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

[Pintonet]

Ahh yes. I've had this as well. Also still stuck on activating. Not fun!

[Paul_P1]

Currently waiting for my 4th call back from your technical team about my problems pairing my Apple watch, it was sitting at 'activating' for three weeks, now has the following error when trying to setup mobile services.  

E53305 - You already had a paired device.

Does anyone on this team have any ideas?  I'm getting fed up resetting all my settings and repairing my watch everytime your guys call....

[SylvesterJ]

I may have found something that might help -

I got my main three sim (lets call it Sim A) out, and then I tried using another three sim (lets call it sim B) which I already had in my three 5g broadband, and then tried to pair my smartwatch with that sim B in my iPhone, when it takes you to the login page, Just login to your 'my3' account associated with your main sim (sim A). hopefully this helps someone

[Enlery]

Hi, 

It is safe to say that their troubleshooting does not work. Due to this, I have cancelled my cellular plan, after spending 1.5 hours on the phone trying to explain the situation. The fact that they keep on calling this an 'Apple watch pairing error boggles the mind because that is NOT the issue. The issue is the 'Cellular Pairing'. The IMEI number is linked to the device, but ALSO the watch. Therefore you can unpair a watch, but the IMEI number/Cellular plan still thinks it's linked to the watch. That is why people see the 'E53305- You already have a paired device' error. 
Their technical team -or the implementation they should devise for this situation-, has to UNLINK the IMEI number from the cellular plan with the 'old watch'. Then it will be possible to pair the cellular plan again with a new watch. 
It's a real shame this has been going on since October last year, and a big company like this cannot remedy the situation. It's really bad. I am even considering moving my number to a different provider because of this. They have seriously lost my trust, and I'm sure other people are feeling the same way. 

[jasemac]

Had the same issue for over 5 weeks now. Spent well over 10 hours on the phone to 3 over that time. Now getting calls every other day to tell me they have a fix, we go go though the unpairing & re pairing process only to get the same error code again. I’m absolutely hacked off with the whole thing!! How the hell can O2, & Vodafone mange to get their customers connected and not three!  It looks like a serious case of rolling out something that was not ready. I’m giving it another week then asking for them then terminate my contract on the grounds that I’ve not received the service I have been paying for. 

[hamid786uk]

Its strange there are 0 “Three” moderators responding to the messages over the past few days.  Poor and clueless!

[Pintonet]

Just received an AW Ultra and it's now stuck on 'activating' for mobile data, which is a step forward at least

[Thibault]

Be careful!
Same issue, and after few back and forth with the team, I got to the same point "activating"loading and loading .... So after waiting for few days, I decided to chat to the team who ..... made me go back to the E53305 issue. 😞  

[Pintonet]

That's exactly what has just happened to me

[Thibault]

Sorry to hear.  
Do we know if at least changing to EE or Vodaphone would work? 
If someone with the same problem tells me that it worked after switching to another provider.... I am out of Three in less a minute...