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

---

**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

---

**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

---

**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

---

**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

[danbrown83]

I agree, I think we should all do the same. 

[Pintonet]

I wouldn't mind/be any wiser at the issues if it wasn't for the fact I also have an o2 contract with Apple Watch access and have had 3 different watches on that contract with zero issues at all.

So I am fairly confident in saying this is absolutely a Three problem, not a watch issue

[Pintonet]

I'm another one to add to this growing list of Error 53305 - Been trying to get it working since 12th September. Numerous unpairings, lots of fobbing off and no resolution. It's now past by 'next billing date' and still no success. 

Why are the technical teams behind the scenes not resolving this? No other network has this lingering issue

[Anonymous]

I added my Apple Watch to my plan a few weeks ago and whilst I didn't get an error, it's been stuck at "activating" since on the Apple Watch app and "No Connection"/"No SIM" showing on the watch it's self.

I've not contacted Three support about it yet, reading through this thread it doesn't seem worth it until there's a solution to whatever the problem is.

[Boyle]

I sat at this for about two months. I then tried to get support and ended up with even more confusing issues. Nobody seems to be able to help. Yesterday I left for Vodafone.

[Ashasg03]

If mine isn't fixed by my refresh date I will ask three to cancel my contract. 

[hamid786uk]

If you can, i would leave Three immediately.  I got a call back today to say i need to wait another 7 days, i’ve already waited for 4 weeks.

O2/Vodafone/EE offer esim capabilities, and they would appear to have a far superior customer experience.  

[Ashasg03]

It is really baffling how a huge company like three can mess up so bad and not fix the issue. They only recently added support for the cellular watch pairing and surely it should have been tried and tested before release 

[Pintonet]

That's the joke though isn't it... Three first announced Apple Watch support back in 2018 on twitter and other social media channels. It's taken 4 years to actually get a live service, many years after the other big 3 networks have successfully had Watch services. Yet here we are, with a half-baked, poorly implemented service you'd expect from a startup. Not a long established Telco.

[joodood]

I'm back to E53304- smartwatch pairing cannot be activated

Also today is my new billing day so was told it would be working from today