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iPhone no longer recognizes auto switching Apple Watch

Apple_Robert

Apple_Robert

Contributor
Original poster
Sep 21, 2012
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In a van down by the river
Since I got the new SE, I have noticed that even though I have the auto switch watch toggle turned on, the phone is not recognizing when I have switched Apple Watches. I have raised to wake turned on as well. This is the first time I have experienced this problem. I have to reboot the phone and or the watch to get the phone to recognize I have a different watch on. I have my series 5 on in the picture.

Anyone else run into this problem?
 

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Yes. It’s never been reliable for me with an S4 and S5 both connected to a an 11 Pro Max. I used to take my daily commute to work and wondered why a lot of times I wouldn’t get notifications on my watch. Turns out this was the issue. I’ve just resorted to manual switching. It’s tedious but a lot more reliable. I used to reboot to but figured manual switching was a lot quicker lol. I think toggling Bluetooth in the Watch settings also forces the watch to connect.
 
Glad to see it isn’t just me. Other times when I am wearing my series 5, the phone still sees me as wearing the series 3.

Like you, I wondered why I wasn’t getting some notifications on the watch, and then I realized the phone wasn’t seeing the corect watch.
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
Glad to see it isn’t just me. Other times when I am wearing my series 5, the phone still sees me as wearing the series 3.

Like you, I wondered why I wasn’t getting some notifications on the watch, and then I realized the phone wasn’t seeing the corect watch.
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Yep. I just do the manual switch in the Watch app with the toggle. It’s only twice a day and takes away about 10 seconds of my day. Instead of rebooting, try toggling the Bluetooth within the Watch‘s settings. That usually forces the connection.
 
Itinj24 said:
Yep. I just do the manual switch in the Watch app with the toggle. It’s only twice a day and takes away about 10 seconds of my day. Instead of rebooting, try toggling the Bluetooth within the Watch‘s settings. That usually forces the connection.
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I just re-paired my series 5 and that appears to have solved the problem. If it happens again, I will do what you suggest with the manual option and toggling BT.
 
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YMMV but placing one Watch on its charger before putting another one on does reliable auto-switching for me (iPhone is nearby both Watches).
 
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antbob said:
YMMV but placing one Watch on its charger before putting another one on does reliable auto-switching for me (iPhone is nearby both Watches).
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Thank you... This was actually the only method that showed any hope of this functioning properly but it was too inconsistent for me so I switched backed to manual switching.
 
I did notice it takes a minute sometimes. I use series 3 and series 5 for development so I switch between them very often and sometimes Xcode does not see any Watch after switching which can be a bit frustrating but for me it always does switch eventually and unlike OP without the need to reboot anything. I do have simple passcode and 'Unlock with iPhone' enabled under Passcode settings and usually after switching from one Watch to another if I do iPhone unlock it usually (but not always) triggers the switch straight away and you can see it since your Watch gets unlocked. I think these kinda problems are related to connectivity which is often kinda flaky with the Watch in general probably due to various power saving optimisations.
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
I installed WatchOS 7 PB on my series 5 on Friday evening and the auto switching feature has worked each time i have tested it since then. Encouraging results that i hope continue. @Itinj24
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Is this still working for you with the new OS’s? Still trash on my end 😞
Is there a special song and dance you have to do?
 
Not working for me trying to switch between series 5 and series 6. I am on 7.01. Not sure if it worked with 7.0, as never tried it.
 
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