Resolved: Apple Watch won't show incoming calls

[Ace McLoud]

Edit, resolved: Resetting the network settings on the phone fixed this. Not sure which of the other steps were necessary in addition to that. See reply #2 below for details.

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So, one of the reasons I love the Apple Watch is the ability to take incoming calls.
My iPhone is permanently muted and I usually carry it in my back pocket. Which means I miss all incoming calls when taking a walk or otherwise on the go. Or iPhone is lying around somewhere in the house. My Watch 3 used to fix that.

Used to work great but after upgrading to iOS 14 and/or watchOS 7 the watch won't reliably show incoming calls. Not reliably means maybe once a week, out of dozens of incoming calls. So it basically doesn't work. Initiating outgoing calls from the Watch works fine.

This doesn't change if I enable/disable WiFi calling.

So far, these are the steps I've taken to try to fix this:

- Of course restart iPhone and Watch
- Reset and unpair the Watch and set up as new, not from backup
- Buy a new Watch 6 (for other reasons), set up from scratch
- Reset iPhone 11 Pro and restore from backup

Only thing left is reset iPhone and set up as new, which I'd like to avoid. (not sure how much stuff I'd lose, most should be in iCloud but who knows ^^)

Has anybody experienced something like this and maybe found a solution? Am I missing a setting somewhere?

Thanks for any help!

Edit: this is a wifi only watch, no cellular.

 

[shakopeemn]

Ace - you've tried almost everything. You definitely get an A for trying!

The following is what I had to go through with a cellular connection. Since it doesn't take a great deal of effort, try the steps below even if the watch doesn't have cellular. I was surprised that it yielded success for me.

• Unpair the watch
• Reset / erase the networks on the iphone
• Restart the iphone
• pair the watch using your backup that was created when unpairing

Good luck!

 

[chabig]

Who is your carrier? If AT&T, do you have NumberSync on your account? (That's the service that rings both your phone and your watch when you receive a call)

 

[Ace McLoud]

Who is your carrier? If AT&T, do you have NumberSync on your account? (That's the service that rings both your phone and your watch when you receive a call)

Thanks for the suggestion, but this is not a cellular watch. I've edited the original post. Thanks for taking the time though.

 

[waw74]

in the watch app on your phone
look in the phone settings, make sure it's set to mirror iphone

 

[Ace McLoud]

Ace - you've tried almost everything. You definitely get an A for trying!

The following is what I had to go through with a cellular connection. Since it doesn't take a great deal of effort, try the steps below even if the watch doesn't have cellular. I was surprised that it yielded success for me.

• Unpair the watch
• Reset / erase the networks on the iphone
• Restart the iphone
• pair the watch using your backup that was created when unpairing

Good luck!

Wow, thanks, that did the trick. In hindsight, deleting the network settings should probably be one of the first steps to try, certainly faster than resetting and restoring from backup. Thanks again!

 

[tops2]

Please report back if the problem comes back.

Since iOS 14.4, phone calls and other notification randomly don't work for me. I seems to get notification when voicemail is left..but the phone doesn't even ring and no notification on any iOS devices. I have problems with not getting the bedtime/morning alarms too.

This morning I just did the "Reset All Settings". Crossing my finger this will work.. lol