Lol, why should they be serious about it? It’s an old a** product. I’m sorry no one has the guts to say you need to update you’re old Apple product. Just got a series 6 and have 26GBs. They have moved on from old macs, from old iPhones with terrible storage why should the Apple Watch be different. It’s literally years old.. I guess you are new to Apple! 😄
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple isn’t serious about Series 3 updates…
- Thread starter Sebosz
- Start date
-
- Tags
- update watch series 3 watchos
- Sort by reaction score
Not really applicable when it’s a product you can buy today from Apple.
Such a poor experience for a product that could be less than 24 hours old is a bad show.
If apple is going to continue to sell this hardware the support needs to be there too.
You need to update your old signature.
Last edited:
What @Lihp8270 said.
For me, I wanted just a fitness device. At the time, the 4 "5" had functions I did not want/need, where 3 had the basics I wanted without paying extra for useless (to me) extras.
For me, I wanted just a fitness device. At the time, the
Last edited:
It may be old but they're still selling it. If they're going to sell it, they should still support it, not just let it rot with issues like this.
Yup, exactly. As long as they’re still selling it, this should not happen at all.
As per previous 7.x updates, just updated my AW3 without unpairing/pairing without any issue.
’Secret’ is to initiate update directly from the watch, the watch does even need to be ‘connected’ to the iPhone. Put the AW back on charger and update completed.
’Secret’ is to initiate update directly from the watch, the watch does even need to be ‘connected’ to the iPhone. Put the AW back on charger and update completed.
Not only are they still selling the series 3, watchOS 7.4 specifically says that the series 3 is supported. That's why this is a problem.
Trust me, there is no secret if it doesn't work for you. I think there is a bug where temporary or cache files build up on the Apple Watch, and they can use up so much storage that there isn't enough free space to install updates. Apple gives you no way to clear them except completely wiping the watch, and what's worse, even if you set up your watch as new, they still seem to build up very quickly if you had the issue previously.
I just tried it, and it's not possible to completely ignore the phone. When I initiate the software update from the watch, it tells me to accept the terms on my phone. There's no way to pass this screen on the watch. Once I accept the terms on my phone, it goes through the phone setup process that fails again.
Is there any way you know of to bypass the need to accept the terms on the phone? Are you unpairing before trying this?
Is there any way you know of to bypass the need to accept the terms on the phone? Are you unpairing before trying this?
I don’t get that message at all, everything is ‘controlled’ on the watch.
It’s possible it’s because you have already started an update via the phone.
Is it worth rebooting both phone and watch to see if that clears this message from the phone ?
No, my AW3 is paired with the iPhone as normal, although because I’m actually wearing my (other) AW4 it not BT linked to the phone but is WiFi connected.
It’s possible it’s because you have already started an update via the phone.
Is it worth rebooting both phone and watch to see if that clears this message from the phone ?
No, my AW3 is paired with the iPhone as normal, although because I’m actually wearing my (other) AW4 it not BT linked to the phone but is WiFi connected.
I restarted both the phone and the watch, and started the watch update again. This time it didn't prompt me to switch to the phone, just to put in the passcode and it started downloading. We'll see if it can make it through this time. Fingers crossed!
Seems if you've already tried on your phone, restarting both the phone and the watch are key to trying to install solely on the watch.
***Update: Nope, still says not enough space.
Seems if you've already tried on your phone, restarting both the phone and the watch are key to trying to install solely on the watch.
***Update: Nope, still says not enough space.
Could be. Once I successfully used this method for earlier updates I stopped using the watch App for the AW3, although I do update the AW4 via the app.
Hopefully when the watch is on the charger the update will install successfully.
Hopefully when the watch is on the charger the update will install successfully.
It didn't. I don't have a single third party app installed on this thing and I've removed every mb of space that the native apps use as possible, so I'm at a loss.
Don’t understand it either.
I have 3 third party apps installed and 2.5 Gb free.
From memory, the update showed as about 700 mb.
I have 3 third party apps installed and 2.5 Gb free.
From memory, the update showed as about 700 mb.
I've had this annoying bug since I first bought the watch. Up till this morning have been sitting at 7.1. As others have said, removing every single app and restarting does nothing to free up space. So this morning I finally broke down and unpaired > set up as new and manually updated 7.4. Now the app store is now broken for me, can't install anything 😐
I finally managed to update my series 3 after trying 5-6 times over the last 3 days.
This time I did a restore to the most recent backup, a backup taken after the 6th time of resetting my Watch, basically with nothing on it, no pictures, no music, just default apps etc.
Straight after the restore, in the Watch app on my iPhone I went into General and then Usage. In there there was an item listed for Software Update 2.5 GB. I deleted this which gave me a total of 3.3 GB free. I was then able to update.
I noticed this item of Software Update of 2.5 GB in Usage when trying previously after resetting to new, but it always went away shortly afterwards, so I think you need to delete it straight after restoring/resetting.
Hopefully this method might work for some of you.
This time I did a restore to the most recent backup, a backup taken after the 6th time of resetting my Watch, basically with nothing on it, no pictures, no music, just default apps etc.
Straight after the restore, in the Watch app on my iPhone I went into General and then Usage. In there there was an item listed for Software Update 2.5 GB. I deleted this which gave me a total of 3.3 GB free. I was then able to update.
I noticed this item of Software Update of 2.5 GB in Usage when trying previously after resetting to new, but it always went away shortly afterwards, so I think you need to delete it straight after restoring/resetting.
Hopefully this method might work for some of you.
Last edited:
This definitely seems to be the case. Even with no third party apps installed, it still fills up over time. And the usage report doesn’t add up so I’m guessing it’s some kind of cache or temporary files.
I was finally able to get the update to install on my series 3 GPS-only watch. It was the 6th try. Once again I reset the whole thing, and this time instead of setting up as new, I chose restore a backup. I'm not sure if restoring a backup had any effect on it finally succeeding or some other mystery factor. It still took a really long time, so I was actually kind of shocked it didn't hit another error. But thankfully this hassle is over and I have the unlock with mask function.
Yeah they been neglecting it for a while now. Even on developer side when new WatchOS builds come out often times debugging symbols are missing for Series 3. I had a feedback filed on this and literally had to update it for new builds and ask for symbols and I dont even bother anymore.
I dont think its some nefarious plot to get people to upgrade or anything, its just likely their dev team never looking back after moving to 64b arch with new models and only addressing show stoppers for older arch which isnt fair to Series 3 customers considering Series 3 still being sold like folks here pointed out already.
Its a shame. I really like my old Series 3 38mm and actually prefer to wear it for sports and outdoors like with it being small, not catching on things and doing what I need it to do. Even with newer WatchOS it generally works well and could have been a good budget option for many.
I dont think its some nefarious plot to get people to upgrade or anything, its just likely their dev team never looking back after moving to 64b arch with new models and only addressing show stoppers for older arch which isnt fair to Series 3 customers considering Series 3 still being sold like folks here pointed out already.
Its a shame. I really like my old Series 3 38mm and actually prefer to wear it for sports and outdoors like with it being small, not catching on things and doing what I need it to do. Even with newer WatchOS it generally works well and could have been a good budget option for many.
Series 3 is quite old now.
Please upgrade to a Series 6 for a much smoother experience. You'll love it.
Please upgrade to a Series 6 for a much smoother experience. You'll love it.
As many many others here on this thread have pointed out, Apple still sells the GPS 8GB Series 3 NEW.
Apple Watch 3. Just installed 7.4.1. No problems. Not able to install 7.4 after several unpairs etc. Checked available space after 7.4.1 update 3.1 gigs. Could not get any more than 2.5 gigs with 7.4. Did not restart or unpair with 7.4.1.