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Issue: The build hangs with "iPhone is busy: making Apple Watch ready for development"

Further facts:

  • iOS 14.8
  • iPhone 8
  • watchOS 7.6.2
  • Xcode 13
  • Apple Watch Series 3 + Cellular (42mm)

Does anyone know a solution for that issue?

Many of the developers have the same issue:

LuminiCode
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13 Answers13

27

I have been struggling with this for some time now. If you don't need the Apple Watch, instead of turning it off completely, you can also turn on airplane mode if configured correctly.

On your watch, go to Settings App → Airplane Mode. Make sure that both WIFI and Bluetooth switches are turned off!

When the bluetooth switch is turned on, a connection will still be established even if your watch is in airplane mode AND bluetooth is turned off on the phone from Control Center. It took me some time to figure this out...

Update: The Bluetooth setting seems to turn itself on again after some time! No idea why... ‍♂️ Keep that in mind and check the setting again if flight mode does not fix your issue.

Using Flutter?

When running flutter doctor, it will give you a clear hint, that your watch is causing the issue.

When trying to build your app e.g. from Android Studio, you might instead find these messages in your log:

The requested device could not be found because no available devices matched the request.

Available destinations for the "dev" scheme:
[list of devices]

Could not build the precompiled application for the device.

Building a deployable iOS app requires a selected Development Team with a Provisioning Profile. Please ensure that a Development Team is selected by:
[instructions how to set the development team]

Ineligible destinations for the "dev" scheme:
[list of devices]

I put these messages here for people googling them. If you have an Apple Watch, then run flutter doctor to check if this is the root cause.

RobDil
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    Best answer. Thank you. No idea why it hangs at that point... Apple should fix it.. – SwiftiSwift Mar 10 '22 at 20:20
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    Love it,.. even 10 years later, this isn't properly fixed. Unbelievable, but thanks to this hint, I don't have to unpair it all the time. – Cyber Apr 13 '22 at 19:32
  • Was having the same issue and just straight up turning off my watch solved the issue. Thanks! – Geoherna May 28 '22 at 09:27
  • Not sure how this can be a solution, really. A terrible workaround at best. I do actually want my watch to keep functioning, that's why I wear it. – O'Rooney Sep 07 '22 at 04:43
  • I fully agree, but it seems that there is no proper solution until Apple fixes it. This is at least the easiest "temporary solution"... – RobDil Sep 07 '22 at 15:08
  • I am using flutter and had an apple personal apple watch (I don't develop for it) and could not work out for the life of me why nothing would build. This worked in the end. – its_broke_again Mar 01 '23 at 05:28
16

This is what works for me:

  1. Turn off the Bluetooth from settings in your iPhone from Settings -> Bluetooth (Don't turn it off from the control center)
  2. Quit Xcode
  3. Launch it again
  4. Build and Run
stigi
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Sasan Soroush
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5

The solution is:

  • Waiting for 5-20 mins
  • Let your iPhone and Apple Watch on
richlira
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    That's not entirely true. If you don't need the watch you can just power off the Apple Watch and unplug/plug the iPhone. That's a quick fix – alfreedom Jan 09 '22 at 12:45
5

I facing this issue too. This is because the latest xcode only support until iOS 15.2 sdk, but my phone's iOS version is 15.3. Thus, xcode is downloading the iOS 15.3 sdk from your phone that's why takes time (I knew the message is not saying that)

However, I do some testing and it works for me.

Origin From: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/691452?answerId=704424022#704424022

Edwin Wong
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4

I think all answers are overlooked, you don't need 5-20 mins if you let it finish the preparing process, it'll take just a few minutes, 5 mins top.. But regarding fixing this with an upgrade, that's not the case, and I would love to see it fixed, or offered with an option to exclude watch from the dev purpose unless really needed.

bra.Scene
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4

The Apple Watch configuration takes around 5 minutes. It's way better to postpone everything and let it run for 5 minutes then the other workarounds - such as disconnecting your watch, turning on/off your iphone, etc

George Dobrin
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2

In my case:
If my Apple Watch is turned on - then from Xcode I'm still able build and run the app just fine. But when I'm using Flutter - it fails. flutter devices shows my iphone as "Busy".

As soon as I turn off the Apple Watch, and then disconnect and reconnect the iPhone USB cable - all is good.

Since it's one of the earliest Apple Watch modules, the latest WatchOS that I can install is v6.3, although the latest available is WatchOS v8.x.

I suppose this issue doesn't occur with the latest WatchOS.
(I'm using iOS v15.2)

Oren Agiv
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0

This still happens from time to time. The solution that has worked for me every time is to reboot the phone

John Carter
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0

Make sure you're running a version of Xcode that supports the SDK versions of your iOS/watchOS device. If you've recently updated either OS versions, you may need a matching Xcode update for this to work properly.

coderSeb
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0

Could also be that your device firmware isn't compatible with your version of Xcode.

For example, iOS 16.4 was released yesterday (28th March 2023). My version of Xcode is 14.2 - which is the latest production version. There was supposed to be a new production build of Xcode (14.3), but the latest is an RC2 build - so Xcode doesn't have support for my iOS version.

Try unpairing/pairing your device first.

If the above applies to you, you can manually add support - check out this Github repo:

https://github.com/iGhibli/iOS-DeviceSupport

Declan Land
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0

What fixed this for me in Xcode 14.3.1 was to unpair the iPhone in Xcode, then reconnect it (following these instructions: https://stackoverflow.com/a/51778221)

William Denniss
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-1

The real solution is: If you don't need the apple watch you can just power off the Apple Watch and unplug/plug the iPhone. That's a quick fix. No need to unpair the watch no need to wait 5 - 20 mins

alfreedom
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  • No need to power off Watch, just turn off Bluetooth on Watch. – progrmr Apr 06 '22 at 13:18
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    Need Apple Watch, but neen't develop app for Apple Watch. If power off the Apple Watch, cannot get phone or messege from the Watch. – nebulabox May 06 '22 at 02:08
  • @progrmr just turning off Bluetooth never worked to me. Maybe going complete Airplane mode (without wifi) but even that didn’t work for me. My solution always was: turn off the watch, run the project the turn on the watch again. – alfreedom Jun 10 '22 at 19:39
-7

According to this post, this issue is fixed with an upgrade to iOS 15.0.2 / watchOS 8.0.1: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/691452

John Nimis
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