Brand new Apple Watch Series 3 unable to pair with iPhone 8

[AppleTrap]

This short video here shows the problem in action.

I think the watch not being registered is blocking the Watch OS update and that in turn blocks the pairing process. Thoughts anyone?



Apple Support have not been very helpful. They are asking me to sign into the Watch with my Apple ID in order to register it but I can't since I am not able to pair with it.

 

[Solver]

First the basics:
What version of iOS on the phone?
Beta or not? Beta profile installed or not?
Have you restarted both devices?
Have you hard restarted both devices?
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on?
Connected to 2.4g Wi-Fi?

Try pairing from the Apple Watch, not the Apple Watch app,
“On your Apple Watch, select the language and then tap to start pairing. Make sure that your iPhone has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on. Put your Apple Watch on and hold the iPhone near the Apple Watch for at least 30 seconds or until you see, "Use your iPhone to set up this Apple Watch."”

Does this work? It not what happens?

 

[AppleTrap]

First the basics:
What versions of the OS on each device?
Beta or not? Beta profile installed or not?
Have you restarted both devices?
Have you hard restarted both devices?
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on?
Connected to 2.4g Wi-Fi?

Try pairing from the Apple Watch, not the Apple Watch app,
“On your Apple Watch, select the language and then tap to start pairing. Make sure that your iPhone has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on. Put your Apple Watch on and hold the iPhone near the Apple Watch for at least 30 seconds or until you see, "Use your iPhone to set up this Apple Watch."”

Does this work? It not what happens?

Thanks.
- iOS 12.1.1 on the iPhone.
- Don't know the OS on the watch
- Things I tried
- restart both iPhone and Watch
- network reset iPhone and try
- fully reset iPhone and try
- No beta profiles installed
- Wifi and Bluetooth on (as can be seen in the video, the watch is aware that a phone is trying to pair with it)
- iPhone connected to 5g wifi

I have tried manually pair as well. Same error

 

[Solver]

Thanks.
- iOS 12.1.1 on the iPhone.
- Don't know the OS on the watch
- Things I tried
- restart both iPhone and Watch
- network reset iPhone and try
- fully reset iPhone and try
- No beta profiles installed
- Wifi and Bluetooth on (as can be seen in the video, the watch is aware that a phone is trying to pair with it)
- iPhone connected to 5g wifi

I have tried manually pair as well. Same error

The Apple Watch series 3 does not support 5g Wi-Fi.
Connect the phone to 2.4g Wi-Fi and try again.

 

[AppleTrap]

The Apple Watch series 3 does not support 5g Wi-Fi.
Connect the phone to 2.4g Wi-Fi and try again.

Same issue.
I reset the pairing process on the Watch.
"Forgot" the 5G and 2.4G wifi on my phone and then restarted phone.
Connected to 2.4G wifi.
Tried to pair and the same issue persists.

Thanks for the 5G tip though. I would not have guessed.

 

[Solver]

Same issue.
I reset the pairing process on the Watch.
"Forgot" the 5G and 2.4G wifi on my phone and then restarted phone.
Connected to 2.4G wifi.
Tried to pair and the same issue persists.

Thanks for the 5G tip though. I would not have guessed.

This problem has become more difficult.
Are any Profiles installed?
Have you tried restarting your router.
Have to tried Settings/General/Reset/Reset Network Settings?
Sometimes things like signing out, restarting, and back in to iCloud helps things.

These steps have helped others with this issue:

• connect iPhone to iTunes using USB cable
• back up iPhone in iTunes
• perform factory reset on iPhone (Erase all Settings...). This step is important, simply backing up and restoring the iPhone doesn't do the trick
• When I got the choice in iTunes to "set up a new iPhone" or restore, choose restore from the backup you made
• When that's done, walk through the iPhone Hello.... screens
• After that, I was able to pair the Watch with the Phone using the Watch App

 

[AppleTrap]

This problem has become more difficult.
Are any Profiles installed?
Have you tried restarting your router.
Have to tried Settings/General/Reset/Reset Network Settings?
Sometimes things like signing out, restarting, and back in to iCloud helps things.

These steps have helped others with this issue:

• connect iPhone to iTunes using USB cable
• back up iPhone in iTunes
• perform factory reset on iPhone (Erase all Settings...). This step is important, simply backing up and restoring the iPhone doesn't do the trick
• When I got the choice in iTunes to "set up a new iPhone" or restore, choose restore from the backup you made
• When that's done, walk through the iPhone Hello.... screens
• After that, I was able to pair the Watch with the Phone using the Watch App

Thanks for helping me out with this.
None of the suggestions worked unfortunately.

- I reset my router to factory settings and tried to pair.
- Signed out and back in to my iCloud account

I had already tried the factory reset phone method yesterday.

Looks like I have to waste a trip to the Apple Store.

 

[Solver]

Thanks for helping me out with this.
None of the suggestions worked unfortunately.

- I reset my router to factory settings and tried to pair.
- Signed out and back in to my iCloud account

I had already tried the factory reset phone method yesterday.

Looks like I have to waste a trip to the Apple Store.

One more easy thing to try. Use a different 2.4g Wi-Fi to pair your Apple Watch.
Another test would be pairing your Apple Watch after factory resets (without signing in and no backup installed.)

Running out of new ideas (ugh!)

 

[AppleTrap]

One more easy thing to try. Use a different 2.4g Wi-Fi to pair your Apple Watch.
Another test would be pairing your Apple Watch after factory resets (without signing in and no backup installed.)

Running out of new ideas (ugh!)

Will try the first one out tonight.
Already did the second one

I was really hopeful it was failing because of the 5G Wifi issue. Alas...

 

[Solver]

Will try the first one out tonight.
Already did the second one

I was really hopeful it was failing because of the 5G Wifi issue. Alas...

It still may ultimately be a Wi-Fi issue because the pairing graphics shows up using Bluetooth only, since the watch cannot connect to Wi-Fi at all until the phone successfully transfers the information via Bluetooth on how to do it.

But I have to admit, when things go wrong, Apple’s error codes/wordings are terrible.

 

[AppleTrap]

It still may ultimately be a Wi-Fi issue because the pairing graphics shows up using Bluetooth only, since the watch cannot connect to Wi-Fi at all until the phone successfully transfers the information via Bluetooth on how to do it.

But I have to admit, when things go wrong, Apple’s error codes/wordings are terrible.

Yes. It is a significant clue. Trying with a different Wifi might help.

No error codes, no logs...nothing at all to even give a clue as to what might be wrong.

Will keep you posted...