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

Hi. I am pairing my Apple Watch Series 5 to my iPhone running ios 14. The pairing is successful but unable to proceed with the set up because an update is needed to be downloaded first. I updated the os for watch but I keep on getting “Unable to Check for Update - Checking for a software update failed because you are not connected to the internet”. I am definitely connected to the internet.

Watch was reset to factory defaults and I am now pairing it as a new device but it fails due to the issue mentioned above.
Answered by heisenbert in 633607022
Hard resetting iPhone fixed this issue.

Steps are:
  1. Press Volume Up and let go.

  2. Press Volume Down and let go.

  3. Press and hold the side button.

Note: This does not wipe any data from your phone

Check if you connected to a 5GHz Wi-Fi, Apple Watch 5 or earlier version can only support 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi. I fixed it by switching to a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi

I fixed this issue by pairing them manually during setup instead of scanning the watch with the camera

I was able to bypass this issue by uninstalling and reinstalling the Watch app.

After hours of struggling with this and spending countless hours reading through different forums online; I stumbled on the solution and it was quite simple and straightforward.

  1. Phone must be on wifi; using your mobile data does not count as an "internet connection" (for whatever reason)
  2. Phone and watch must be closely within range. In my case, anything aside the phone and watch being side-by-side was not effective.
  3. Watch MUST be on charger all through the process.

It worked seamlessly once all these were met. Not sure if this applies globally, but in my case this was it!

Hope this helps someone. Cheers

I, alike many of the folks trying to update their watch. Left my watch on a counter dead for a good few months. I just spent about 4 hours absolutely stumped with this same issue and got to page 9/17 of the answers on here.

My solution.. (not sure if you wearing the watch is related) I took it off the charger and put it on, both my iPhone 12 Pro Max and my Series 4 watch were fully charged. I went into my Xfinity app and made two separate networks 2.4, and a 5gH. I connected my phone to the 2.4, and turned off cellular data.... IMMEDIATELY popped up ready to download. I shut both my phone off, watch off, uninstalled/reinstalled the app, signed out of iCloud. If it was a suggestion... I tried it. Hope this helps! Its currently downloading, says it has about an hour! We shall see!

Hard reset both watch & iPhone, put in low power mode, reset network settings, switch language from English to Portuguese and pair the watch MANUALLY. Do NOT scan the watch. Type in tge code. Update should start. Took me 2 hours to figure out and 1 hour to actually update it 🤦🏽‍♀️😮‍💨

Hey! I have been struggling to figure out this software update error all day. I found a solution by deleting my iPhone software and deleting the Apple Watch app, then restarting both my watch and iphone. Then I re-downloaded the Apple Watch app and started to pair and update. Pairing was a success and it started to update.

How to delete software update (which can be re-downloaded): Iphone settings > General > Iphone Storage > scroll down until you find "Software Update" > Click> then press delete update. ** you could also delete the Apple Watch App from this iPhone storage section.

I hope that helps! Good Luck!

Finally got the software update to load. 1 uninstalled watch app and reinstalled 2 powered phone off and turned back on 3 plugged both watch and phone into chargers

Had the same issue. I did notice that before the screen that gives the option to select update there is a screen that pops up for less than a second and disappears. I had to do a video recording on another phone so I could replay the video to see the pop-up. It’s another screen giving the option to update the watch os. Is has two options, “dismiss” or “update”.

I restarted the pairing processes. Then I continuously tapped the screen where the pop-up had the “update” option. It then did the watch software update, and the pairing was successful.

Hi, everyone. I finally found a solution. I believe this is a connection problem. So, what I do:

  1. make sure your iPhone is connected to a 2.4G WIFI.
  2. set DNS in your router to 8.8.8.8.
  3. disable IPV6 and dhcpv6 in your router.
  4. reset your router.
  5. factory reset your iWatch.
  6. done, try to pair normally.

Hope this is useful for you.

set the language up as Portuguese on start up on watch and then follow the prompts to update the software on your iphone these will be in Portuguese after the initial error message "You are not connected to the internet" let it sit for 4 minutes and eventually it will let you set it up in Portuguese.

After trying several solutions proposed in this forum, the solution that finally worked for me is hard resetting your iPhone.

If you have an iPhone X or later (with no home button), follow these steps :

  • click volume up button once
  • click volume down button once
  • click and maintain the lock button (on the right side) until the power goes off and the Apple logo appears.

This will refresh all the software on your phone.

After that, reset your Apple Watch, and start pairing it with your iPhone, you should see the software download bar, this may take a long time but right after it, you'll have the latest software updated and your Apple Watch up and running.

Go to your cellular data settings and change “Voice & Data” to LTE then “Data Mode” to standard the watch isn’t compatible with 5G

I solved this by switching the phone to low battery mode and attached both iphone and apple watch to the charger while pairing. It didn’t give me an error this time.

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.

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