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

I'm having the same issue. Trying to update a series 4 watch on an iPhone XR on ios14.6. Keeps saying I'm not connected to internet or the update is stuck on "Paused". I went to the apple store and they told me to trade it in for a new watch. How frustrating it is. I want to fix this issue. Can someone please help me?

No idea how this worked, but I turned on and off airplane mode like 5 times, after this, it connected to the internet. Hope this helps someone nothing else here worked for me.

Before I start; I by no means mean that the other possible solutions listed are not correct or that they work or not, I will share with you what has been working with me with several times with different watches and phones (a total of 13 successful fixes of this problem).

• Try to install, once you get the “Unable to Check for Update - Checking blah blah blah", stop and unpair your watch.
• Uninstall the "Watch" app from the iPhone and restart it.
• Install the App again and pair watch.

The update should proceed with any inconvenient.

Hope this helps, have a good one.

I had the same issue. I was able to solve the issue by obtaining an old iPhone and attempting pair with that iPhone.

After attempting to pair with old iPhone, I unpaired it. Turn the old iPhone off. Then paired with current iPhone that had previous issues. Before pairing make sure to reset Apple Watch. As soon as I went to pair the “minutes remaining” screen popped on screen and download complete. goodluck

turn off Bluetooth on your iPhone. It will force the update vía wifi

Hey guys, this issue had been driving me crazy for months on my Apple Watch Series 3 and I tried all of the other solutions on these pages, but they didn't work. Finally, I found out that all I had to do was go to Settings > Bluetooth and then forget my Apple Watch connection(Do this by tapping on the "i" symbol). My IPhone then created a new connection with my Apple Watch and then it started updating. I really hope this solves your Apple Watch update issue!

I am also facing the same issue, tried all the resolution workarounds mentioned here but nothing works. It is very frustrating and looking at so many queries here, seems like almost everyone has faced this issue, and still, @Apple has not come up with a solution. What is the point of providing this many software updates when you cannot fix this simple issue. Pathetic service by apple.

Same here, iPhone 12 Pro Max, iOS 14.6, new setupApple Watch series 4 WiFi and cellular, can’t get past the update required stage as not connected to internet. Hard reset phone, reset network settings, reset watch, nothing works so it’s basically useless. It’s ridiculous the setup of a new watch won’t let you just set it up with whatever software level it’s at then update afterwards

I'm have the same issue. I have a Xs and Apple watch 3. Says not connected to the internet. Please assist.

Same here - Apple watch 3, iphone 11 - same error message. unable to check for update - you are not connected to internet. I tried changing the location and language - did nothing. I have uninstalled and reinstalled app on phone - nothing . Very frustrated. It was literally working fine and i tried to update my watch. Now my watch is completely useless. Please someone fix this for us ;(

hello, I solved this issue by smashing my apple watch and not buying an apple watch ever again. So im gonna buy a simple fit band and throw my apple watch which I PAYED with my HARD EARNED money and which apple decided to DISABLE with these tricks. So long my dear apple watch.

Tried Avery thing mentioned here, and tried from another phone still no success. Anyone have a solution to this problem?

I have an iPhone 11 with the 14.6 iOS and could not pair my series 3 watch because the phone said it could not connect to the internet. Called Apple and the tech did a lot of troubleshooting and finally said the watch was bad and had to be sent in for repair.

FIX!- I was able to pair it on another iPhone 8 that had iOS 14.6 AND complete the download. I then unpaired it from the iPhone 8 and paired it to my iPhone 11. No issues. Find a friend with an older model iPhone or use one of your older model phone seems to be a work around.

Ensure that your watch and phone is charged to at least 50 %. That solved the problem for me.

Ok I found the solution it’s simple enough!

1 delete the watch app off your phone 2 factory reset the watch using the buttons on your watch 3 reinstall the watch app on your phone 4 start the set up process again! It will recognise the update and begin updating

worked for my own watch and several customers.

hope this helps you all

Here’s what worked for me. when it was on the pairing screen, tapped on the (i) selected English then Afghanistan as the country, then it allowed me to update the software.

i have been trying to update my watch for 2 days. on a whim i changed the country to afganistan, after seeing a reply to this thread. i swear i nearly had a heart attack!! it worked!! it picked up th update right away and is early complete as i write this!

I tried all of the above solutions without any joy, however I found a solution that seems to have worked!

I noticed there was a prompt that flashes up just after you accept the update (following the pair scan) - it's in the blink of an eye, but it prompts to 'Update Apple Watch' then disappears just before going to the update page.

The solution: Once you hit the 'Update Now' button, keep tapping the middle of the screen towards the right (to hit 'Update') - it took me a few goes, but managed to get it in the end!

Had the same problem with a new series 5.

I bundled a few of the solutions mentioned in this thread into one try and it worked (so one of them must have fixed the issue), I did this:

1. unpaired my old apple watch in my watch app
2. turned off bluetooth on my phone (so only wifi was connected)
3. clicked the (i) button on the watch pairing screen and set the language to English and the country to Afghanistan

This can be fixed by deleting the content on the watch. To erase the content on the watch -

1. Press and hold the side button until you see the slider to turn off the watch.
2. Now press and hold the Digital Crown/Home button on your watch.

At this point you should see a message pop up to erase the contents on the watch. Go ahead erase the contents. Proceed with the pairing process now. HTH!

Unfortunately, none of the solutions above worked for me. My apple watch software was not up to date and my watch was wiped of all data and unpaired. I couldn't pair my phone to update it and I could not update it because it wasn't paired.

The solution was to try to pair my watch to another phone to update the software. In this case it was my husband's iphone 6. I was able to get past the "not connected to internet error" and proceeded with the watch software update. Once the update was complete and after hard resetting the watch, I was able to successfully pair my watch with my new phone.

FWIW - I was trying to update / pair an apple watch series 3 (don't know what the last software version was - but definitely WAY outdated) and an iPhone 12 Pro Max (software version 14.6).

Hope this helps!

This issue has been frustrating me for hours today. I followed the advise of a comment above saying to change the language and location then try updating the watch again and it actually worked. Definitely try this if you’re having this same issue!

Had this same issue. Tried just about everything the comments said, but the only thing that worked for me was deleting the watch app and redownloading it. After redownloading, it paired my watch and allowed me to update.

I tried @Beem335i's method but wasn't successful on my iphone XS Max with a series 2 watch. However, after a couple of hours - I found my personal hotspot was On on my iphone - I turned it off and tried again to update and it was successful. Probably the watch using Bluetooth to communicate with the iphone messes things up and conflicts with the hotspot...worth for the iOS and watchOS developers to look at.

I was able to get the watch update working by making sure my watch was fully charged and then plugging in my iPhone to allow it to charge.

My best guess is that the Apple Watch app is simply displaying an incorrect error message. (Could be as simple as an Apple developer copy/pasting an error flow and forgetting to update the message that’s displayed to the user.)

Perhaps the error message should read: “Before updating your Apple Watch, your iPhone must be sufficiently charged or connected to a power source.” ?