iPhone 17 Pro Problems connecting Apple Watches to IPhone 17 Pro & Air

[flynz4]

Does anyone have difficulties pairing their Apple Watches during setup of iPhone 17 models?

Last night it took about a dozen attempts to connect my wife’s Apple Watch 8 to her new iPhone Air during setup.

This morning I’ve had no luck connecting my Apple Watch Ultra to my new iPhone 17 Pro.

If not, I guess I’ll have to try “forgetting” the watch and set it up as a new watch. I’d prefer not to do that… especially if I loose the history.

/Jim

 

[buruuburu]

I also have Apple Watch 8. I didn’t have any problems this time but I remember I couldn’t pair it with my 15 Pro Max. The health and activity data is stored on the phone, not the watch. As long as you’ve got iCloud turned on (and both health and watch are toggled on), you won’t lose your data. When you pair the watch with the new iPhone, your health and activity history will still be there

 

[goldmac2006]

Does anyone have difficulties pairing their Apple Watches during setup of iPhone 17 models?

Last night it took about a dozen attempts to connect my wife’s Apple Watch 8 to her new iPhone Air during setup.

This morning I’ve had no luck connecting my Apple Watch Ultra to my new iPhone 17 Pro.

If not, I guess I’ll have to try “forgetting” the watch and set it up as a new watch. I’d prefer not to do that… especially if I loose the history.

/Jim

Are you doing it as a direct transfer where the existing Apple Watch is connected to old iPhone, then after the iPhone is set up from direct transfer you bridge the connection over to the iPhone 17 Pro?

I typically do that when I did direct transfer on my iPhone 7 and the iPhone 15 Pro. I only do a complete unpair of the watch on the old iPhone and pair it to the new iPhone if I set up as new on the iPhone

 

[buruuburu]

You need to unpair it from the old iPhone and then pair it to the new iPhone. You can also try deleting the watch app on the new iPhone and reinstalling it from the App Store. That sometimes clears pairing glitches - worked for my husband last year.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

I had no issues connecting my watches.

 

[foggygray]

My Watch 10 wouldn’t connect my new 17 until I rebooted the watch then it connected right away.

 

[flynz4]

I did two things that resolved my issues.

1) shut down the old phone
2) shut down and restarted my watch.

Success!

Thanks for the feedback.

/Jim

 

[flynz4]

I also have Apple Watch 8. I didn’t have any problems this time but I remember I couldn’t pair it with my 15 Pro Max. The health and activity data is stored on the phone, not the watch. As long as you’ve got iCloud turned on (and both health and watch are toggled on), you won’t lose your data. When you pair the watch with the new iPhone, your health and activity history will still be there

I didn’t want to loose my sleep data or my exercise data from yesterday. When I setup my new phone I was short 2 hours of standing. I have a perfect history of closing all 3 rings since the original Apple Watch launch date in 2015.

/Jim

 

[A1000]

I had an issue with an old backup apple watch transferring and had to unpair in the end. My main AWU transferred ok and then today in upgrading my AWU I had to unpair it and then pair an new one and use the backup profile. This worked pretty seamlessly and in fact resolved a few niggly issues that had carried over from previous upgrades.

 

[flynz4]

Update. I’m still having problems. My watches are not syncing my activity circles. I upgraded my nighttime watch to OS26. My Ultra is not upgraded yet because the update app cannot connect to the ultra. I always shut down the other watch to avoid confusion in the app.

So now I have both watches paired to the iPhone 17 Pro. One won’t connect to be upgraded and neither will sync activity data.

/Jim

 

[terryw1]

Had serious problems with my ultra 2. After about 20 attempts of unpairing and pairing finally got it to recognize the watch. I have a new ultra 3 that I have not attempted yet. Have an appt today with an apple genius to see what is going on.none of my o,d faces or settings were restored. Not a happy camper, will report back after the Apple appt.

 

[Bako-MacAddict]

Yeah. My s10 failed twice before I successfully paring mine with the 17 pro.

 

[jz0309]

Update. I’m still having problems. My watches are not syncing my activity circles. I upgraded my nighttime watch to OS26. My Ultra is not upgraded yet because the update app cannot connect to the ultra. I always shut down the other watch to avoid confusion in the app.

So now I have both watches paired to the iPhone 17 Pro. One won’t connect to be upgraded and neither will sync activity data.

/Jim

well, I had trouble yesterday using migration from 13PM to 17PM via iCloud. I was in the store, tried 4 times incl turning BT and wifi off on my old phone, U2 paired to 13PM, both on 26. The guy told me the only thing he could suggest was to un-pair/re-pair, grrr. so I did, unpaired from 17PM then 13PM and it did pair to the 17PM after that.
it worked but was still acting wonky as I couldn't add/chage watch faces ;(
When I got home I tried to pair my S7 (on watchOS 18), didn't work the first try but on the 2nd try.

I cannot remember how I setup the U2 in the store, so this morning I unpaired it again and then setup as new.
Nowhere in this process did I loose activity updates or anything, but a very frustrating migration experience.

 

[Jackbequickly]

After doing a phone to phone wireless transfer from my 16PM to my 17PM I set up my S11 with not problems. iOS 26 on the 17PM did need an update before I set up my S11.