[Apple Watch] Unable to Check for Update - Not connected to the internet error

iPhone 8 and series 3 watch: I restarted both devices and went through the usual steps, whereupon the watch shut down completely. Restarted it by holding down the crown and side button together. It went through a startup procedure after which the update was installed. Apple software is more the stuff of Harry Potter.

I tried all of these and then spotted one that said to put my phone on a 2.4GHz connection. That fixed it immediately.

I hope this helps.

Had this same thing happen with my son's 3 series watch and the phone hard reset worked thank goodness, because it was super frustrating! Thank you to everyone for your ideas because I was not sure what I was going to do....

i tried every single thing posted and nothing worked. BUT then i went to device storage in settings/general and deleted all the data for the watch and BOOM, updating without an issue.

Putting iPhone in low power mode worked for me

Older Apple watches cannot connect to 5ghz SSID's. So make sure your phone is connected to 2.4ghz wifi before attempting to pair Apple Watch after reset. This resolved the same issue on my Apple Watch 3 with iPhone Xs running latest iOS 15. Hope this helps. Good luck!!

Log out apple account on your iphone

• Turn off phone -

Hard reset watch - Turn off watch - Turn on both device and pair it should do the update

Alright, so I just bought a refurbished Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE and ran into the same issue when trying to pair it with my iPhone 13 Pro Max on iOS 15. Kept getting stuck in the loop of unable to update because you are not connected to the internet. I tried everyone's steps but hadn't had much luck. After a few hours and going out to eat to clear my mind, I decided to try a combination of everyone's suggestions and finally was able to get it to work on the first try! Here were my steps which literally was a combination of everyone's help:

I know the process is a little lengthy with multiple restarts and such, but I did this after hours of almost going insane and it finally worked, so hopefully it helps you too!

1. Hard Reset Apple Watch with the combination to erase all content and settings. This was turning off the watch by holding down the button under the crown. once off turn the apple watch back on and as soon as you see the apple logo, press and hold down the same button again (under the crown) for a good 15 to 30 seconds until you see the option to erase all content and settings. Do that and wait for the apple watch to turn back on.
2. Once back on just turn off your apple watch for good measure. This is just a regular shut down by holding down the button and sliding screen to power off.
3. Sign out of iCloud on iPhone
4. Hard Reset the phone by pressing on the volume up and let go, then quickly pressing volume down let go and then press the side lock button and hold down until the iPhone restarts.
5. Delete apple watch app on your phone
6. Hard reset iPhone again (with the combination of buttons)
7. Once the phone is back on, change your iPhone region (Settings ->General->Language and Region) to something else. I did Canada since I live in the US.
8. Hard Reset phone one last time
9. When phone is back on, turn on battery saver mode
10. Turn on apple watch
11. Download apple watch app back onto iPhone and start the pairing process.
12. In the pairing process make sure you also change the apple watch region to whatever you set your iPhone region to and also do the pairing process manually using the pairing code.

If you have the same luck, I did it should work, and the update should be on its way. Again, I know this process is lengthy and it requires multiple restarts and a combination of everyone's efforts, but this is what worked for me after hours of trying everything everyone suggested. If you get to a point that your about to throw in the towel, maybe try my lengthy solution and hopefully it helps you as well.

I think the activation lock or watch lock causes this issue.

Following steps worked for me:

• Reset apple watch with erase all content
• Pair watch with a different phone it will ask to remove the activation lock and it will require your appleid and credentials
• After the sign-in just cancel the pair process
• Pair with your original phone

Optionally u can try the icloud.com/find and from the all device menu just remove your watch I havent tried but if my theory is ok it should help also.

regards, Rob

I FOUND THE EASY FIX!!!

want to start off by saying - I tried about 30 different suggestions on here and nothing worked. Was about to call it quits.. then I figured this out. SUPER EASY!

Step 1: -go to settings on your phone

Step 2: -click the top box with your name to pull up your apple ID settings (Right below the search bar)

Step 3: -scroll down to where it has the devices signed into your apple ID

Step 4: -your watch will be listed here, click on the watch and select "remove from account"

AFTER I DID THIS, I DID THE NORMAL APPLE WATCH SETUP AND IT UPDATED WITH ABSOLUTELY NO ISSUES...

HOPE THIS HELPS YALL!

If you have changed your LCD screen and it is not able to update because of this warning "checking for a software update failed because you are not connected to the internet ios " .

You can try all you want but the only chance is to remove the NFC FROM THE ORIGINAL SCREEN and put it on the screen that was replaced.

After that, just install it without any problem.

Im so mad rn. The only thing I had to do the whole time is Charge Both my Watch and my Phone

Had the same problem.Worked half a day trying to down load the software.I finally decided to try it one more time this morning.I did a hard reset on my iPhone 12 then reset the watch.I had read where a lady used a different country and language to get hers to work.I used English as the language and Portugal as the country.As soon as I placed the phone over the watch to pair it started downloading the iOS update.It about an hour to update but the watch is working just fine.

• Series 4 with iPhone 12 Pro
• Upgrading from watchOS 6.3 to 8.5.1 (from Series 1 watch)
• Series 4 is factory reset with no data
• USA

Tried mostly everything listed here including Beem’s tutorial - nothing.

What did end up working? Changed region to Canada on Watch (from Bring iPhone near Watch screen & click the i icon) & then begin pairing from Watch app. Update download immediately started with no error.

Must be a conditional bug if iOS version or watchOS versions don’t match And region Does match, error message displays saying cannot connect update.

Choosing alternate region bypasses condition, something like that.

Also make sure, for safety, that both your Watch & iPhone are charging and/or charged beyond 50% before downloading begins.

Hope this saves somebody hours or days of utter frustration.

Like most people here, it took me awhile to finally get this working. I tried several of the combinations mentioned repeatedly. I was trying to pair a series 4 watch with 11 iPhone pro. These are the steps that finally worked for me:

• reset Watch to factory settings
• uninstalled Watch app on iPhone
• updated my iPhone
• turned iPhone off/on
• reinstalled Watch app
• turned off cellular on Iphone
• proceeded with pairing like normal
• both my IPhone and my watch were hooked up to chargers when I attempted to pair them

Not sure if all of that was necessary but it was the winning combination. Hope it helps.