In Xcode I see (no paired Apple Watch) even though the watch is paired and the watch's UDID is registered

Question

My phone is listed as an ineligible target in Xcode and out to the side it says (no paired Apple Watch).

My Apple Watch is registered under iOS Devices. I can see the UDID. The watch has watchOS 2.0 installed and my iPhone 6 has iOS 9 installed. The iPhone pairs just fine with the watch and I can install apps.

I've tried rebooting both the watch and the phone. I've tried rebooting Xcode. I tried creating a new scheme in Xcode but it still shows (no paired Apple Watch). I can choose Product/Destination and the app will show up on the phone, it just won't install the watch app...just sits there saying "Installing...".

In Xcode if you go to Window -> Devices and click on your phone you see your watch right? — keji, Jun 12 '15 at 03:16
@kdogisthebest No, the watch is not listed as a Device. The phone is listed. — dmin7b5, Jun 12 '15 at 12:37
I'm experiencing this in Xcode 7.1 beta but not in 7.0. Tried all of the solutions on this page to no avail. I was building to my watch just fine until suddenly this message appeared. — Charlie Schliesser, Sep 22 '15 at 18:44

score 104 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 13 '15 at 22:20

104

I had paired my watch with a new phone and run in to this problem. I removed all files in ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/watchOS DeviceSupport/ and it solved it!

answered Nov 13 '15 at 22:20

jede

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This is the real solution, It worked for me perfectly – shontauro Dec 12 '15 at 21:08
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Worked for me as well. – Naftali Beder Jan 23 '16 at 17:57
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I don't find "watchOS DeviceSupport" folder. – Mohammad Zaid Pathan Aug 17 '16 at 11:31
Worked for me (so many wasted reboots!). And the simulators still work too. – lewis Oct 25 '16 at 04:48
that path is not found for me either – zumzum Nov 28 '16 at 16:24
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after the above (answer), reconnect the iphone – brainray Dec 03 '16 at 22:03
This answer plus [this one](http://stackoverflow.com/a/38995539/4011954) are what always fix the issue – Juan Pedro Lozano May 09 '17 at 22:58
This doesn't work. There are multiple directories and subdirectories in watchOS Device Support. I understood your directions to mean delete everything. All files and directories? It was seeing the watch, then I registered the device and it went away. Another overpriced Apple toy! – John Aug 10 '18 at 14:19
After deleting the files I re-paired the watch and it worked. – John Aug 10 '18 at 20:22
Deleting the files in that directory then restarting Xcode worked for me! – DrewG23 Jan 28 '20 at 16:52

user2875404 · Answer 2 · 2022-06-27T14:41:57.070

2022, 5 year anniversary: For the past 6 months, I consistently have to sit through one hour of "Preparing Apple Watch for development via iPhone" even when I'm not even debugging a Watch app. Needless to say, this also makes it impossible to run apps on device via Xcode. After about 3 hours (basically half my workday) it starts to work. Once I remove the app for testing, or unplug the iPhone, I have to wait a few hours again. Never in my life have I felt so useless as my job at this point basically consists of watching a loading indicator for hours until the process is done - only for the whole thing still not working most of the time.

Fun fact: Apple on Twitter claims they use the same devices and tools for their Watch apps.

2021: All Quiet on the Western Front. It's been 4 years since my first response. I've now had a good run during December and the first 2 weeks of January. It was so good that I haven't closed the simulator a single time and kept my iPhone connected and never turned off my mac. This worked for 3 weeks but then my iPhone ended up in a boot loop and restoring fails. I bought a new iPhone and now I also can't really connect anymore. See y'all in 2022 :)

2020: At this point I can't even get WCSession to send data on the Simulators anymore. Message from Watch to iPhone with replyHandler works, message from iPhone to Watch fails with WCErrorCodeWatchAppNotInstalled. Every day starts with rebooting numerous times and deleting and setting up new iPhone + Watch combinations. Tried on a freshly installed macOS with my friend's devices and of course no luck. But it's clearly my fault. Submitting a bug report doesn't do anything as they only keep telling you that everything is working on their end and they will close this ticket now. I only wanted to help.

2019: New iPhone, even worse. Now, every single component in my development has changed since 2017 and I'm still stuck targeting the simulator with every build. Apple, why?

2018 II: nothing works for me anymore. Contacted Apple loads of times and Apple Watch seems to have moved to Playground's neighborhood as it's just loading/running but never really running. Bought a second Mac, new project, nothing works. Sad.

2018: The last couple of days I have been really successful doing the following:

On your iPhone:

turn off wifi
turn off bluetooth
turn on wifi
turn on bluetooth

On your Watch:

turn on flight mode
deactivate flight mode

Most of the times it didn't take longer than 30 seconds to get the connection back on track. I think it's the "Watch flight mode"-thing but I never change a (somewhat) running system so this will be my procedure from now on. My 2017-reply still seems to be of help to some people:

2017: If it SOMETIMES shows, and often doesn't, it might be due to the fact that you closed iTunes

I noticed what I often did after reconnecting: closing iTunes. Immediately, the watch turned to be "unpaired". Reconnecting the USB cable but leaving iTunes open has helped me since.

Couldn't believe it myself but I tested it like 10 times and iTunes was always the deciding factor so yea — user2875404, Oct 17 '17 at 20:28
Does not solve the problem for me. This is such an annoying bug that slows watch development. — GarySabo, Dec 06 '17 at 15:16
This problem has come up 2015 and pretty much everyone experiences it, Apple probably just doesn't care as it works 5% of the times which seems to be enough for them — user2875404, Jan 24 '18 at 15:08
It is 2020 and I have wasted hours to try to convince Xcode to run an app on my watch. I would use the Simulator but CloudKit (which is now the recommended way of getting data in and out of the watch app) is not supported on the watch simulator. I don't understand how anybody manages to develop Apple Watch apps. — Hendrik, Feb 03 '20 at 07:49

score 33 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 18 '15 at 16:38

33

What worked for me is to go to the WatchKit App target and update the Team with the proper account. Once I did that, my device showed as eligible.

answered Jun 18 '15 at 16:38

eCeleritas

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This did not fix the problem for me. I am having the exact same issue. My watch does not show up in Devices at all even though it clearly is paired to my phone (I can use all watch functions you'd expect to be able to). I have even tried resetting the watch and setting it up as a new device to no avail. (I did receive the Trust prompt on the watch, which I acknowledged.) – fdmillion Jul 29 '15 at 17:55
Make sure to do this on both the Watch App and the Extension – Dan Feb 01 '16 at 02:57

score 14 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 05 '18 at 20:33

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Open the camera companion app on the watch. For me this works. Seems like the app starts a phone connection.

answered Mar 05 '18 at 20:33

Berni

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I just had this issue, and this fixed it for me. Thanks! – Chris Marshall Mar 04 '20 at 13:33

score 10 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 01 '15 at 08:57

10

It seems that you need to tap on the "Trust this computer" message on Apple Watch. This solved my problem. Also check if XCode displays the message "Indexing..." or "Loading symbols...": you need to wait until the operation is over.

answered Aug 01 '15 at 08:57

Bogdan

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score 9 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 04 '15 at 15:35

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It looks like a bug in Xcode! Go to ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/watchOS DeviceSupport/ and create a folder named "Watch1,2 2.0 (build number)" and for 'build number' use your watchOS build number. Inside this folder create another folder named "Symbols".

So for the latest build: ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/watchOS DeviceSupport/Watch1,2 2.0 (13S5305d)/Symbols.

Maybe clean & restart Xcode.

answered Aug 04 '15 at 15:35

Eduard Klinger

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Seems to have worked for me, though I also tried all the other answers listed here, so who knows? Could've been one of the other ones... – Josh Brown Aug 06 '15 at 13:54
selecting correct team was all I needed, definitely still a bug because its extremely misleading... – anders Oct 12 '15 at 15:42

score 9 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 09 '18 at 10:58

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For me it was an issue of trusting the computer from the watch. I had to reboot my watch to get the "trust this computer" request.

answered Apr 09 '18 at 10:58

yspreen

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Xcode did not show my iPhone on Xcode when I selected watchkit app. I rebooted my Apple Watch (5.1.3), and Xcode now showing iPhone and watch. – tokentoken Apr 29 '19 at 13:19

pedanticmoose · Answer 8 · 2018-03-08T01:16:34.647

In my case I believe it was because I had Connect via network enabled for the iPhone that's paired with my new watch.

Upon disabling the wireless connect feature, then connecting the iPhone to my mac via cable, the watch appeared in the Devices list.

After getting the UUID to register with the Developer Center I re-enabled Connect via Network and the watch was no longer listed on the Devices screen. When I connect the phone via cable, however, the watch info appears.

So if you're using wireless connect, try just plugging the device in via cable and hopefully you'll see your watch in the list. Good luck!

score 4 · Answer 9 · answered Aug 01 '15 at 08:34

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I had to delete my Apple ID from the Accounts tab in Xcode preferences and then re-add it.

answered Aug 01 '15 at 08:34

Ric Santos

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score 4 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 12 '16 at 15:13

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What worked for me is just waiting for about a minute. There was no progress bar in Xcode, just wait.

answered Sep 12 '16 at 15:13

Maciej Swic

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I opened Watch app on iPhone and it took half a minute to see the paired Watch in Xcode. Don't know if it is useful. – chengsam May 09 '17 at 02:40

score 4 · Answer 11 · answered Aug 29 '18 at 11:49

4

For me helped open iTunes at the MAC and leave it open.

Xcode 9.4.1

answered Aug 29 '18 at 11:49

Ing. Ron

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score 3 · Answer 12 · answered Mar 15 '18 at 21:35

Check the phone is connected to the same wifi network as the computer.

I've just spent a few days struggling with this, trying the solutions above. Switched networks, waited a minute, now it works again. Gah.

I have four wifi SSIDs in my home (old house, thick walls, one router won't cover it properly) and it turned out the computer was choosing one, and the phone another.

score 2 · Answer 13 · answered Aug 23 '15 at 20:40

I have the exact same setup and had the same problem. What seemed to work for me was just unpairing and pairing the watch again. Then Trust this computer on the watch and Xcode started to list it in the menu.

It seems that I updated the watchOS2 beta 5 on top of 1.0.1 which was paired earlier and it just needed to be re-set for watchOS2.

score 2 · Answer 14 · answered Sep 21 '15 at 19:24

What worked for me was to open Xcode's Projects window and click the Delete button next to the Derived Data line for the currently open project. After that, the target automatically switched to show [My iPhone Name] + [My Watch Name].

My setup: Xcode 7, iOS 9 (public release), and watchOS 2 beta.

score 2 · Answer 15 · answered Feb 03 '16 at 23:01

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Open Watch app on device, scroll down to your app, and make sure to enable show app on apple watch

answered Feb 03 '16 at 23:01

david72

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score 2 · Answer 16 · answered Aug 17 '16 at 11:35

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Setting Correct Provisioning profiles | Certificates | Team, then restarting Xcode worked for me.

answered Aug 17 '16 at 11:35

Mohammad Zaid Pathan

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score 2 · Answer 17 · answered Dec 28 '16 at 11:25

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You must have connected your Apple Watch with you iPhone by bluetooth, wifi connection won´t work for testing...

answered Dec 28 '16 at 11:25

Magnus

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Patricks · Answer 18 · 2017-11-27T13:37:06.047

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I really struggled with this problem but this helped me:

Fix steps :

Unpair my watch
Reboot both iPhone and apple watch
Pair them again,and setup my watch as a new one
Plug (unplug first) iPhone to Mac
On apple watch, say Trust the computer when it asks
Unplug and plug again
Close and open XCode
Open the project and wait a few seconds

edited Nov 27 '17 at 13:37

answered Nov 21 '17 at 12:16

Patricks

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This helped me too! The important part was to set up the watch as a new one, instead of restoring from backup. – pipacs Jul 05 '19 at 09:02

score 2 · Answer 19 · answered Jan 23 '18 at 16:05

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I may have had a breakthrough....I turned off WIFI on my Mac and it instantly found the watch

answered Jan 23 '18 at 16:05

GarySabo

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david72 · Answer 20 · 2020-02-28T19:41:02.957

This worked for me (Xcode 11.3.1) :

Open Devices from Xcode
Disconnect iPhone from Mac
Disable bluetooth on iPhone
Re-connect iPhone to Mac
Verify iPhone is showing in Devices.
Turn on bluetooth on iPhone, wait to see that watch is connected on iPhone.
Look in Devices -> your iPhone -> Paired watches -> wait for the watch info to completely show.
At this point I was able to see watch in Xcode.

In some cases also needed to restart Watch & Phone as well.

score 1 · Answer 21 · answered Sep 08 '15 at 18:05

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This worked for me 1. Quit Xcode. 2. Disconnect iPhone 3. Remove cache files at /Users//Library/Developer/Xcode 4. Run Xcode. 5. Connect iPhone again 6. Xcode will start to download the symbol file

answered Sep 08 '15 at 18:05

vanna

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What cache files specifically? – Charlie Schliesser Sep 22 '15 at 15:02

score 1 · Answer 22 · answered Dec 26 '15 at 11:50

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Just reconnect my iPhone to my Mac is solved my problem. When i reconnect my iPhone, xcode installed itself missed symbols automatically.

answered Dec 26 '15 at 11:50

Kemal Can Kaynak

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score 1 · Answer 23 · answered Jul 13 '16 at 09:55

I had a similar issue where Xcode was not detecting my paired watch. Somehow, the beta provisioning profile had managed to get installed onto my phone and for some reason Xcode could not detect the paired watch. As soon as I deleted the provisioning profile, Xcode started to pick up the paired watch.

score 1 · Answer 24 · answered Aug 02 '16 at 14:57

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Creating a new watchOS project lead to download of symbols to resume and finish. I unplugged the iPhone before "Processing symbol files" operation was finished. So Apple Watch never showed up again. XCode 9 (beta 4). iOS 10 (beta 4). watchOS 2.2.2.

answered Aug 02 '16 at 14:57

Max

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score 1 · Answer 25 · answered Dec 21 '17 at 14:20

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I just waited several minutes and then - it worked by itself.

WatchOS 4.1, XCODE 9.2.

answered Dec 21 '17 at 14:20

Yizhar

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score 1 · Answer 26 · answered Sep 25 '18 at 13:35

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The solution that worked for me with XCode 10.0: trash the whole Xcode folder in ~/Library/Developer/Xcode, removing only the watchOS DeviceSupport was not enough

answered Sep 25 '18 at 13:35

Stanislas Heili

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score 0 · Answer 27 · answered Jun 17 '19 at 16:04

0

New update to this issue. I have recently buy the ray wenderlich book for Watch OS and I have had this problem.

After testing a lot of things, and before delete any files, my working solution is this:

On MAC with Xcode open and with the issue scheme loaded. iPhone plugged in and watch turned on too.

1) On MAC turn off wifi 2) On MAC turn on wifi 3) On MAC turn off bluetooth 4) On MAC turn on bluetooth

I know this solution is above, but is the only way it has worked for me. Hope it helps to any dev too.

answered Jun 17 '19 at 16:04

Diego Jiménez

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For me it was enough to just turn wifi off on my mac. Then the watch appeared in the Devices window and I was able to run successfully on a watch on my wrist. Btw, my iPhone was connected through USB at that time. – Andrej Dec 12 '19 at 15:12

score 0 · Answer 28 · answered Jan 31 '20 at 05:50

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Check that Bluetooth is enabled. I restarted my Mac, my phone and my watch and that didn't help. When I looked in settings on the watch I found that Bluetooth was disabled.

answered Jan 31 '20 at 05:50

Navigator

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score 0 · Answer 29 · answered Jul 13 '20 at 18:29

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In my case, rebooting the watch did not work, but after rebooting iPhone it did.

answered Jul 13 '20 at 18:29

lewis

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score 0 · Answer 30 · answered Nov 13 '20 at 08:36

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Xcode Version 12.2 (12B45b) seems to fixed all issues regarding the app transfer from your mac to your apple Watch.

answered Nov 13 '20 at 08:36

Silvering

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score 0 · Answer 31 · answered Jun 15 '22 at 13:44

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The watch appeared in Xcode when I connected my iPhone to the Mac with a USB cable instead of debugging over the network.

answered Jun 15 '22 at 13:44

Kushagra

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In Xcode I see (no paired Apple Watch) even though the watch is paired and the watch's UDID is registered

31 Answers31

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