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Carol Gold
User level: Level 1 (42 points)

New Apple watch series 12 won't pair with iPhone 16

my new apple watch series 12 won't pair with my iPhone ProMax running iOS27.(the watch setup required the phone to upgrade to system 27, so they are compatible.) I've tried all the suggested ways of getting it to pair and it doesn't. One thing that keeps coming up in the setup help is that the watch may bepaire with another iPhone but since the watch is brand new out of the box, it can't be. I thought it was paire last nigh because it had let me into settings but when I got up this morning, it was unpaired again and telling me to put the watch beside the phone (which does nothing). I have had several Apple watches and never had a problem setting them up.

Posted on Oct 9, 2026 3:18 PM

3 replies

Carol Gold Author
User level: Level 1 (42 points)

Oct 11, 2026 10:28 PM in response to Carol Gold

Just to let everyoneknow -- the watch had to be updated to 27.0.1 to fix a bug that kept it restarting, which may have been interrupting pairing. Once installed, the watch paired, set up and is fine. Phew!

WheelieNick
User level: Level 9 (74,110 points)

Oct 11, 2026 8:09 AM in response to Carol Gold

If the watch is saying it is paired with another iPhone, where have you bought it? Second hand or new? At apple or at an authorized reseller? If the latter is the case you might want to return to the store to get help with this issue

Carol Gold Author
User level: Level 1 (42 points)

Oct 11, 2026 2:37 PM in response to WheelieNick

The watch isn't saying that it's paired with another phone -- the support su I'vetried againggestions on Apple say that if it's behaving this way, it may be paired with another phone. But that is impossible because I got it delivered in a sealed box direct from Apple. I've tried again. This time it required a software update to fix a bug that may restart the watch unexpectedly and I thought that might be the problem. It's been an hour and it still says it's installing, so maybe the watch is defective and I'll have to return it.

Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256373350