Apple Watch stuck on "Copying shared cache symbols" – blocks real-time testing via Xcode

Question

Created May ’25

Replies 2

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Participants 3

Hi everyone,

I’m a student developer currently building a watchOS app that uses HealthKit and HKWorkoutSession to estimate core body temperature from real-time heart rate data. The app runs well in the simulator, but testing on a physical Apple Watch has been extremely difficult.

Each time I try to run the app from Xcode (Version 16.3), the build gets stuck on:

“Copying shared cache symbols from MyWatchName (0% completed)”

Sometimes it just stops stating connection failure. However, more often no errors are shown, but the sync never finishes. I’ve tried the following without success:

Restarting the watch, iPhone, and Xcode

Switching networks (Wi-Fi and hotspot)

USB wired pairing

Resetting developer settings and trust prompts

Deleting derived data

Rebuilding the project

This is especially limiting for a real-time health tracking app where I need to monitor HKLiveWorkoutBuilder data while the screen sleeps — which can’t be tested effectively in the simulator.

Boost

Answer 1

loryrad OP

Jul ’25

It's just super long, usually it takes ~1 hour to transfer the symbols for me. So it can be stuck at 0 for several minutes.

Also ensure all your devices are on the same wifi, on OSX you can have one WIFI defined but on different frequencies (2.5GHZ vs 5GHZ)

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Answer 2

wmcnally OP

Sep ’25

@itanmay did you find a solution? I have been letting it run for ~20 minutes, still at 0%. It doesn't help that when the watch display turns off after 70s, Xcode loses connection. As far as I know, there is no way to keep the watch display on! Very annoying...

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