Cannot Add Credit Cards to Apple Watch Series 3

[GoDawgs]

I have tried everything and that mean removing cards, turning off wifi, signing in and out of iCloud and just last night called apple support and they could not resolve over the phone. All of this I did multiple times and in different ways and sequences.

I get the message "Could Not Set Up Apple Pay and error occurred while setting up apple pay" I had them on my watch before when I had an iPhone x and now I have an iPhone X Max and cannot get it to work. I also tried with a iPhone 6S plus to no avail. I think it is an iCloud issue and have reviewed my iCloud account and see nothing in there that would cause it. I previously did not have two factor authentication turned on and now I do and of course it is required now.

Anyone else having a problem?

Waiting to hear back from Apple after they review my diagnostic info. May try to add to another phone under a different apple ID...

 

[techwarrior]

I had issues with Apple Pay Cash activating on my S1 Apple Watch. Eventually, I unpaired the watch from my phone, then paired it again and was able to activate.

Alas, when you do this, the watch settings are saved in a backup, so when you pair it again, the old settings are re-applied. But, it seems to go through a new iCloud authentication process which apparently resolves conflicts that may have been preventing activation.

 

[cynics]

After having a problem with iCloud syncing once my Watch appeared functional however things like Now Playing and ApplePay wouldn't work like you are describing. In General settings in the Watch app it wasn't using my AppleID and when I tried to log in it would give be an identifier error. I had to goto iCloud.com (which will list your Apple Pay devices btw) and remove my Watch, then I had to reset the watch. It restored from its backup although the process took a little bit. After that everything was good.

I would suggest checking you are signed in, if so follow @techwarrior suggestion. Or just do a reset and verify at iCloud.com the watch was removed. Then reconnect it.

 

[GoDawgs]

I have tried resetting as described above and I checked again to verify I was signed in under my Apple ID and I’m food there.

I als previously deleted my watch from icloud hoping that would fix it.

It really is the only thing that doesn’t work. Now playing works, etc.

Thanks and keep the ideas coming. I haven’t heard back from Apple yet but when I do I’ll post here.

I haven’t tried resetting and removing cellular plan yet but that is next up on things to try.

 

[cynics]

I have tried resetting as described above and I checked again to verify I was signed in under my Apple ID and I’m food there.

I als previously deleted my watch from icloud hoping that would fix it.

It really is the only thing that doesn’t work. Now playing works, etc.

Thanks and keep the ideas coming. I haven’t heard back from Apple yet but when I do I’ll post here.

I haven’t tried resetting and removing cellular plan yet but that is next up on things to try.

Ok, try this, cards will vary wildly though. I checked and mine are all different.

Goto your card issuers app or web page and find your digital wallet or whatever they call it. They should list all the cards you have linked to ApplePay. Like I mentioned of the 2 cards I checked they were different one was ONLY in the app and the other was ONLY on the webpage. Look to see if your watch is still on there, if so you can't re add the same card to the same watch. Delete it the watch from the app/webpage. And then log out and try resyncing it to the Watch.

The card issue can be blocking it too. I had issue couple years ago and the card issuer got it sorted out within 5 minutes. But I believe the message I got was obvious but I can't remember though.

 

[GoDawgs]

Great suggestion and I didn’t even know that existed. I went there and got the same exact message when I tried to add card to watch from website. Card showed active for my phone, but would not let me add to the watch.

I’m thinking now it is somehow just the watch.

I am going to mess with the watch some more and see if I can figure anything out.

 

[Fdisaac00]

For those of you having problems adding your debit/credit cards on your series 3, do the following.
1. Unpair Apple Watch from your iPhone.
2. Pair again to your iPhone
3. Set up apple watch as NEW and not as restore from. Previous backup.
4. Go through the set up process, and enjoy having your cards back on.