WatchOS version lower than deployment target in Xcode 26

Does your project have a companion iOS app target with a deployment target iOS version requiring a higher watchOS? Or do you have another watchOS target (a widget, for example) that requires higher watchOS version? If you can provide a minimal project with detailed steps to reproduce the issue, I'll be interested in taking a look.

Best,
——
Ziqiao Chen
 Worldwide Developer Relations.

When creating a new watchOS app as a companion to an existing iOS app (using “Add Target → Watch App for Existing iOS App”), Xcode incorrectly reports a deployment target mismatch warning:

“The watchOS version is lower than the deployment target.”

Steps to Reproduce:

In Xcode 16.4:

Create a new iOS App with deployment target iOS 16.2.

Add a new target → “Watch App for Existing iOS App”.

Set deployment target to watchOS 9.6.

Accept the default “No WatchKit Extension” (new architecture).

Build the project.

Expected Result:

Build succeeds without warnings — the watch app should be recognized as a valid companion with watchOS 9.6.

Actual Result:

Xcode shows:

“watchOS version lower than deployment target”

Technical Details:

iOS Target: IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET = 16.2

Watch Target: WATCHOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET = 9.6

Watch App Info.plist contains:

WKCompanionAppBundleIdentifier = LC.iOSScreenShotPrevention

No WatchKit Extension target exists (as per Xcode 16’s simplified architecture).

Note: Unable to upload the Sample WatchApp Project as a zip. So please verify the screenshot below.

Thanks for providing the details. Your screenshot shows that:

• Your current build schema is SampleWatch Watch App + iOS's Apple Watch. Would you mind to share the version of iOS's Apple Watch here? Is it a physical device or a watchOS simulator?

• The Minimun Deplayments is watchOS 10.0, higher than 9.6. Is there anything wrong?

I've also tried your steps with the latest public release environment, Xcode version 26.1.1 (17B100) + macOS 26.1 (25B78) and can't reproduce the issue – The project builds fine. I don't have Xcode 16 on my hand to try, but am wondering if you see the same issue with the same environment?

Best,
——
Ziqiao Chen
 Worldwide Developer Relations.

Thanks for verifying this on your side.

Please find the answers to your queries.

1. iOS’s Apple Watch version:
The paired Apple Watch is running watchOS 10.6.1 on a physical device. It is paired with an iPhone running iOS 18.x.
2. Regarding the minimum deployment target: 
You are correct that the watch app’s minimum deployment target is set to watchOS 10.0, 9.6 was typo error.
The issue I am reporting is that Xcode still displays the error “watchOS version lower than deployment target” even though the physical Apple Watch is running 10.6. This should satisfy the 10.0 deployment requirement, but Xcode continues to block installation.

So we are observing the unexpected behaviour with the below configuration :

• Physical device: watchOS 10.6
• Deployment target: watchOS 10.0
• Xcode error: “watchOS version lower than deployment target”
• The error should not appear.

Additionally, I’m still seeing the same issue even on the latest environment:

• Xcode 26.1.1
• macOS 15.6

I performed a clean build, cleared Derived Data, and re-synced the Watch app target, but the build still fails with the same error on my machine.

Same error. XCODE Version 26.0 (17A324) Apple Watch Series 8 watchOS 26.1

That sounds pretty uncommon. Is it possible that you share a project that reproduces the issue?

Best,
——
Ziqiao Chen
 Worldwide Developer Relations.