Watch OS 5 update says not connected to Internet

I have been facing this issue since WatchOS 7.0.2 was released and I updated my phone to iOS 14.

I followed many of the steps included below but not limited to:

1. Hard reset of watch (Series 3 42mm aluminum non-cellular)

2. Hard reset if phone (X)

3. Deleting all data on watch

4. Deleting watch app

5. Resetting network settings

6. Switching to a 2.4 GHz network

What finally fixed it for me was taking the watch off the charger and putting it on my wrist. I believe before the update I had a message saying there was not enough space to download the update, but I cannot be sure. Deleting all data may or not be necessary, but try putting it on your wrist.

I had a Series 5 which was previously paired with an iOS 13 iPhone. When I attempted to pair with my iOS 14 iPhone, the Watch app was requiring me to update the Watch OS before pairing. I was getting the "Unable to Connect to the Internet" message regardless of all the router troubleshooting previously mentioned.

The trick for me was attempting to pair it with my wife's iOS 13 iPhone. I stopped when it told me her iPhone iOS needed updated before I could pair with the Watch. When I attempted to pair again with my iOS 14 iPhone, it worked!

There seems to be an issue with being previously paired to an iOS 13 iPhone and needing the Watch OS to be updated before pairing with an iOS 14 iPhone. I'm surprised this hasn't been patched yet.

I just solve the question doing these steps:
1) turn on Airplane mode on iPhone and turn on wi-fi
2) turn on Airplane mode on Apple Watch and turn on wi-fi
(both at the same internet network).
Then tried to install form Watch App (iPhone).
It worked fine.

What I did and it works like a charm:

Step 1. Hard Reset Watch 3 (Hold down crown button and power button until screen goes black. When apple logo comes on take your finger off crown button and hold power button until you see the watch prompting to erase all data) Erase all Data

Step 2. Delete watch app on iPhone and then download it again on iPhone.

Step 3. Bring phone and watch closer to wifi modem.

Step 4. Put watch on charger

Step 5. Put Your phone on airplane mode but have Bluetooth and WiFi turned on.

Your good to go then.

I tried everything in this thread. The only thing that worked was pairing the watch with a ios13 device, updating, resetting the watch and then pairing with the ios14 device. Hope this helps anyone struggling with the same issue.

In my case, I just disconnected my iPhone from my 5Hz network and connect it in 2.5Hz and try and works!

I can confirm that despite multiple efforts spanning over 48hr, the only way I got the update completed on my new Series 5 Stainless was to setup using a wiped iPhone 7 with iOS 13, and then unpairing and pairing with your chosen iOS 14 device. No help from online support who prompted to have it sent for “repair”. This is by far the most reliable method for kickstarting the update on your chosen device. Ensure you’ve also factory wiped your Apple Watch too (if it’s new from box and hasn’t been set-up before).

I have the same issue. What if you do not have a iPhone with the old iOS 13? I am trying to pair my iPhone 12 with iOS 14 with my watch 5. Impossible, due to internet connection. Very frustrating as I have spend a solid evening trying to figure this out.

I too had the same cycle with a swappa purchased apple watch 4. I then followed some earlier advice I saw here and the phones I had on 12.xx and 13.xx said I needed to upgrade the phone first. I couldn't uninstall the watch app either as my primary apple watch was still paired, this was for family sharing account for the 7yo.

I reset the series 4 40mm 2 times, there was conflicting advice here, I held the crown and button until the apple logo, I tried the crown till apple then the button till reset but gave up on the button, let go and reset it again. Definitely a break that needs a fix from apple.

Good luck!

I have the iPhone 11.... and I just bought a Nike series 5, 40mm watch from Best Buy this Black Friday, so like a week ago.
So when I opened the watch it had to be updated before I could connect to my phone. But I couldn’t get them to pair ! on my phone it kept saying I wasn’t connected to the internet! Even though I Was connected 100%...
so I went on YouTube to try and find some helpful tips and what I found was,
Go to settings and reset network settings,
Then after That I shut down my phone and left it off for like 30 seconds. And after all that it still kept saying not connected to internet. Lol
So I was sooo angry! That I just gave up and Left both my phone and my watch Charging over night. And when I woke up in the morning I tried it again and It WORKED! I was so happy.
Then I realized your watch and phone both have to be 100% charged and Keep them hooked on the charger or else the new Update for ur watch Won’t show up on your phone because it’s usually like A 40-60 minute long update... so let them both be 100% plus hooked on charger and it will work. I wasted all that time resetting my phone when all I had to do was be 100% charged lol

Does anyone know if Apple is working on a fix for this? I have tried everything short of using a phone with IOS 13 (as I can’t find one) and NOTHING is working. Apple Watch series 3 just simply useless now.

Apple needs fix this issue immediately.

How would they oblige you to purchase their newer versions? simply break old versions, and ask clients to send it to repair, it'll cost 249 bucks, then, nope it's not worth it, i'll buy the newer version.
That's what the customer support told me "you're 50 bucks short to buying a new watch"
This is ********.

I freed up storage on my phone and that fixed the issue for me!!

This is happening to my watch it seems that they just don’t want old versions to work so you have to but a new one

I found a solution after trying for almost 3 months. Just keep the watch and the phone connected to power. Both devices should be at full charge before the update.

My mom just got the nike series 5, and it says the same thing. She's got an iPhone xr, ios14. Not working. Apple NEEDS to do something. We have been trying for two days now and still nothing.

Hey guys! I got mine to work. So get it started til it goes crazy saying you’re not connected to internet. At that time plug phone into power and put watch on charger. Hit retry like 4 times on your phone and it should go through.

I had to delete the watch app and redownload it and it worked perfectly fine after that

I tried basically everything on here and here is the only thing that worked for me:

• Reset my Apple Watch (delete everything) and deleted the Apple Watch app from my iPhone

• Had my boyfriend use his iPhone to do the update. This was the only way I was able to update it without getting the internet error message.

• when it was done updating, I unpaired it from his phone and paired it to mine after re-downloading the app . It worked!

Good luck!

I’m having the exact same problem. I didn’t use my apple watch (series 5) for a while, and I upgraded my iPhone XS to ios 14.
I tried to pair my watch to my phone it didn’t pair.
then I reseted my watch to reset it as a new watch, it told me that a software update is available for my watch and I should do the update to continue setting it up.
when I tried to update it the “unable to check for update because you are not connected to the internet” message poped up. I’m 100% connected to the internet.
I tried everything I found on the web and nothing works.
trying to find an iphone with 13 ios to do the trick and see if it works.
any updates on this problem by far?
I am so sad and frustrated...

Hey guys I know how to fix this, just do a hard reboot on your iPhone

Steps: 1 press quickly volume up and then volume down

2: press and hold the power button until the i phone turns off and then wait like 5 sec and then press the power button until you see the Apple logo that should fix it.

I just got mine to work! It was a Series 1 watch with an iphone 7 plus on ios 14.

I can't tell exactly what did it (I tried a lot of stuff) but it was some combination of the following:

• factory reset the watch

• download the newest software update on the iphone

• reset the phone

• manually pair the watch to the phone

I also had to do the "reset everything" stuff twice - once to get the watch's update to download onto the phone, and a second time to get it to update the watch. After all of that though, it worked!

I called Apple support to help and they stuck with me through it all, they were really great :) Also, both update downloads took a really long time so I just had to be patient

So, like many of you here, I tried EVERYTHING I read in this forum, over a month’s time, and finally found something that worked. Let me detail....

I tried:
Hard reset of both watch and iphone.
Network reset.
Airplane mode with WiFi on.
Fully charging both phone and watch to 100%

Want to know what finally worked?
In your iphone, go to Settings, Cellular, and then scroll down to Watch app. In my case, it was in the OFF position. Turn it to on. Worked like a charm and I was able to finally update my Watch.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Good evening,

I just wanted to give a update that actually works. So I haven't used my watch in months and my phone was updated no issues there, the issue came from me having accidentally deleted the watch and now having a download on the app but the app being on the "Setup Screen" all I did was plug in both devices to get charged, and when you get to the part where it provides the error, just go ahead and keep tapping try again. Once it stops giving the error let it sit and will give you the download screen next.

Hope it works!

Thank you,
MistressStarr