Uh oh, trouble updating my apple watch 3

[moworks2]

trying to update from 4 'something' to 5.0.1. It's taking forever. Over an hour. Then cut and I restarted the download and it says first 16 hours estimated time. Now 3 hours. Something ain't right.

Any ideas? Is this a known problem? Just looked again. Now it says two hours.

I do have the watch on it's little recharging pod. My iphone 8+ also plugged in next to it.

Ok. Thanks.
M

 

[Ffosse]

It'll get there - mine said 18hrs or something at first but was done in half an hour.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Apple must use the slowest servers on earth to download updates for the watch.

Mine also showed like 12 hours but dropped quickly but still took like 45 minutes for the process to complete.

SLOW! Just like previous updates for the watch.

 

[tromboneaholic]

I think it possibly happens when the watch is not connected to wifi.

I only connect to my 5ghz 801.11ac wifi network, that the watch can't connect to, and I had that.

My wife connects to our 2.4ghz 801.11n network, that the watch does connect to, and she didn't spend so much time downloading to the watch or have those crazy long estimates.

 

[KarimLeVallois]

Apple must use the slowest servers on earth to download updates for the watch.

Mine also showed like 12 hours but dropped quickly but still took like 45 minutes for the process to complete.

SLOW! Just like previous updates for the watch.

Yeah, the server is Tim's iMac at home it seems! (2008 iMac)

 

[Mr.C]

Yes mine also said 12 hours initially but eventually took a lot less then that. Probably around 45 minutes to an hour which is still pretty slow though.

 

[moworks2]

Well, it took over four hours but finally uploaded and installed. I never had any ios update take so long. It all seems to be working ok.

 

[SadChief]

How to Speed Up Apple Watch Software Updates
Tremendous improvement.

 

[tromboneaholic]

How to Speed Up Apple Watch Software Updates
Tremendous improvement.

Makes sense. My wife's install was super fast over wifi.
I just refuse to add the slower 802.11n network to my iPhone because then my Apple TVs and HomePods would log into it as well.

Really annoying and inconvenient that Apple is not supporting 802.11ac on the Watch Series 4.

 

[annk]

Mine was updating all night and was still "downloading to watch" when I got up. More than eight hours. My subway ticket is on my phone, so I couldn't leave it updating while I went to work.

 

[moworks2]

How to Speed Up Apple Watch Software Updates
Tremendous improvement.

Ok. Too late now. But saved link for the next time. Thank you...

 

[magicschoolbus]

I had this problem a while back - turning off the iPhone and restarting it did the trick.

 

[annk]

Mine was updating all night and was still "downloading to watch" when I got up. More than eight hours. My subway ticket is on my phone, so I couldn't leave it updating while I went to work.

Tried again once I got home, and it only took 30 min.