Native apps do not load

[benalexander]

I have been having problems with this since the 2.1 update. I originally had issues when 2.0 was released but set up my phone as new when I got a 6s and had no problems since then. Then recently I started having problems again. The delete all music trick worked but the apps stopped working once I reloaded the music again after a seemly random amount of time (a couple of hours to a couple of days).

My theory is it is related to apple music offline downloads. I deleted all my music recently and it is all working again then reloaded my music to my phone but haven't downloaded any of my apple music stuff for offline listening and haven't had a problem yet, although it has only been 24 hrs. Am in contact with apple about this and expecting a call from an engineer soon so will update. Could it be a particular song or two messing things up?

 

[benalexander]

This is driving me crazy! I can't work out what keeps causing the crashes but it is happening all the time. Is anyone else having problems? I really don't want to have to set up my phone as new again if I can avoid it!

 

[Benz63amg]

I have been having problems with this since the 2.1 update. I originally had issues when 2.0 was released but set up my phone as new when I got a 6s and had no problems since then. Then recently I started having problems again. The delete all music trick worked but the apps stopped working once I reloaded the music again after a seemly random amount of time (a couple of hours to a couple of days).

My theory is it is related to apple music offline downloads. I deleted all my music recently and it is all working again then reloaded my music to my phone but haven't downloaded any of my apple music stuff for offline listening and haven't had a problem yet, although it has only been 24 hrs. Am in contact with apple about this and expecting a call from an engineer soon so will update. Could it be a particular song or two messing things up?

WatchOS 2.1 certainly resurrected this problem for me again, so what do you suggest to fix it again? I don't use Apple Music or download any music from Apple Music offline? Not even sure what that is as I haven't used Apple Music, I only use iTunes to buy my music and sync to my iPhone

 

[benalexander]

WatchOS 2.1 certainly resurrected this problem for me again, so what do you suggest to fix it again? I don't use Apple Music or download any music from Apple Music offline? Not even sure what that is as I haven't used Apple Music, I only use iTunes to buy my music and sync to my iPhone

I've found since posting that my solution doesn't work all the time. I still get the problem even with just offline music synced to my phone. So far though I haven't had the issue when I have no music synced to my phone so I wonder whether it may be a dodgy file, although since you say you only have music bought from iTunes that makes me question my theory.

 

[Benz63amg]

I've found since posting that my solution doesn't work all the time. I still get the problem even with just offline music synced to my phone. So far though I haven't had the issue when I have no music synced to my phone so I wonder whether it may be a dodgy file, although since you say you only have music bought from iTunes that makes me question my theory.

Any new development to fixing this horrible bug?

 

[seamonkey420]

Just another vote to say this did work for me. Although I did it slightly differently - I do not have an iCloud backup. I backup to my iTunes on my Mac via USB cable.

My steps were:

1. Sync my iPhone to iTunes using the USB cable.
2. Delete all Music from Settings -> General > Storage & iCloud Usage> Manage Storage > Music > Edit > Delete all songs
3. Wait about 1 minute for the iPhone to start responding again; that delete process took a long time and the UI was frozen the entire time.
4. Try my Native app that was giving me trouble, Sleep++. Still didn't work.
5. Get sad that it didn't appear to work.
6. Re-sync my iPhone back with iTunes to put all my music back on my iPhone. Since I have the feature to compress larger audio files to 128kbps AAC, this took all night long.
7. Go to bed annoyed that I even tried this and wasted my time.
8. Next morning, on a lark, try Sleep++ on my Apple Watch. Hooray, it works!
9. Do happy dance and write this post!

Yup.. can't believe it but the music delete fix also resolved my issues too. Prior to this i have never been able to use: Facebook Messenger, Etrade, Sky Walk 2, GoPro. A few of the other native apps seemed to work fine though.

After the music delete process, all seem to be fine. Now apple needs to figure out why the hell this causes an issue. Here are my exact steps to add to the list:

1. Sync iPhone 6 Plus (64GB, ATT) to Mac Mini and iTunes via USB cable.
2. I also disabled Wifi sync since I have always had that enabled and never have had native apps work.
3. I already do encrypted backups via iTunes locally and left that as it was.
4. Once sync and backup completed, unplugged iphone and removed all my local music via Settings > Gen > Storage and .... > Manage > Music > Edit > Delete All
5. Powered off iPhone and also powered off Apple Watch.
6. Powered on iPhone and then Apple Watch
7. Attempted to open Facebook Messenger app on watch and bam! after 20 secs i actually see my messages.

Details on hardware:
Apple Watch Sport - 38mm
Watch OS 2.1

iPhone 6 Plus
iOS 9.2
Sync to iTunes via USB cable
Mac Mini computer running latest OS X versions.

Thanks for everyone and this thread for resolving a 3 month issue.

 

[Benz63amg]

Yup.. can't believe it but the music delete fix also resolved my issues too. Prior to this i have never been able to use: Facebook Messenger, Etrade, Sky Walk 2, GoPro. A few of the other native apps seemed to work fine though.

After the music delete process, all seem to be fine. Now apple needs to figure out why the hell this causes an issue. Here are my exact steps to add to the list:

1. Sync iPhone 6 Plus (64GB, ATT) to Mac Mini and iTunes via USB cable.
2. I also disabled Wifi sync since I have always had that enabled and never have had native apps work.
3. I already do encrypted backups via iTunes locally and left that as it was.
4. Once sync and backup completed, unplugged iphone and removed all my local music via Settings > Gen > Storage and .... > Manage > Music > Edit > Delete All
5. Powered off iPhone and also powered off Apple Watch.
6. Powered on iPhone and then Apple Watch
7. Attempted to open Facebook Messenger app on watch and bam! after 20 secs i actually see my messages.

Details on hardware:
Apple Watch Sport - 38mm
Watch OS 2.1

iPhone 6 Plus
iOS 9.2
Sync to iTunes via USB cable
Mac Mini computer running latest OS X versions.

Thanks for everyone and this thread for resolving a 3 month issue.

so did you not do the "1. Unpair and repair watch. You should be able to restore it from a backup. Make sure your native apps are already on the watch." step? this method still works without unpairing and re-paring?

 

[athan614]

iPhone 6+ IOS9.2
Apple Watch Stainless Steel Space Grey 42mm WatchOS 2.1
I have the same issue ever since watchos2.0. None of the above suggested solutions work for me. I've contacted Apple support around 4 times already and still, they could not solve my issue. I've done hardware and software tests with them. My hardware are all healthy. But however, they noticed that the diagnostic report did not show the relationship between my iPhone and Apple Watch. Therefore, it is most likely a software rather than hardware problem. They focused the problem onto the iPhone rather than the watch. They said that they're confident a reset for the iPhone would solve this issue but I did not bother trying as I have hundreds of apps along with data and resetting my iPhone would be a pain (it did not work for many people so I decided not to go through all these pain for maybe nothing). I've decided to wait for another update (watch OS 2.1 stated that it would solve this issue but it aggravated it instead). It's been a long time since the Watch OS 2 update where the issue started. And Apple still looks like they're unaware of this issue. They should at least give us some details or updates on their development process (if they're aware and if they're actually coming up with a solution). Anyways, it's a pain not being able to use Watch OS 2 apps sigh. Additionally, I found out that on another Apple Watch that one of my family members own, is able to launch watch OS 2 third party apps with no problem at all (Apple Watch sports band white 38mm)!

 

[menace3]

Yup.. can't believe it but the music delete fix also resolved my issues too. Prior to this i have never been able to use: Facebook Messenger, Etrade, Sky Walk 2, GoPro. A few of the other native apps seemed to work fine though.

After the music delete process, all seem to be fine. Now apple needs to figure out why the hell this causes an issue. Here are my exact steps to add to the list:

1. Sync iPhone 6 Plus (64GB, ATT) to Mac Mini and iTunes via USB cable.
2. I also disabled Wifi sync since I have always had that enabled and never have had native apps work.
3. I already do encrypted backups via iTunes locally and left that as it was.
4. Once sync and backup completed, unplugged iphone and removed all my local music via Settings > Gen > Storage and .... > Manage > Music > Edit > Delete All
5. Powered off iPhone and also powered off Apple Watch.
6. Powered on iPhone and then Apple Watch
7. Attempted to open Facebook Messenger app on watch and bam! after 20 secs i actually see my messages.

Details on hardware:
Apple Watch Sport - 38mm
Watch OS 2.1

iPhone 6 Plus
iOS 9.2
Sync to iTunes via USB cable
Mac Mini computer running latest OS X versions.

Thanks for everyone and this thread for resolving a 3 month issue.

So stupid question....did you sync your music back to your phone?

 

[TypeMRT]

So stupid question....did you sync your music back to your phone?

This worked for me but I'll wait a few days before putting the music back. I have about 60GB of music that I have iTunes compress to 128kb AAC, so it takes a while to reload. Right now functioning watch apps are more important than the music.

 

[menace3]

This worked for me but I'll wait a few days before putting the music back. I have about 60GB of music that I have iTunes compress to 128kb AAC, so it takes a while to reload. Right now functioning watch apps are more important than the music.

I'm the opposite. I need my tunes for the gym, car, walking at lunch etc. Oh well. Will see what happens. Thanks.

 

[TypeMRT]

I'm the opposite. I need my tunes for the gym, car, walking at lunch etc. Oh well. Will see what happens. Thanks.

Good luck. This problem caused me to seriously consider selling the watch and the iPhone. I really hope a software fix comes out soon. For now, I have watch apps and streaming music.

 

[benalexander]

I have used my watch for a few days with only about 30 songs synched and it has worked fine. I have reloaded half of my music and will test for a few days. If it works with half my music loaded I think it is probably likely that a certain file or files are causing the issue. That is a guess but it is the best I can come up with.

 

[stonerwinst]

I'm surprised this issue is not causing a bigger uproar. Maybe it is not as wide spread or people don't use apps on the watch often.
[doublepost=1452037824][/doublepost]As for me, I'm waiting for Apple to release a fix. I don't have time to monkey with deleting/reloading songs. But yes, quite disappointed with Apple on this one.

 

[Mjoshea148]

So I did the music thing and it worked. I then reloaded the music and things have worked fine until this week (of course I'm traveling). Interesting though is that I can run some 3rd party apps fine. Even install new ones and run them while others don't work and some like Dark Sky that I had deleted I reinstalled and it doesn't work. No rhyme or reason that I can see. Has anyone else experienced this inconsistency and have any theories or workarounds?

 

[Richardgm]

I bought the Watch a couple of weeks back, and let me just say that the unboxing and setup process and overall initial experience has been very un-Apple like.

- Pairing issues forced me to restart 4 times.
- Apps never loaded (I had to google solutions (deleting all media on iPhone worked much to my dismay).
- a few days in I have to google how to quit apps because the Activity app became unresponsive.

- And today for some reason my battery died with 4h standby and 2h usage.

I don't know. (This text was forwarded to Apple Feedback)

 

[IphoneIssues]

Found this thread today, after realizing 3 or 4 other apps I wanted to use were not loading.

First thing I noticed was my watch was not updated to 2.1 . I went ahead and pushed that update through, and it solved nothing.

After reading some solutions in here, I unpaired and repaired; still nothing.

After that, I unpaired, backed up my phone, deleted all settings off of phone, and repaired; still nothing is solved.

Next, I felt I was left with no choice but to unpair, format and set the phone up as new. An hour later, CNN finally loads, Sleep Pulse 2 (which I paid for last night, but was completely unable to use.) finally loads, and the other stuff seems to all be working now. Only thing is the Sleep Pulse 2 glance still seems to be loading to infinity...

I was about to try restoring from backup, but I see someone said that brought it back...Might still do it, and just delete the music, and see if that solves it.

Wish I would have known about what was on page 23 right away...LOL. When I wiped the phone, it sounds like I solved the problem by wiping the music.
[doublepost=1452210238][/doublepost]Update: Did the restore. Apps still working on the watch

Hardware likely has absolutely nothing to do with this, but I'll say what I'm working with:

- iPhone 6s Plus
- Stainless Steel Space Black Apple Watch

I was also experiencing some sort of bug where the playlists on my phone wouldn't fully download. I didn't want to go through with the back up, and restore thing, because there was a workaround where I could download stuff individually and still get all the music downloaded...maybe I've now solved that issue, as well.

 

[JM3581]

I am also having the problem of my playlist not fully downloading could you please explain what the workaround was that you used to fix it. Thanks

Found this thread today, after realizing 3 or 4 other apps I wanted to use were not loading.

First thing I noticed was my watch was not updated to 2.1 . I went ahead and pushed that update through, and it solved nothing.

After reading some solutions in here, I unpaired and repaired; still nothing.

After that, I unpaired, backed up my phone, deleted all settings off of phone, and repaired; still nothing is solved.

Next, I felt I was left with no choice but to unpair, format and set the phone up as new. An hour later, CNN finally loads, Sleep Pulse 2 (which I paid for last night, but was completely unable to use.) finally loads, and the other stuff seems to all be working now. Only thing is the Sleep Pulse 2 glance still seems to be loading to infinity...

I was about to try restoring from backup, but I see someone said that brought it back...Might still do it, and just delete the music, and see if that solves it.

Wish I would have known about what was on page 23 right away...LOL. When I wiped the phone, it sounds like I solved the problem by wiping the music.
[doublepost=1452210238][/doublepost]Update: Did the restore. Apps still working on the watch

Hardware likely has absolutely nothing to do with this, but I'll say what I'm working with:

- iPhone 6s Plus
- Stainless Steel Space Black Apple Watch

I was also experiencing some sort of bug where the playlists on my phone wouldn't fully download. I didn't want to go through with the back up, and restore thing, because there was a workaround where I could download stuff individually and still get all the music downloaded...maybe I've now solved that issue, as well.

 

[IphoneIssues]

I am also having the problem of my playlist not fully downloading could you please explain what the workaround was that you used to fix it. Thanks

Well, I ended up doing the restore, after getting it to work, as I said. Tried to download that same playlist. The problem I had before was, no matter how many times I tried to restart the download process, it would always hang at "79 songs remaining".

This time, it made it all the way to the end of the download process, but didn't finish. About 35 songs were still not downloaded, but the songs it got stuck on before, did download. I went and did the same as before, individually downloading everything remaining, and now it has the checkmark at the top of the playlist, showing it was complete. Even after I did that before, it still had the "79 songs remaining" thing.

 

[JM3581]

Thanks I was able to get them to download by individually doing each one.

Well, I ended up doing the restore, after getting it to work, as I said. Tried to download that same playlist. The problem I had before was, no matter how many times I tried to restart the download process, it would always hang at "79 songs remaining".

This time, it made it all the way to the end of the download process, but didn't finish. About 35 songs were still not downloaded, but the songs it got stuck on before, did download. I went and did the same as before, individually downloading everything remaining, and now it has the checkmark at the top of the playlist, showing it was complete. Even after I did that before, it still had the "79 songs remaining" thing.

 

[PrincePheonix]

I GOT IT TO WORK! Thanks to baba19981 on the Apple Support forums for posting this solution.

1. Unpair and repair watch. You should be able to restore it from a backup. Make sure your native apps are already on the watch.

2. Delete all Music from Settings > General > Storage & iCloud Usage> Manage Storage > Music > Edit > Delete all songs

3. Make an iCloud Back Up

4. Make an iTunes Encrypted Back Up (During this step was when I noticed that the apps were working)

5. Sync to iTunes to get your music back.

I didn't lose any data and all of my native apps are working, even after syncing to get my music back on my phone. I cannot believe this actually did it.

THANK YOU! I can confirm this works on WatchOS 2.1 as well~
I actually only made it up to step 3 and it worked for me.

 

[Mjoshea148]

Just days after deleting and reloading music the issue is back. So tonight I deleted all music and rebooted phone and watch...apps work again. Reloaded music. Apps still work. Something after that causes the problem to recur. Reboot, syncing...who knows. Frustrating.

EDIT: so one more thing to add. After getting things up and running and all my music back, I confirmed that the process will survive a reboot of the phone but NOT the watch. As soon as I restarted the watch the same series of apps that wouldn't run, failed again.

 

[Benz63amg]

Just days after deleting and reloading music the issue is back. So tonight I deleted all music and rebooted phone and watch...apps work again. Reloaded music. Apps still work. Something after that causes the problem to recur. Reboot, syncing...who knows. Frustrating.

EDIT: so one more thing to add. After getting things up and running and all my music back, I confirmed that the process will survive a reboot of the phone but NOT the watch. As soon as I restarted the watch the same series of apps that wouldn't run, failed again.

Sad to hear, what's more sad is that the only app that I cared about which was Shazam was just upgraded to be a native app on the Apple Watch as of this week which means it is no longer working on my watch as well as your watch since native apps don't work and who knows if apple is even aware of this issue.. So there goes my favorite app which wasn't a native app and worked on my Apple Watch up until 2 days ago..

By the way, I have iOS 9.3 public beta 1 on my iPhone 6s which indicates this horrible but still exists in iOS 9.3 and apple didn't fix this issue nor is it planning to fix it..

 

[stonerwinst]

I stopped wearing my Apple Watch because of this issue. Apple is going downhill.

 

[Benz63amg]

I stopped wearing my Apple Watch because of this issue. Apple is going downhill.

I'm not using any apps which is why this issue is not bothering me as much but I was using Shazam and now that the developer updated the Shazam app to be native on the Apple Watch it stopped working as well since no native work due to this horrid bug