Watch OS 5 update says not connected to Internet

I went to check for a Apple Watch OS and it says not connected to Internet. I am definetly connected via Internet on my iPhone 6 so I am lost at what to try. I have done the following

1. Switched the iPhone and Watch into Airplane mode then back on

2. Rebooted the watch and the iPhone

Not sure what to do next, any ideas would be welcome.

  • ive been trying to pair my watch for 4 months and I won’t work. It says the WiFi is not connected when it is and has 4 bars. I don’t know how to fix it and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.

  • Make sure you’re not on 5g and reboot your router.

  • Purchased the Apple Watch 5 in Nov of 21 for a Christmas present, it was an open box, unused device. It took over a week of trial and error including the hard resets and app removals, etc. I had success just today. My network had a 2.4 Ghz and a 5Ghz network; for the last week i have had the phone on the 2.4Ghz band.

    Just today I connected the Iphone to the 5Ghz network, then started the pairing process once again. Note the apple watch never appeared on my 2.4 Ghz network when my phone was connected to the 2.4 Ghz.At this point the Router network recognized the Apple watch.I assigned it to a home device and rename it within my network.Next I had to list it as a wearable device. This allowed the router network to open communication to the Apple Watch and begin to accept the updates.It appeared for a while that the updates stalled, but after almost half an hour the Iphone said it had another update, then another. It finally finished updating to OS 8.3 and restarted. Now going through the final set-up phase. Hope this helps.

Replies

I was having the same issues with my series 3 Nike Apple I watch. I had tried everything on this forum and nothing helped.

Then I read where someone had deleted the iwatch app from their phone, hard reset the watch and their phone, then manually paired their watch. It worked!

So, do this:

—Delete the iwatch app
—Hard reset the watch (factory default)
—Hard reset your phone (volume up and down and the power at the same time) If you can’t do that, then just restart your phone
—Make sure your phone is still connected to wifi
—re-download the iwatch app
—when pairing your phone and watch, be sure to do it manually.

Then, you’ll be able to download the needed software to proceed!

  • I have been searching this problem for DAYS and everything I tried did not work...however your suggestion worked. Thank you so very much. Who knew that all you had to do was remove the app and reinstall it then pair them manually. 😠

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Hello people may I firstly say thank you to all the people that have already commented with advice on this issue.

after hours of trying to pair and update an Apple Watch series 1 to iOS 14.3 and receiving countless errors being told I’m not connected to the internet I finally managed to solve the issue and paid and update the watch.

I spent an hour on the phone with Apple and I exhausted everything I read in the comments to this thread and more including changing WiFi frequency’s from 5ghz to 2.4ghz,
erasing all data and settings from the Apple Watch,
reseting network settings on iPhone,
using 3 different iPhones on iOS 13&14
and all the obvious resets and power cycles

Nothing seemed to be working and I was about to give up and as a last effort instead of having my phone connected to WiFi or 4g cellular
I connected to my iPads personal hotspot
tried the update and paring process again and it worked no problem !! ( took a good while approx 2 hrs but completed successfully )
the Apple Watch had 100% battery and like I say had been reset
after the anguish and stress it caused me and after reading the pain others are going through I thought I’d post.
I’m not suggesting it’s a fix but being connected to the iPads personal hotpot is the only factor that changed and my watch updated
worth a shot if nothing else

good luck

  • I had the same problem trying to update a series 2 watch. Spent hours trying all the various fixes in this thread. What worked (and quite easily)was connecting my phone used to update the watch to a hotspot on another phone. I think any hotspot would work. As soon as the watch powered on the update became available. Boom!

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I have a much lower tech solution.

My watch was out being repaired and I just got it back. I tried to set up and got the same error as all of you. Probably tried to turn everything off and back on 10 times. Before wiping or re-installing anything I tried one more thing... I left BOTH the phone and the watch connected to their chargers for the entire pairing and set up without disconnecting them for even a second. Worked without any further problems. Weird.
I did a lot of googling and finally realized the root cause of the problem was the fact that the iPhone was connected to a 5GHz Wi-Fi band and the watch only operates on a 2.4GHz band.

1) You need to ideally restart/reset your watch
2) Connect your iPhone to a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi band
3) Pair the iPhone and the watch

The iPhone then configures the Apple Watch with the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi connection, and then Apple Watch is able to update itself. If you first connect to a 5GHz Wi-Fi and then begin pairing, switching to a 2.4GHz while the pair is in progress will not work.

I hope this helps someone!
  • Thanks for the tip! It worked! As you stated, somehow the 5GHz does not work and switching to the 2.4GHz will not work without a restart. I restarted both the phone and watch and also reinstalled the app (not sure if that was required)…

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I was having the same issues with my series 3 Nike Apple I watch. I had tried everything on this forum and nothing helped.

Then
I read where someone had deleted the iwatch app from their phone, hard
reset the watch and their phone, then manually paired their watch. It
worked!

I Upvote Ashton_C

This worked for me on apple watch series 5 iphone xs max ios 14

So, do this:

—Delete the iwatch app
—Restart apple watch
—Make sure your phone is still connected to wifi
—re-download the iwatch app
—when pairing your phone and watch, MAKE SURE to press MANUAL on the iphone apple watch app!!

Then, you’ll be able to download the needed software to proceed!
  • Hi, The only solution to works for me:

    Shoutdown the Cellular data on my iphone.Connect the iphone to a 2.4 Ghz Wifi networkWhen start the pairing setup in manual mode.

    Finally the watch, found the updates and is updating.

    Regards!

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I followed tarpondiver's solution, specifically the airplane mode with wifi on and this is the only solution that worked for me after exhausting all others.
So! DONT LISTEN TO ANY COMMENT!

I tried every one and it didn’t work!

the only way to solve it like I did is to

1) get an old iPhone and pair the watch to that!

2) straight away then you unpair it from the old
Iphone!

3) then pair it to your current IPhone!

4) then it lets you update the update!

please listen to this as it’s the only way to get it to work!
Hi,

I spoke with a representative on the phone and they said I needed to send my watch in to have the techs look at it and fix it. My screen had a chip in it so they would not perform the software update on their end and wanted me to pay over $200 to have the screen repaired. This is for a Series 1 btw. I assume if your watch is in good condition, and you contact them, you can get the issue resolved but for me it was a huge disappointment and waste of time.
Important:
  • Need to have your phone and watch both on charge

Hello. Bought a Nike Series 5 New.

After being on the phone with my carrier for 3 hrs on & off. I literally figured it out on my own.
For XR w/ SERIES 5

Once your watch is back at the...sit the devices side by side screen:
All apps closed including WATCH APP

Slide down CONTROL CENTER & SHUT OFF CELLULAR DATA with WIFI ON

Open WATCH APP and go through the steps to update manually, which is in fine print on the UPDATE NOW screen.

PAIR by inputting the number on the WATCH to the WATCH APP prompt.

That should do it!
Currently waiting 25mins for software update.

HOPE THIS WORKS
I was having this same problem, tried everything suggested on this thread. I did hard resets, deleted the app, ipad as a hotspot, etc. But as someone else mentioned, the only thing that worked for me:

Both devices plugged in
At 100% battery
Then finally after hours of messing around it finally just worked.

Hope that helps someone.
I’ve been tracking this question and all it’s answers since I got the new iPhone 12 because my Apple Watch Series 2 wasn’t connecting to the internet. I tried everything on this thread, but here’s what worked for me and hope it helps someone else..
  • Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings

  • Delete Apple Watch App

  • Hard reset your phone

  • Redownload Apple Watch App

  • Manually pair Apple Watch to your phone

  • When you get stuck on the “cannot connect to internet” part, leave your app but DO NOT CLOSE IT for a few hours. (I left both devices charging overnight.)

  • After a few hours, while connected to WiFi, go back to the Watch app and press “Try Again”

This worked for me and the software update took 5hrs but I can finally use my watch again!!
Hi, everyone. So last night I finally updated mine after struggling so long. The solution was simple and worked immediately. You need a macbook - not sure if it’ll work on ipad. I basically used wifi through my macbook to update rather than being connected to wifi directly.

This may sound complicated but it isn’t - I just made sure to include all steps.
  1. I rest and disconnected my watch from my iphone.

  2. Turned off wifi and data on iphone.

  3. Setup wifi sharing on my macbook. (Check how to do this online - I chose to share from wifi to iphone through usb cable)

  4. Plug iphone into macbook with usb and check internet is working. Leave it connected for duration of update and make sure macbooked is charged or also plug it in.

  5. Also put watch on charge and start update.

Worked so easily! Hope it helps!
I had the same problem when I tried to set up the watch for the first time.
I then used my wife's old iphone to set up the watch and then there was no issue ( I did not do anything else).
Had both the watch and the phone charging.
So try using another iphone to setup the watch, worked for me.
Rest set series one watch and iPhone 11 then it was able to connect to internet and updat watch