Can I pair watchOS 6.0 with iOS 14?

My iPhone 11 Pro is running the iOS 14 beta and I went to pair my Apple Watch series 4, which is running watchOS 6.0 apparently (I hadn’t used it in a while).

Watch app tells me I need to update my watch before I can finish pairing, but then it says it can’t check for an update due to lack of internet connection (which is false).

Not really sure what to do here... my watch is kind of bricked right now... seems like the only solution would be to downgrade iOS back to 13 or pair the watch with another iPhone and then update watchOS, reset it, and try pairing with my iPhone again... though I don’t have another phone. I have an iPad though...
Post not yet marked as solved Up vote post of beng0ld Down vote post of beng0ld
17k views

Replies

I fixed it but I needed to borrow my friend’s iphone with iOS 13. After doing pair -> setup -> unpair on my friend’s iphone, I could finally paired and updated the watchOS from my iPhone iOS 14.

Or maybe Apple finally fixed it on their server end though. Either way I’m glad I can finally use it.
@Jef1013

Thanks, your Solution worked for me as well.
@Harm42
Thanks a lot, your solution worked on my S2 watch + iPhone 6S with iOS 14.0.1.

Worth mentioning the 2.4 ghz network + network reset made all the difference, I had tried this method before with a 5ghz network and nothing changed, so do try that if you're having this problem. I was almost giving up after hours trying solutions to update, couldn't even believe it when I saw it finally downloading...
Had this issue with my new series 5 watch (apple care plus replacement for damage) and my iphone 11pro running ios 14.0.1.

Issue was that my wifi at home is dual band and 5ghz is automatically used 99% of the time. After doing some network changes with the router and splitting the band temporarily to include 2.4ghz, everything downloaded, updated and functioned normally.

It's 2020. You'd think Apple would have 5ghz support for the watch by now...

Anyways thanks to this forum I was able to solve. Very grateful.
@Harm42
Thanks a lot for the solution! It finally starts to download the update...
with 2.4G Wifi and internet reset now it's fininally working
Hi all,

First of all. IOS 14.1 and WatchOS 6 (6.2.8) are compatible (I'm using Apple Watch Series 2). If you are having problem you can try the following steps.

Issue : You are getting an error message saying "Unable to Check for Update" after you pair your Apple Watch.
  1. You have "Start Over" the process and keeps getting the same error.

  2. Try to pair your watch use different iPhone (Doesn't matter if its running IOS 14.1 or 13.x). In my situation I'm using IOS 14.1

  3. You should get an update message saying that you can update your WatchOS to ver 6.2.8. Do the update and let the Watch complete the update process.

  4. After the reboot, you can perform another reset on your Watch by keep pressing the watch screen for a few seconds.

  5. Pair the watch with your original phone.

Note: I'm using a combine 2.4 and 5 Ghz and still able to update. However feel free to try using 2.4 Ghz Wi-Fi only. If you have a combine 2.4 and 5Ghz Wi-Fi like me and can't disable the 5Ghz, you can use Windows 10 Wi-Fi hotspot options where you can lock the signal to 2.4Ghz only.

Hope this helps.
I also experienced this problem with an Apple Watch Series 4 that I have purchased for my daughter for Family Setup. I have two iPhones 11 Pro Max at home, being mine on 14.5 Beta 8 and my wife's at 14.4.2. None of the iPhones would find an update for the watch with the same error everybody on this thread experienced. I was trying to pair it on a Family Setup with both iPhones. When I decided to try to set it up as a my personal watch, the update was found and started downloading. It seems the watch was on a version prior to 6.3, as this is the update that is downloading at this moment. I'll update this post once the watch is fully setup.

Man I tried everything on this page and I still get the dreaded need software update but then there’s no update. I have a series 2 Nike watch and iPhone 12 running 14.6.

rebooted both devices, changed network to 2.4, reset settings, wiped watch clean, paired in all the different ways, removed all other Bluetooth devices from my phone…. Nothing is works. Even went and tried on wife’s iPhone 6+ and got same problem.