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

App & System Services Core OS iOS watchOS Watch Connectivity Apple Watch

Created Sep ’20

Replies 354

Boosts 3

Views 410k

Participants 458

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:

Press Volume Up and let go.
Press Volume Down and let go.
Press and hold the side button.

Note: This does not wipe any data from your phone

Boost

Sjohn99 OP

Jun ’21

I’ve tried all solutions and none of them unfortunately work for me please help

Thyago OP

Jun ’21

Hi. I was trying to pair a brand new series 3 to iPhone 12 with iOS 14.6. My problem was solved by following these steps.

make sure both devices are charging.
general > redefine > redefine network

patcwin OP

Jun ’21

I will say one thing today was a frustrating day trying to get the watch to pair for a few hours. Finally I have success. My fix is the same as many but it took only one try when I changed the Country and Language. I decided to use language Portuguese, and country Afghanistan. It worked. so mad I could not see straight. But success, hope it works for you. It will.

SIELU OP

Jun ’21

I spent a lot of time on this and try all, the methods mentioned (changing language and country, hard resetting the watch, the phone the network, using 2.4 Ghz wi-fi, logging off and on iCloud on my phone, updating in low battery mode, airplane on of and leaving the watch on charger for a night, using spare clean iPhone 6Plus for pairing, and many else I do not even remember now). Finally I went into my phone's current wi-fi settings and changed the DNS (settings ->wi-fi ->currently used wi-fi name scrolled down to DNS and changed automatic to manual and set it to cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1) after saving the changes and restarting the pairing process again the phone immediately found an update and started downloading.

Hope it helps some of you

CousinVinny OP

Jun ’21

Apple Watch 3, iPhone 11Pro w/ iOS 14.6 - nothing works to update the watch and make it a usable device, it's basically a dud now. I've tried resetting the iPhone and trying to update the watch in different language. No dice!

Coriemc2673 OP

Jun ’21

this is beyond frustrating!! For such an expensive device, there has to be away to fix this issue? @cousinvinny, have you had any luck since posting that? How upsetting.

Njf52 OP

Jun ’21

For anyone still looking at this in 2021, I have spent hours today with this error constantly looping back. After trying all the suggested fixes on this forum.

weirdly enough I clicked on the change language option, set to UK (which it was already on)

it then gave me a option to pair the device, once paired this time it continued to download the update for the OS

hope this helps anyone, I would recommend trying all fixes on this page including this one. As different fixes have worked for different people

KMaddox65 OP

Jun ’21

Beem335i's answer worked for me as well! Thank you!!

RitaRitaRita OP

Jun ’21

Make sure your watch is on the charger before you pair/check for update. The update will not start if the watch is not on the charger. Try restarting phone and watch, and then (once the watch is on the charger) pair and select update. It should begin the update.

Diabetiicdawg1 OP

Jun ’21

I'm having the same issue. Trying to update a series 4 watch on an iPhone XS Max on ios14.6. Keeps saying I'm not connected to internet or the update is stuck on "Paused". This is why Apple is utter garbage

sayali_sonawane OP

Jun ’21

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?

TZ1987 OP

Jun ’21

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.

Akromathia OP

Jun ’21

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.

PennyPincher1 OP

Jun ’21

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

Bigmaldo OP

Jun ’21

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