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

[StephR]

UPDATE

Hi everyone, 

As you'll see, we've merged a few similar threads together here to keep things neat, and to ensure we can provide an update to everyone having problems activating their Smartwatch Pairing plans.

While some of the technical issues have now been resolved, it's clear some customers are still facing problems. We therefore want to help move the investigation of these issues on, and require a few more details to do so.

You should all have received a Private Message here on the community, with some further instructions on how to move things forward. We're working with the relevant teams behind the scenes to investigate these pairing issues and hope to provide a solution soon. 

We really appreciate your patience and perseverance so far, and thank you for being part of Three Community.

StephR

[Ashasg03]

Keep getting their is a problem when trying to pair my cellular watch with my iPhone 14 pro max. Add ons showing active in my 3 app. This is very frustrating with no resolution in sight as has been ongoing since Sunday. 

[gbailey141]

There are a few of us with the same issue. They say they are working on it but still no sign of it being fixed. 

[Ashasg03]

Had high hopes when three advised they would release this. Like everything else they just let you down. A high priority ticket and yet 5 days later no response or updates. Now I wish I had moved over to EE when I had the chance 

[Boyle]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been trying to set up Smart Watch pairing from Three since June, and can never get past ‘Activating’. I’ve tried different phones, different Apple Watches, restores, repairs, everything. Three seem mostly unable to help. Anyone got any ideas?

thanks 

[JonathanB]

Hi Boyle,

Welcome to the Three Community.

I'm really sorry to hear that you've not been able to get your smartwatch paired since June, that sounds really frustrating. We'll do our best to help.

Is there an error message on your App when you try to pair the watch? Usually it'll be an E then 5 digits. Or any other message?

JonathanB

[Boyle]

Hi Jonathan, could you ask your teams if there’s any progress on this wide spread Apple Watch issue? 

[Ashasg03]

I would also love a response as just bought a cellular watch last week and can't set it up due to.a error page

[Boyle]

Hi Jonathan, initially I did not have a message, I was just stuck at ‘activating’ for months. After speaking with support at the weekend (I upgraded my phone and watch and was still having the issue) I started getting an error code, which has now changed to just saying ‘there was an error’.

[Boyle]

Paging @StephR for some help 🙂