iOS: Watch Kit paired device unavailable for development

Question

I can't run my Apple Watch application in XCode. My phone+watch is listed as a "Unavailable Device" and says "paired device unavailable for development". When I try to launch the app it says the same thing.

How can I resolve this?

I'm using XCode 7.1, iOS 9.0, WatchOS 2.0.1.

There was a similar question that was deleted, but it was still the top Google hit so I'm asking this again. I'm trying to update to iOS9.1 now and I'll see if that helps. — akiraspeirs, Oct 28 '15 at 00:08

score 68 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 25 '16 at 00:03

68

This is what worked for me, and it is a lot easier and faster than un-pairing so I would try this first. From the Clock Face Swipe up, and click on the Ping iPhone button. After it makes a sound, go back in Xcode it should change no longer be unpaired or unavailable for development.

answered Jul 25 '16 at 00:03

possen

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This worked for me. Plus I also quit and launched Xcode 7.3.1 and then it showed the paired Apple Watch was available for development. – Tap Forms Jul 28 '16 at 06:18
This and a lot of messing around, quitting xcode and relaunching it. Just as I was about to try removing the derived data folder, it worked. – toast Dec 17 '16 at 03:15
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This worked for me ... I first repaired which removed the "unavailable for development" warning, but Xcode then complained "no paired device" ... pinging fixed everything, though made a loud sound even when iPhone was in silent mode :/ ... sorry Starbucks peeps lol – Chris Allinson Feb 18 '17 at 22:17
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Worked for me as well (Xcode 10, iOS 12.0.1, watchOS 5). Thanks! – Gwendal Roué Oct 29 '18 at 16:19
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OMG didn't believe it was going to work. But it did! (Xcode 11, iOS 13.1, watchOS 6) – andrehungaro Oct 01 '19 at 23:42
I am amazed this worked. I didn't even need to restart Xcode, the watch immediately became available as soon as I pinged my phone. – Oran Dennison Sep 13 '20 at 20:54

score 41 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 28 '15 at 04:55

41

I had the same issue on iOS 9.1 + WatchOS 2.01 that XCode 7.1 kept saying "paired device not available for development". Here is what I did to solve it finally, not quite sure which step is critical -

Unpair my watch
Reboot both iPhone and apple watch
Pair them again, and setup my watch as a new one
Plug (unplug first) iPhone to Mac
On apple watch, say Trust the computer when it asks
Unplug and plug again

Bang! My apple watch is well recognized for development. Hope it helps.

answered Oct 28 '15 at 04:55

Will

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It has been a long journey, but finally worked following the steps. – Javier Calatrava Llavería Apr 26 '16 at 17:42
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Had the same problem; I think I tapped "Don't trust" by accident the first time. Setting up the watch as a "new" one presented the modal again, allowed me to trust my Mac, and therefore use the device for development. – endemic May 05 '16 at 14:45
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this sounds like overkill :o( – conorgriffin Dec 27 '16 at 19:54
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I didn't have to do all this (pairing and repairing the watch in particular is a pretty time-intensive process). Closing and restarting Xcode was all I needed. – Bill Mar 03 '17 at 17:55
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This is just driving me nuts !! Did every step from whole internet and Google servers around Milk Way. It just doesn't work !!! – GIJOW Jul 20 '17 at 16:59
I had to setup my watch as a new device. I'm on Xcode 9 with Watch OS 4. Power cycle both phone, and watch multiple times as well as the laptop. – cynistersix Oct 20 '17 at 17:12
Warning: Re-pairing will take a long time. 30mins to 1hr. – vaughan Jan 19 '18 at 11:43
are u f**** kidding me? is there a way to improve this process Apple? – MatterGoal Feb 08 '18 at 13:42
For me it was enough to just restart both devices (watch and phone) – erik_m_martens Jun 18 '18 at 09:06
Xcode 10.1, steps 1-5 sufficed. (yes, I'm sure they were overkill) – bshirley Feb 05 '19 at 23:22

score 17 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 03 '17 at 17:56

17

I can confirm having this too by using the following configuration: OS X, Xcode7.2 beta, iPhone5s with iOS9.2 and WatchOS 2.1

I unplugged the iphone again, closed and restarted Xcode and plugged in the iPhone again - than it worked fine!

edited Mar 03 '17 at 17:56

Bill

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answered Jan 04 '16 at 19:52

Megalone

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Worked for me: Unplug iDevice-> Quit XCode-> Restart XCode -> Plug in iDevice – Jalakoo Aug 04 '16 at 14:59
Worked for me in XCode 12.6.1: I connected iPhone to laptop, trusted the computer, but got the message that the Watch device was unavailable for development. Unplugged the phone from laptop and plugged it back in, and it was available, but the build failed because I needed to select a development team: Select main project in Project Navigator, then, in the editor that appears, select each relevant target and set the development team. Also needed to do it for the project itself under the All tab. Then the app installed on the watch. – nachbar Jul 31 '21 at 04:34

score 13 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 23 '17 at 08:38

13

Rebooting the Apple Watch worked for me, after that it displays the 'trust this computer' message which is required to debug the watch with XCODE.

answered Jan 23 '17 at 08:38

Yizhar

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score 13 · Answer 5 · answered May 21 '18 at 03:53

13

I just restart the Xcode to solve the problem.

answered May 21 '18 at 03:53

Alison Borba

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score 8 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 10 '16 at 21:58

Deleting the 'famous' XCODE Derived Data folder did it for me.

Steps for newbies:

Close XCODE.
Delete the Derived Data folder, to find it's location go in XCODE to upper menu: XCODE -> Preferences -> Locations: Here click on the Derived Data arrow.
Reopen XCODE.

Tested on XCODE8.0.

score 6 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 12 '17 at 08:03

6

Go to Window--> Device and Simulator , Unpair device and Disconnect from cable and connect back works for me.

answered Dec 12 '17 at 08:03

khheng

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Rodrigo Recio · Answer 8 · 2016-06-27T00:01:34.920

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It just happened to me and I fixed it by

quitting Xcode
putting the Watch on the charger
open Xcode
select the Watch App Target
select the iPhone paired to watch as the device to run
Wait until '(paired device unavailable for development)' or '(no paired Apple Watch)' disappears from device description at the Xcode toolbar
Run!

edited Jun 27 '16 at 00:01

answered Jun 26 '16 at 23:33

Rodrigo Recio

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score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Dec 21 '15 at 19:53

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I followed the steps above repeatedly and still got the same issue. What I found fixed the issue was not signing into iCloud and only using Messages instead. Once I did that it worked beautifully. Thank you.

answered Dec 21 '15 at 19:53

mmremann

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What are the "steps above"? The answer of @Will? Consider make a comment to that answer. – jogo Dec 21 '15 at 20:15
Yes, @Will's answer helped. I would have but I do not have enough reputation points. – mmremann Dec 21 '15 at 21:59
Disabled / turned off all iCloud settings, except keychain & Find my iPhone, and then xcode recognized the watch and was able to debug – david72 Jan 28 '16 at 18:36

score 2 · Answer 10 · edited Jul 11 '16 at 16:29

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Deleting everything in ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/watchOS DeviceSupport/ worked for me.

edited Jul 11 '16 at 16:29

answered Jul 11 '16 at 14:21

Brad K.

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score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Dec 21 '15 at 10:03

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I had the same issue with watchOS 2.1. Unplugging my phone restarting Xcode and plugin in my phone did the trick. I suggest trying that before you re-pairing phone and watch

answered Dec 21 '15 at 10:03

kees

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score 1 · Answer 12 · answered Mar 03 '16 at 20:56

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I had issues with this too, using Xcode Beta 7.3 version 3. I updated to Xcode Beta 7.3 version 5 and it's working fine. Hope this helps!

answered Mar 03 '16 at 20:56

emleeh

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score 1 · Answer 13 · answered Apr 06 '16 at 11:47

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I met this problem as well.

What I do is quite simple, turn off bluetooth from iPhone and turn on, wait till apple watch got connected again.

Then fire up the app.

answered Apr 06 '16 at 11:47

Ben

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RyanTCB · Answer 14 · 2017-11-22T10:35:38.257

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I had to unlock the watch with my passcode.

If already unlocked, lock it then unlock.

edited Nov 22 '17 at 10:35

answered Aug 18 '17 at 09:20

RyanTCB

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score 1 · Answer 15 · answered Feb 13 '19 at 04:59

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I had issues with this too with Xcode 10.1 and Watch OS 5.x Really need delete Xcode Derived data files, and reboot Watch, and click 'Trust' button in Watch for debug.

answered Feb 13 '19 at 04:59

Roger Zhang

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score 1 · Answer 16 · answered Apr 10 '19 at 09:01

1

my problem was having to authorize the computer from the Apple Watch... (with last release Xcode 10.2)

answered Apr 10 '19 at 09:01

Alessio Campanelli

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score 1 · Answer 17 · answered May 08 '19 at 06:51

For me the only thing that worked was unpairing the watch from the iPhone and setting it up as a new watch (restore from backp didn't work).

I tried unpairing in Xcode, deleting derived/cached data, platform support, restarting Xcode, all combinations of unplugging and restarting! Nothing worked.

Whether it was this nuclear action, or the simple fact that it then goes through the re-authorisation process between the Mac + Watch, we'll never know.

What I do know is that at times Xcode can be shockingly unstable.

Worked for me as well. The important step was to set up the watch as a new one, instead of restoring it from backup. — pipacs, Aug 07 '19 at 14:04

score 1 · Answer 18 · answered May 25 '19 at 11:55

This happened to me over the last few days. Xcode was being extremely unstable (sometimes, in the Build Scheme, it would say "paired watch unavailable for development", other times it would say "null" when referring to the watch, other times it would work!). I did all of the steps below, but the inconsistency was not solved:

Unpair my watch, Reboot both iPhone and apple watch, Pair them again, and setup my watch as a new one, Plug (unplug first) iPhone to Mac, On apple watch, say Trust the computer when it asks, Unplug and plug again

Eventually, the I realised a slightly newer version of Mojave (10.14.5), and a slightly newer version of iOS (12.3.1) had been released. After I made these quick updates, XCode appears to be much more stable now.

score 1 · Answer 19 · answered Sep 25 '21 at 11:56

1

For me, I had to Trust this Mac from my Watch.

Then I cleared the derived data, restarted XCode and it worked. Didn't have to restart phone or Watch.

answered Sep 25 '21 at 11:56

saurabh

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akiraspeirs · Answer 20 · 2015-10-28T00:24:20.267

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I updated my phone to iOS9.1 and it's working now.

edited Oct 28 '15 at 00:24

answered Oct 28 '15 at 00:18

akiraspeirs

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score 0 · Answer 21 · answered Nov 06 '17 at 20:22

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In my case I disable the passcode of apple watch, then DerivedData and restart Xcode solves the issue.

answered Nov 06 '17 at 20:22

Bill Chan

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score 0 · Answer 22 · answered Jan 19 '18 at 12:49

I got rid of the message after re-pairing which took about 30+ mins.

However, it could have been that restarting the watch would have fixed it so try that.

Also try deleting the DerviedData.

After I got the message to go away, the app wouldn't install on the phone. I had previously created a WatchKit project from an AppCode template. After creating a new project from XCode, it started to work.

score 0 · Answer 23 · answered May 02 '22 at 09:21

Today I had the same issue. My phone was availbale for development but the watch was unavailable. I restarted the iphone, watch and mac. After the restart of all devices I got the notification on the watch to trust the mac and I was able to start my application on the watch and iphone.

score 0 · Answer 24 · answered Aug 24 '23 at 20:32

0

I've had the best luck following these steps:

Quit Xcode
Disconnect iPhone
Turn bluetooth on watch off then on again
Reconnect iPhone, unlock and trust computer
Open Xcode

answered Aug 24 '23 at 20:32

Ryan F

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score -1 · Answer 25 · answered May 18 '22 at 13:15

-1

In my case, I just needed to unplug and plug my iPhone in again.

answered May 18 '22 at 13:15

oskarko

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iOS: Watch Kit paired device unavailable for development

25 Answers25

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