Apple Watch pairing error

[JonathanB]

Hi everyone,

We've moved everything relating to Apple Watch pairing issues to this new conversation and will be providing all future updates as edits to this post, so that you won't need to go searching through the comments for these.

I appreciate these pairing errors must be very frustrating, especially for those of you that have been running into issues for several weeks now. Technical specialists are continuing to look into this, however based on what they've seen so far, this does not seem to be one overall fault that we can apply a blanket fix to.

With this in mind, please make sure you have followed the advice on the private message we've sent to each of you, this will ensure that your individual case has been escalated. We've originally sent these messages out a couple of weeks ago, so I'll double check that everyone that has commented has received these. You can find your community messages by clicking on your avatar in the top right of any page, then on "Messages".

Finally, please ensure you are following the Community House Rules when posting on the community, particularly points 8 and 13.

The private message mentioned above will put you in touch with a team that you can raise a complaint with should you wish to do so, any comments that share details of individual Three employees will be removed from the community.

JonathanB

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**Update 26/10/2022**

Hi everyone,

We really appreciate your patience whilst we've been working on this issue. I can't imagine how frustrating it is to not be able to take full advantage of your Apple watches.

As I mentioned last week above, the errors do not seem to be one overall fault that can be fixed immediately for everyone. We do need a specialist team to do some work in the background on your accounts. With this in mind, I'd advise the following:

• Make sure you've taken any action we've recommended on private messages to your community account. If you're experiencing these issues and we don't already know, please reply on this post so we can reach out.
• Do not repeatedly attempt unpairing and pairing, this may be interfering with the work done in the background. Please wait for a Three representative to contact you and advise before you unpair and pair again.

We've seen some great progress towards getting this sorted in the last few days, I'm hopeful that it won't be too much longer till this issue is fully resolved for everyone.

JonathanB

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**Update 17/11/2022**

 Hi everyone,

We’re really sorry that there’s been a considerable delay between updates on the errors with Apple watch pairing. As we’ve mentioned previously there is more than one error involved and specialist teams are working hard to address the root causes of these.

I assure you that all comments about this issue are read, and all feedback given is being escalated on a daily basis.

Whilst we’re working on this, we’d be grateful if you can do the following:

• If you’re new to this thread, please either private message me, or add a reply, and I’ll direct you to a team that can help further.
• If I’ve already sent you this information, please ensure you have spoken to that team.
• Please only unpair and re-pair your watch if directed to by one of our support teams as part of the troubleshooting and investigation of your issue.

I’ll provide another update soon.

Thanks,
JonathanB

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**Update 02/12/2022**

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your continued patience. We’ve seen some great progress towards resolving these issues since the last update. As I’ve mentioned previously there is more than one error involved, and for many of you, your bill cycle will also affect when you can successfully re-pair the service.

Here’s some general steps that should help with common scenarios we’re seeing.

• Ensure that you’ve registered for My3, without a registered online account and password set, the pairing will fail.
• There are some instances where special characters at the start of My3 passwords have resulted in an error. We recommend that you have a strong password that is a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters but avoid beginning the password with characters like /!”£$|\. My3 supports these, but it seems to be causing an issue when this info is passed onto the smartwatch pairing system.
• If you’ve changed your priceplan, upgraded, or are instructed to wait for your bill cycle to complete, you should wait till the day after your new bill cycle starts to attempt pairing. So for example, if your allowances refresh on the 1st, wait till the 2nd.
• Although individual smartwatches can be unpaired from your account, cancelling or removing the add on completely will delay being able to reinstate the service till the following bill cycle.
• As mentioned before, don’t repeatedly unpair and re-pair, the failed requests may cause further issues on your account that delay this being solved.
• I’m continuing to regularly check for anyone new on the thread, just send a reply or private message me, and I’ll link you in with a support team that can help get your specific error looked into and make sure you get the best advice.

Thanks,
JonathanB

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**Update 11/01/2023**

Hi Everyone,

As well as the steps on the last update, we're finding it helps to clear your temporary data from your iPhone before attempting pairing.

You can do this in Settings, Safari, Clear History & Website Data.

In case anyone is having trouble finding their private messages, click on your avatar image in the top right of any community page, then "Messages". If you've posted on this thread, then you should have a message waiting from me with a link to a support team that will help.

Thanks,
JonathanB

[getaway]

Thanks for your helpful reply. Yes - tried all of the above, and spent hours on the phone. Seems absolutely ridiculous that they can’t get their act together on this! 

appreciate your suggestions - thanks again.  

[rodmarso]

Welcome to the club.

I am waiting since 25th of August (day that I received the Apple watch) for this to be resolved. This has been escalated without solution.

How many lines do you have in your my3 account? I am waiting for them to separate and put the line + apple watch pairing plan in a different/isolated account, so I can test, hopefully that will help the activation.

[getaway]

Thanks for your reply. I’ve got one line with a pairing plan only. So annoying!

[Helpless]

What’s the deal here three?

I specifically moved to the three network from another (far cheaper -giffgaff) just to be able to pair and share data with my Apple ultra smartwatch. I can not do that due to various errors, “ missing field” “ there’s a problem” screens.  

Can I cancel my contract without penalty because I have tried all ‘fixes’ ie changing password, deleting history and safari data, using a different browser, unpairing and repairing, you name it, I’ve tried it!

[devil666child]

Same here I moved from Sky mobile to Three so I could use my AW Ultra but keep getting “there is a problem” screen as I’m within the 30 days I’ve cancelled and gone over to EE where it worked first time and touch wood no issues. I have tried everything from changing the password, factory resetting my phone and watch, updating to the beta, speaking to Apple and Three and getting no where! Apple confirm the devices are fine and it’s an issue with the network operator as it’s an error on their page but Three just kept saying they sent it to their back office and nothing ever moved on, to this day I still never got a response. As said I come away from them and went to EE and it paired first time with no issues. 

[Helpless]

I’m doing something similar, I’ve already got my PAC and ordered a new sim from giffgaff, while I decide whether to go down the pairing route with EE in a month or two. Good riddance three.

[devil666child]

Funny how I just I wrote I didn’t hear anything back from them, I just got this text and email from them in response to this pairing error issue “

Hi there,

Your query has now been closed.

Any questions? Get in touch.

Thanks,

The Three Team” 

you just can’t make it up! They are the worst and I’m SOOO glad I left them! Do it! Leave them, go back to the cheaper carrier for now and as you say you can look into it in the future. As for Three they really aren’t worth it! 

[devil666child]

I’ve already started a switch over to EE as this has been driving me mad for weeks. Going to try the beta update…will reply if it’s worked for me or not! 

[devil666child]

Update with both beta still flagging up same error so just shows it’s literally Three and it’s poor service. I can’t wait to fully switch over to EE! This has been a nightmare that sadly won’t end anytime soon for those still facing it. 

[vorboid]

This might be entirely coincidental, but I upgraded my phone to iOS 17.1, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 to the watchOS 10.1 beta on Thursday night. On Friday morning I was able to login to the Mobile Service section of the Watch app, and complete activation first time without issue after trying all week to just get logged in.

Would be interested to see if anyone else can try this and see if it works.