucks cheaper... I said nothing, but damn, with these new updates he is gonna hate it and probably hate me too. I think in this specific case Apple made a downsell.


Agreed. I did it a couple of times at the very beginning on new SE, mostly because I messed it up and started from scratch... it was long and annoying even if it was a mostly empty profile. The ApplePay cards you mention are probably the worst since it has to go through the bank apps in my case and wait for a reply back.
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Seriously. I’m thinking you jest. Apple Pay is very quick on mine. Double click hold near ding and done
 
MauiPa said:
I mean dah, that was then. Things are different. Adding music to it was not certain that customers would even want that. I have a 3, it is fantastic, not junk. Does everything I need and is plenty fast. I’ve never had to pair/repair. And I’m on developer beta. I am smart enough to know you keep free space on any device you own
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I’d imagine you have a Series 3 with GPS then (those have 16GB of storage)
 
MauiPa said:
Yah right. I have one it’s fantastic. I use turn by turn directions, Cardiogram, music, phone, maps, walk/run tracking. Never slow, never choppy. And I’m on developer beta, so I have a lot of logged data. Your friends “problem”. Might be no free memory. You should check that

oh, and my daughter still uses my old series 2(?). It still works great
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Lol. I’m sure it does. 😂🤣
 
HeavenDynamic said:
This is an absolutely terrible consumer experience. Especially for a device that is still sold to this day.
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And it’s also not true. I suppose if your device is full, of course you would have a problem. You would on any device. So I’m surprised the author did not research better. How much remaining storage is the trigger? I update frequently due to being on beta program and have never experienced this issue. In fact I am so happy with my watch I am putting off getting a new one as being unnecessary.

don’t believe everything you read. Some people actually have agendas
 
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jimbobb24 said:
It has 16 and you should care if you use it for podcasts or music when exercising but otherwise not an issue.
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GPS only has 8GB. I'm rarely above 2GB usable and that is with no apps, music, photos etc synced at all. Bare bones.
 
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MauiPa said:
Seriously. I’m thinking you jest. Apple Pay is very quick on mine. Double click hold near ding and done
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He’s referring to set Apple Pay up, my cards require you to enter the security code… it takes about 1-2 min per card, it’s a p.I.t.a
 
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tarrant said:
I’ve had to do the pair/unpair dance for all of the 7.x releases … until 7.4.

With both 7.4 and 7.5, the update just worked, so long as I initiated it from the watch. I did get the warning for the 7.5 update, but restarting my watch let me update it without issues.

So … it “almost” just works ;-) and it’s honestly much better than it was.
Click to expand...
Same here. Last night it actually ran from the watch first try.
 
MauiPa said:
And it’s also not true. I suppose if your device is full, of course you would have a problem. You would on any device. So I’m surprised the author did not research better. How much remaining storage is the trigger? I update frequently due to being on beta program and have never experienced this issue. In fact I am so happy with my watch I am putting off getting a new one as being unnecessary.

don’t believe everything you read. Some people actually have agendas
Click to expand...
Go check the many threads here on MR out… my daughter just got a SE and she told me she couldn’t do the last few updates on her 3 anymore…
 
My S3 has only 4GB. Maybe later ones have more. I tried installing the OS update following Apple’s instructions only to find (after hours of installing, restoring, etc.) it still has the old OS. There’s not enough space no matter what, with no photos, music, or apps added. On top of that, my Activity/Fitness stats for the day were messed up and I had to start accumulating stand hours, calories, etc. from zero. What I had for the first part of the day was added to the previous calendar day. (This happened when the watch crashed once, too, breaking my 209 day Move streak for me.)
 
macduke said:
I thought all Apple Watches had 8GB. They must've upgraded it at some point and since they never talk about it, I don't even know how much storage my Series 4 SS has or why I should care, lol.
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You should because the storage is still controlled by Apple, they literally have an allocated space for media Mother Apple knows bests
 
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now i see it said:
It's approaching EOL
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Approaching? I think it’s arrived and left the station :D

Silly Apple. Lure new Watch customers with a ‘budget’ entry level product that shouldn’t be for sale because the user experience is crap. All those new customers will go around saying how bad the  Watch is because their only reference is the Series 3 GPS model!
 
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I've had to do this for updates on my wife's S3 for a few updates now so nothing new for us.

IMHO Apple needs to come up with a new model that's made for women since I know a few of them that would love to update but feel the current 38mm size is too large for their wrists and no way do they want anything larger. Maybe reduce some features to core functions and decrease the size.
 
They need to dump the series 3 already and update the old damn watch faces to the new style complications of series 4,5,6. Enough already.
 
The Series 3 is the iPad Air 2 of Apple Watches. It’s longevity is impressive, even with this little inconvenience.
 
This is a terrible user experience. And a time consuming one at that. Stop selling it if this is the level of support it’s going to get.
 
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BoRu said:
My S3 has only 4GB. Maybe later ones have more. I tried installing the OS update following Apple’s instructions only to find (after hours of installing, restoring, etc.) it still has the old OS. There’s not enough space no matter what, with no photos, music, or apps added. On top of that, my Activity/Fitness stats for the day were messed up and I had to start accumulating stand hours, calories, etc. from zero. What I had for the first part of the day was added to the previous calendar day. (This happened when the watch crashed once, too, breaking my 209 day Move streak for me.)
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There is a lot of confusion with the series 3. GPS had 8GB, Cellular had 16GB. However, "capacity" listed in about menu doesn't show the full capacity like a phone does (my phone shows 256GB for capacity). It show the usable amount which is 4GB+ after including the operating system. Then it shows the free amount which is around 2GBs prior to any apps, music, podcast, photos. But requires 2.5GB to do an update. I guess it was a bad look to show a 8GB capacity with 2GBs free on a fresh watch with nothing installed.
 
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