How to fix an iPhone that can’t communicate with Apple Watch

The Apple Watch is a great device that can add luxury to your wrist and your Apple ecosystem. When you buy a new Apple Watch and pair it with your iPhone, nothing can be so great. But suddenly, while trying to unlock your iPhone, you see that your Apple Watch cannot communicate with your iPhone.

Recently, while trying to unlock their iPhones, Apple users encountered an issue where their Apple Watch was unable to communicate with their iPhones. But why is this happening? It can be very frustrating when you buy a new Apple Watch only to find that it can’t communicate with your iPhone. But don’t worry; this guide will help you solve this problem.

Why can’t my iPhone communicate with Apple Watch?

As it turns out, the Apple Watch can’t communicate error appears when users try to unlock their iPhones with their Apple Watch. However, this is a pre-installed feature that does not require much hassle. However, whenever the user tries, this error appears: The user cannot unlock their iPhone.

Also, due to this problem, many users are worried and start to think that there is something wrong with their new Apple Watch. On the contrary, neither your watch nor your iPhone is in order. There is actually a simple conflict between your phone and watch that can be easily fixed by following this guide.

What is “Unable to contact Apple Watch error”?

As previously mentioned, the Apple Watch can’t communicate error appears when you try to unlock your iPhone with your Apple Watch. As bad as it sounds, even Apple has said that iPhone 13 devices will have trouble unlocking their devices with the Apple Watch.

However, this can be fixed on the iPhone 13 if the user downloads the latest software updates and also updates their watch. On the other hand, if you have an old iPhone that doesn’t have Face ID, you’ll keep seeing the Apple Watch can’t link error until you upgrade to a new iPhone. You also need an Apple Watch Series 3 or higher.

This is because these features are not supported by older devices. However, if you are not using an iPhone 13, iPhone 14 and you are still seeing this error, then continue reading this guide to resolve your issue.

Fix Unable to Pair with Apple Watch on iPhone

Here we have listed four ways to fix unable to communicate with Apple Watch on iPhone. We suggest you go through all the fixes in the series that they mention and don’t miss any.

Fix 1: Make sure all connection conditions are met

If you want to fix the Apple Watch can’t communicate error on your iPhone, you must first make sure that all the conditions are met. These conditions are:

1. You must have WiFi enabled. Even if there is no WiFi, it must be enabled, and even Bluetooth must be enabled on both devices.
2. Turn on Wrist Recognition on Apple Watch and passcode on iPhone. You can find Wrist Detection in Settings > Passcode > Wrist Detection.
3. You must be wearing an Apple Watch and it must be unlocked.
4. Make sure your iPhone is nearby to allow communication.
5. Make sure your iPhone and iWatch have the latest software. In short, make sure both are up to date.

If you already meet these conditions and still can’t communicate with your Apple Watch, move on to the next fix.

Fix 2: Toggle Airplane Mode

Switch Airplane Mode on your iPhone, clear network cache and clear DNS. Sometimes this corrupted DNS can cause issues such as being unable to communicate with errors. Switching flight mode is very simple.

You just need to open Control Center, enable Airplane Mode. Wait a minute or 2 and then turn it off again. For convenience, you can also restart your iPhone.

Fix 3: Disconnect and re-pair

Unpairing and re-pairing your Apple Watch with iPhone is undoubtedly the best way to fix the “Can’t Pair Apple Watch on iPhone”issue. Follow these steps to do the same:

• On iPhone, open the Watch app.
• Go to “My Watch”and press the (i) button.
• Click Disable.
• Now on your watch, go to Settings.
• Click on General.

• Click Reset.

• Click “Erase All Content and Settings”.

• Restart your iPhone.
• When both devices are turned on,
• Connect them.
• On your iPhone, go to Settings.
• Now tap on Face ID and Passcode.
• Enter your passcode and turn on the “Unlock with Apple Watch”option.

That’s all. Your Apple Watch will now work seamlessly with your iPhone without showing that you can’t communicate with your Apple Watch.

Fix 4: Update Your iPhone

If none of the above options have worked for you so far, your iPhone may be running outdated software. iPhones are fantastic devices, but even updates have their issues, as we saw with the iOS 16 black wallpaper.

As a result, if you recently updated your iPhone, you need to see if a new update is available and then download and install it.

Other than that, if you don’t have an update available but the problem still occurs, your best bet is to factory reset your iPhone and it will return to its optimal state. We won’t suggest you reset your iWatch again because you already did it in patch 3.

bottom line

Well, that is all we have on how to fix the unable to connect error on Apple Watch. We hope this guide has helped you. If you still have any issues, please leave a comment below and we will try to help you as soon as possible.