Nothing on the watch but very little free space

[basehead617]

I have a 8 GB Apple Watch Series 3..

It says 4.2 GB Capacity and 1.5 GB available, despite having 0 songs, 0 apps, and 12 photos (couldn't figure out how to get rid of all photos).

I can't upgrade to watchOS 7.3 because it needs 2.5 GB free.

I have also tried to factory reset, the same thing happens..

Any other ideas?

 

[jzuena]

Its actually an 8GB watch, with 4.2GB left after reserving space for the O/S. Had the same issue with my 8GB S3, so I finally gave up and traded it in for an SE with 32GB. If you keep resetting and trying eventually it will load, but after going through that dance for every point release of WatchOS 7 I could see the writing on the wall for future O/S versions. Ironically, whatever version came out between ordering the SE and it arriving (maybe 7.2.5?) installed first try.

 

[Juicy Box]

I am having the same issue.


I deleted every app that I could, that didn't work, as I still needed 100MB more free space to do the update.

The Mail app showed it using 500MB, and you cannot delete the app. So I removed all the mailboxes (inbox, sent, etc.) except one that didn't contain mail.

Still shows 500MB.

AFAIK, there is no other way to update it except to reset the AW, which I don't feel like doing, so I am not going to update the OS.

I wished I could connect it to my Macs and update via iTunes.


Apple really screwed up this one.

 

[basehead617]

Its actually an 8GB watch, with 4.2GB left after reserving space for the O/S. Had the same issue with my 8GB S3, so I finally gave up and traded it in for an SE with 32GB. If you keep resetting and trying eventually it will load, but after going through that dance for every point release of WatchOS 7 I could see the writing on the wall for future O/S versions. Ironically, whatever version came out between ordering the SE and it arriving (maybe 7.2.5?) installed first try.

Sorry I meant 8 GB thanks, fixed the post.

Sucks they make this so absurd.. why isn’t there more visibility about what is taking up the room??

 

[jzuena]

When you remove apps and reset it also removes any data for that app, so you eventually get back just enough space to barely squeeze the update on. But going through that every few weeks isn't worth it after a while.

 

[Juicy Box]

When you remove apps and reset it also removes any data for that app, so you eventually get back just enough space to barely squeeze the update on.

What do you mean by "reset"?

Do you mean restart the watch? If so, this doesn't work for me, as I have deleted every app that it allowed me to, and I am still unable to free up enough space to do the update.

 

[jzuena]

I think I was using the watch app on my iPhone and going to Settings - General - Reset - Erase Apple Watch Content and Settings. At one point I think I also tried unpairing. Then you hopefully have enough space to upgrade, then push your config back to the watch.

 

[gecko579]

I just had to update my S3 to get Overcast app to install. PITA that updates require these tricks but I found that just unpairing (which then forces a backup from which you can “set up”) allowed enough room for me to then update WatchOS. When I did Overcase was again available as an app...YMMV