Apple Watch not showing in XCode

I got a new MacBook and set it up as a new one, not transferring any data from the old one.

But now the Apple Watch (Series 6) paired with my iPhone (14 Pro Max) ist not shown in Xcode.

iPhone and Watch are using the latest RC and also Xcode is the latest RC. But in Xcode I ca only see my iPhone, not the paired Watch.

See Screenshots. The first shows the new MacBook and the second the old one.

I already tried a lot, but nothing helps:

  • Unpair Watch from Phone and then pair it again
  • Plug the iPhone to different USB ports
  • Restart Watch, iPhone and Mac
  • Delete the iPhone from Xcode
  • Enable and disable Developer Mode on iPhone and Watch

What else can I try to get the Watch back?

Post not yet marked as solved Up vote post of Urkman Down vote post of Urkman
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I noticed this behavior as well after upgrading to watchos 10.4

The only solution I've found is to erase the watch and restore it. That will allow it to connect ONCE to xcode. If you unpair the watch from xcode, it will never again show in the list, despite anything you might try, except for restoring the watch again.

  • I tried restoring a backup and it didn't work. But maybe by not restoring a backup then it works.

  • In my case, nothing works; even erasing and setting up the Watch as a new device doesn't appear in Xcode. Everything got messed up with the latest updates.

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Same issue. No idea how to fix. Here is what I tried:

  1. Unpair iphone
  2. Quit xcode
  3. Reset apple watch and pair to iphone as new
  4. Disable and re-enable dev mode on iphone
  5. Follow the instruction here https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/733153
  6. Started xcode again, still I only see iphone. No apple watch.

I have encountered the same dilemma, having exhausted various attempts to no avail.

Same issue, tried every searched solution.

Same issue, nothing works.

Post not yet marked as solved Up vote reply of tspe Down vote reply of tspe

I am experiencing this problem too. Xcode 15.2 and 15.3 tried. WatchOS 10.4.

Tried everything. Nothing works :)

Same issue. Xcode 15.3. Watch OS 10.4 :(

The same thing is happening to me, I've spent 2 full days trying just about everything to try and get it to connect before I found this page. I'm going to try updating to iOS 17.5 beta and watchOS 10.5 beta to see if it helps at all.

Same issue. Xcode 15.3 (tried downloading 15.2 as well, no luck). watchOS 10.4.

Here's how I got into this state: Xcode would never be able to build to my watch, so I figured I'd try and unpair the Watch from the devices list in Xcode and then pair it again. Should probably never have done that, because even after unpairing the Watch from my iPhone and resetting it, turning on and off developer mode, cleaning out all sorts of caches... I've tried everything and it never shows up anywhere. It's not even listed when using xcrun devicectl list devices. It's now taken about 24 hours of dev time away from me, which is unacceptable for something this basic.

I have tried with the recently launched Xcode 14.4 beta, but still not working. This is so broken

I was able to fix the problem for my two Apple Watches (Series 3 and 4!). I didn't see my paired Apple Watches in Xcode 15.3. As I'm new to watchOS development, I don't know if the problem would already occur for earlier versions.

To make Xcode show my watches in the "Devices and Simulator" I did the following steps: (I don't know if all of them are really necessary)

  • disconnecting iPhone from the Mac (=no cable)
  • unpair the iPhone from Xcode
  • unpaired both watches from the iPhone (=basically erasing them)
  • disabling "Developer Mode" (in "Privacy & Security" settings) on the iPhone
  • execute "Clear trusted computers" from the iPhones "Developer" setting
  • restart the iPhone and Mac
  • pair the watch with the iPhone (this takes a while!)
  • make sure Xcode is not running on the Mac
  • connect the iPhone using a cable to the Mac
  • choose "Trust" when asked by your iPhone to "Trust This Computer?" and confirm by entering your PIN
  • go to the Finder, choose your iPhone in the sidebar and do the same thing: choose "Trust" to establish a connection
  • start Xcode and open the "Devices and Simulator" window, where you will see your iPhone and its paired Apple Watch.
  • again, you will have to establish "Trust" by confirming the connection on your iPhone and watch
  • finally, to be able to fully connect to your phone & watch, you will have to re-enable "Developer Mode" (in "Privacy & Security" settings) for both, the iPhone and the watch, and restart the devices.
  • now you should be able to fully access the devices in Xcode 15.3 even without a cable connected between your Mac and iPhone.

PS: If you have a Apple Watch Series 3 and 4 (as I do), you might perhaps struggle if the Mac, iPhone and watch are not connected to the same 2GHz WLAN... Make sure they are all connected to the same network.

  • Just an additional note from me: Even though I can now see the watch, there is no reliable connection from Xcode to the watch. Some times I cannot deploy an app to the watch due to "Transport error". Sometimes the deployment works, but the debugger cannot attach... or while the app has started, suddenly the debugger disconnects. So far this is still a really unpleasant development journey...

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Here is something that worked for me:

  • Disable developer mode on iPhone and re-enable it (this will restart the iPhone)
  • Once the iPhone is back up, restart the Apple Watch
  • Then I was able to access Developer Mode on the Apple Watch (under Settings -> Privacy & Security) and enable it (this restarts the watch)
  • Restart the Mac
  • Connect the iPhone to the Mac via USB
  • Open Xcode and now I can see the Apple Watch listed
  • Ah this finally worked and I did not have to unpair the watch from the iPhone. It seems like the key is to disable developer mode on the iPhone and then restart both devices. Now my watch is back in the list of my devices. And it seems like this has also fixed the other issue that Xcode is unable to connect to the watch: https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/734694?page=2

  • This worked for me. Thank you so much!

  • This didn't get me developer mode, but it made the privacy report button work now. So I guess that's progress.

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Some progress. Either waiting a couple of minutes or using the cable for the phone got it to show on Xcode. Hopefully the Transport Error thing will pass now.