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

[cvnvr]

This is ridiculous.

When I bought my Apple Watch Series 9 last October, I was able to follow the default steps to pair it and it worked immediately. Even though my sister said she wasn't able to do it, it worked instantly for me and I never had any issues using it until February.

At that time, I had my account re-set up by transferring my number to a different provider, then back to Three to use a brand new account with updated details. Since then, I'm physically unable to pair my watch.

I've gone through ALL of the recommended fixes and none of it has worked.

I've tried:

1. Changing my password to have no special characters at the start
2. Trying to pair while not on wifi
3. Resetting my watch to factory settings and repairing it again
4. Restarting both my watch and my iPhone
5. Ensuring both devices are on latest iOS version
6. Clearing my iPhone's browser cache
7. Ensuring I am successfully logged into My3 on both Safari and in the app
8. Waiting until the next billing cycle
9. Waiting a full 24hrs before attempting to pair a second time

None of the above have done anything to help.

I used to be able to open the Watch app > tap Mobile Service > tap Set up Mobile Service > tap Set up Mobile Service > then log into Three, and then see an error. Now I can't even get to the login page before I see this:

I've been on Live Chat, gone into store multiple times and was told I need to phone, and be on the phone for hours on end with their technical support, and nothing has been done. Getting very tired of being told I need to try restarting my device, and then being put on hold for 5 minutes because "we've never seen this problem before".

This is just even more so frustrating considering I had it set up and working without any issues. Now my watch has basically been useless for the past few months as I only bought it to use for exercising without having my phone strapped to me constantly.

[ziss1971]

Have you managed to resolve this as I have the exact same issue that no-one seems to be able to replicate

[cvnvr]

It's been 3 weeks now and nothing has been resolved. I'm getting a new error at least which has made the conversations on the phone less painful, but nothing has been resolved.

The new error I see is "Please note that you can't progress to new subscription as you already have an existing one which is still in progress".

[DFS87]

No. They do not resolve anything. 
every time I speak with them they all guarantee me that it will be sorted. 1year later and I’m still in the same place.

really tired of them.

[clavain]

welcome to our ever expanding club of frustrated user

[clavain]

you really couldn't make it up, i gave up trying to get it sorted about 6 months ago and cancelled the watch add on. tried a few times since to re add it on but no luck.

[DFS87]

Hello,

I have been trying to resolve this issue for almost 1 year now. 

Please assist.

[clavain]

there is no help to be had!!

[DFS87]

It gets better. Yesterday, someone lodge a case for technical support and today they closed it lol

[JoeBongo]

So I'm still on the same boat, tech support haven't called in 3 weeks now to update me on the problem and this seems to have been going on for years now when you look back through the threads.

I really don't know what to do.