Question on S5 viability with iOS 18.

[spartan1967]

My wife has a 14 Pro that is now current with iOS 18.3.1. She is unable to update her S5 to WatchOS 11. She is perfectly happy with her S5 & does not want to buy a new Apple Watch.

Last year as the following link explains, when I went to iOS 17.4 with my 13 Mini, I could not make any changes in the watch app unless I updated from WatchOS 9 to WatchOS 10 with my S7. The only difference here is I could update my S7 from WatchOS 9 to WatchOS 10. She Cannot update her S5 from WatchOS 10 to Watch OS 11.

Is there going to be a point in updating her 14 Pro with later versions of iOS 18 where her S5 will not be fully functional or even bricked since she is unable to update to WatchOS 11? Thanks in advance.

Heads up if you are still on WatchOS 9

I just went from iOS 17.3.1 to 17.4 B3 & now cannot make any changes in the Watch app unless I update to WatchOS 10. This might be a bug in the iOS 17.4 beta, but considering Apple’s push to get everyone on the newest operating system, probably not. I will update this thread when I install the...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Night Spring]

As far as I can tell, older watches that can no longer be updated to the current watchOS keep working even when the paired iPhone is updated to a newer iOS. It's just people with newer watches who want to stay on older watchOS who are being forced to update their watchOS when they update their iPhone to newer iOS.