iPhone is busy: Making Apple Watch ready for development

Since I upgraded to iOS 15, watchOS 8 and Xcode 13, after I turned off and on my Mac, every first time I want to launch an app from Xcode to my iPhone appear this message (even if I'm not developing for watchOS):

iPhone is busy: Making Apple Watch ready for development

The Mac stays stuck on it for at least 20 minutes.

The only solution I found (until now) is to switch off WiFi on my Watch.

Is there a better solution?

Post not yet marked as solved Up vote post of asclepix Down vote post of asclepix
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  • I had the same problem! iphone tries to activate my apple watch 1 to no avail and they both download in half a day! How can I solve this problem? This prevents me from testing the apps in progress on XCODE because iphone is stale.

  • same problem here. Very annoying. Slowing down my development work considerably. Please fix

  • Quite frustrating, any chance we can get this fixed for the new year? Driving us all bananas.

Replies

Hi there,

You might have better luck asking this question over in Apple Support Communities run by Apple Support.

  • I found this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253527558 However there are no comments on it. Also, this isn't a general support issue, it is a developer issue that the Xcode team should be looking into, so directing people to that support line makes no sense.I did find someone in the comments added a radar/feedback for this, I've added one as well: FB9969081 - https://feedbackassistant.apple.com/feedback/9969081

  • Xcode 14 Beta 4 has the issue resolved - finally. Just upgraded my Mac and Xcode and was pleasantly surprised.Note: I did not install the extra watch or tvOS dev kits, since that is not something I'm doing right now anyway.

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Did you try to reboot the watch ?

If that's not enough, try to unpair the watch from iPhone and pair it again.

Toggling Aeroplane mode also works

Airplane - not working. Thousand time this ******** appear.

  • check your airplane mode Even if you turn on Airplane Mode, it may not be a solution because the iPhone and Bluetooth are connected by default. If you go to Apple Watch Settings, you can turn off Bluetooth when the Apple Watch is in Airplane mode.

  • If you set your Apple Watch to turn off Bluetooth when you turn on Airplane Mode, it is confirmed that it works normally.

  • Throw the watch away it'll work

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Having the same issue on Xcode 13.0, iOS 14.7.1 and WatchOS 7.1, also in trying to debug an iOS app (i.e. I'm not developing for WatchOS). I've restarted the computer, watch and phone, and unpaired / re-paired the phone from Xcode's devices, but can't get it to work consistently (I get stuck on "Making Apple Watch ready for development" maybe every other or every third time I try to launch the app).

Turning the watch off entirely does the trick (as I imagine airplane mode would too), but I'd like for my watch to work as well 😕

Facing this issue since Xcode 13 betas. Disabling Bluetooth in the iPhone temporarily fixes the issue for me.

With the Control Center Bluetooth icon in grey, no need to fully disable it in the Settings app.

I had the same problem, but iOS 15.0.2 / watchOS 8.0.1 no longer causes the problem.

I still have this issue in iOS 15.2 and watchOS 8.2. The issue was never gone.

This issue is driving me nuts. And for me it happens literally every time I plug in my iPhone. Unplug, plug it back in, wait 5 minutes for Xcode to make the watch ready for development. Which then usually (but not always) fails by the way! Plug it back in, and you're just stuck waiting for 5 minutes yet again.

When it fails, I get this error:

Unable to prepare iPhone for development Could not locate the device support files.

But building an app to my iPhone still works 🤷‍♂️

I have time to write here because for the 64789675967589205 time, XCode is trying to make my watch ready for development (for the last 10 minutes). And no: I don't want to run anything on the watch.

Apple, please fix that!

Exact same problem. I'm so sick of it. Apple needs to fix this ASAP.

Post not yet marked as solved Up vote reply of puiz Down vote reply of puiz

I face this problem almost every day. I go out to pour myself some tea and when I return, this error goes away. It helps me.

same problem here with Monterey 12.0.1, Xcode 13.1, iPhone 11 Pro on iOS 15.1, Watch 5 with WatchOS 8.1. I can build to an SE with no watch connected but that doesn't help me develop our watch app.

Same here... been having this issue for a month now. Every SINGLE time I try to build on my physical device while my watch is turned on, it happens; even if my watch is two floors up. I have to keep my watch turned off just to get work done efficiently.

I'm running:

  • Xcode Version 13.1
  • Big Sur 11.6.1
  • iPhone X - iOS 15.1
  • Watch Model: NJ3T2LL/A aka Series 1 - WatchOS 4.3.2

Same here. Xcode version 13.1 Big Sur 11.6.1 iPhone 13 Pro Max Watch Model: A2095

Apple, please address this, it's extremely frustrating. Just how many times does it need to make my iPhone ready for development?