Fossil watch won’t pair with a new phone? Don’t worry. Your new phone isn’t necessarily faulty. In fact, the chances are that the WearOS app is to blame and that you’ll be able to fix the issue by following a few simple steps.
It seems to be a common issue that plenty of people have experienced before. So, we are here to help you solve it.
And with all that said, let us get right into it!
Contents
Related reading:
- How to clear the cache on Fossil Gen5 or Gen6 Wear OS smartwatch
- Fossil Wear OS smartwatch not receiving texts or notifications? How to fix it
- WearOS Fossil Gen 5, 6, or Sport black screen and won’t turn on? Fix it now
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Fossil Watch won’t pair with a new Phone? Try rebooting it
As we mentioned above, it’s not necessarily the phone itself or the watch that’s at fault. The chances are that your phone’s operating system, WearOS app or the Fossil app, or both are not working as intended.
If your Fossil watch runs WearOS 3+ like the Gen 6, you’ll use the Fossil app to manage it. Currently, you can pair the Fossil Gen 6 Wear OS 3 watch to an Android or an iPhone–it’s one of the only WearOS 3 watches that works on iPhones.
All older Fossil smartwatches, such as the Gen 5 or 4, use the WearOS app for Android or iPhone to manage your watch.
Sometimes, an easy way to get around such issues is simply turning your phone off and on. And while the exact process can differ from device to device, more often than not, all you have to do is:
- Hold down the power button or for iPhone, the power button and volume up buttons.
- For iPhone, slide to power off. For Android, select “Restart” or “Reboot” and confirm
- Wait until your phone reboots.
- Then try pairing the watch again.
This requires nothing more than the press of a button. So, worst-case scenario, you lose a minute of your life while waiting for the phone to boot up again.
And if it doesn’t work, move on to the next possible solution.
Factory Reset your Fossil Watch
Another common solution is performing a factory reset on the Fossil Watch and then replacing it with your new phone.
This is going to delete all of your watch’s settings and preferences – which means that you’ll have to set up everything again from scratch. But, hey, if that makes your watch work once again, we’d say that’s a small price to pay.
To perform a factory reset on Fossil watches:
- Go to your Settings through the app menu and choose System.
- Tap Disconnect & Reset and confirm.
- Go to your phone’s Bluetooth settings.
- Select your watch.
- Remove it from the list of Bluetooth devices (either by “Remove,” “Forget This Device,” or anything similar.)
- Then pair your watch with the phone as you did at the beginning.
If it doesn’t work the first time, try it again. There have been plenty of reports from users that they had to do it three times or even more before their watch decided to work normally again.
Fossil Watch won’t pair with your new Phone? Maybe you are doing it wrong
Everything we’ve mentioned until now was assuming that you are doing everything correctly and that your app or OS is bugged.
However, there is also a chance that you are the one who’s doing something wrong and that the watch/app/OS is all working just fine.
So, here are some things that you may have missed.
1: WearOS or the Fossil app needs to have the appropriate permissions
Smartwatches are very intrusive by design. Smartwatch apps generally ask permission to access calls, notifications, location, recording, text messages, calls, and many other things.
Not granting one of these permissions may render your watch unusable until you give it access again.
So, if you think you accidentally or purposefully refused to give the required permission to your watch through the WearOS or Fossil app, you’ll then have to go back to your phone’s settings and give the app access to whatever it needs.
The exact process can slightly differ depending on the phone that you are using. To do it on stock Android:
On your phone, go to Settings > Apps > See all apps > Wear OS or Fossil app> Permissions. Then give it access to everything it needs.
If you can’t find the permissions through the same steps we showcased above. This means that you are on a different Android version or skin. So, just Google “How to change app permissions on (your device).”
2: Make sure that Bluetooth is enabled
Smartwatches, including Fossil, need Bluetooth connectivity to communicate with a smartphone. Otherwise, they just aren’t going to work to their full potential.
WearOS should prompt you to enable Bluetooth if it’s disabled.
But, if it doesn’t, you can enable it on an Apple device via Settings > Bluetooth or on Android by going to Settings > Connected Devices > scroll down to Connection preferences > Bluetooth > On.
Of course, activating it through the taskbar’s Quick Settings or Control Center is always available. And the same goes for iPhones. But, again, you’ll have a rough time making WearOS work with an iOS device.
3: Other Possible Mistakes
- You need the latest WearOS or Fossil app. Make sure it’s installed, or the watch won’t pair/work properly
- Make sure that the watch is within a reasonable distance of your smartphone. Bluetooth can’t reach very far, so the watch won’t be able to pair if it’s out of range
- The watch may still be paired with your old phone. Unpair it or turn the old phone off, then try pairing it with your new smartphone again
- Your watch is out of battery. Make sure that it is charged
Is your Fossil smartwatch not pairing with your iPhone?
Unfortunately, if you are on an iPhone, the WearOS app on iOS is a mess with nothing but bugs. And it rarely ever seems to work as it should.
So, in that case, it’s not you – it’s the app.
Try these steps to get your Fossil wearOS smartwatch pairing to your iPhone
- Uninstall the wearOS app.
- Turn Bluetooth off, then turn your iPhone off. Wait 20-30 seconds, then power back up.
- Open the App Store and reinstall the wearOS app.
- After installing the app, turn Bluetooth back on.
- Open Settings > Wear OS and make sure you allow the app to background app refresh.
- Open the wearOS app and keep it open as you try to connect your watch. Do not close the app or open another app and let it run in the background.
If these steps don’t work, factory reset your Fossil via Settings > System > Disconnect & Reset. Then repeat these steps.
Summary
And that’s about it for now. Hopefully, this guide helped you solve the problem.
If not, give us a few more details in the comments, and the MyHealthyApple team may be able to help you or reach out to Fossil tech support for the best advice.
I have a Carlyle HR and my wife has a Fossil Julianna HR Smartwatch.
We have upgraded to Iphone 15 and 15 PRO. Neither one will pair with our watches.
I have followed all steps as they have been instructed. I have reset to factory setting on my PRO. The phone and watchs show the number for pairing but responds Couldn’t connect with Carlyle HR 0448 (the device name).
Hi Robert,
Sorry your Fossil watches aren’t pairing with your iPhones. You mention you factory reset the Pro–was that the watch or the phone? You shouldn’t need to reset your phone–just the watch.
Before you reset, look at your iPhone’s Bluetooth Settings for the watch. If you see it listed at all in any place (shows as Connected or Not Connected) tap it and choose to Forget This Device.
Then, follow these steps:
1. Disconnect and reset the watch.
2. Delete the Wear OS app from your iPhone.
4. Shut down your iPhone, wait 30 seconds, then turn it on again.
5. Open the App Store, and reinstall Wear OS App.
6. Once installed, open Settings > Wear OS and make sure Bluetooth and Background App Refresh are enabled.
7. If you have any other Bluetooth devices nearby (like smart speakers, headphones, or other smart watches) turn them off or move them away so they are out of range.
8. Open the Wear OS app and start pairing process again
Another thing to try is installing the Fossil Watch app and see if it helps your watch connect using the Wear OS app. Even though the Gen 5 watches aren’t set-up using this app, it might help get things working.
Hope something here helps!
Amanda
Sorry, the phone is the 13 Pro Max, fully updated.
I have an iphone 12 Plus, and for some reason it would not connect this morning. So after all the above suggestions, the one that worked was to disconnect and reset your watch then pair them again. Thx!!
HI Conrad,
Thank you for letting us know what worked for your Fossil watch and iPhone! Gathering this type of info helps us create better content and tips for everyone.
Cheers,
Amanda
My Moxie android phone will not support wear os app, anything else I can use as watch was very expensive!
An outstanding share! I have just forwarded this onto a coworker who was conducting a little homework on this. And he actually bought me dinner because I stumbled upon it for him… lol. So allow me to reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending some time to discuss this topic here on your site.
Fossil Julianna HR 2679 connected to my iPhone 8 fine.
I upgraded to iPhone 12 and it worked for a couple of months and then abruptly stopped connecting.
I spent weeks looking for an answer. I sent it to Fossil. They sent it back saying it was fine.
Have let it sit for about 4 months hoping an update for IOS or Wear OS would fix something. Just tried again. It gets all the way to Pair and then gives me the message – make sure watch and phone are close together, forget the watch in Bluetooth (it hasn’t been there for months), toggle Bluetooth off and on. I’ve done this about 50 times (at least). So disappointed. Any thoughts?
Hi Bre,
Oh, that sounds awful! First make sure that your iPhone’s BT list does not show your watch–if it does, tap it and choose to forget it. Then, move on to the next suggestion:
Have you deleted the wearOS app altogether from your iPhone 12 and then reinstalled it? Press and hold the app and choose Remove. Then turn off Bluetooth and power off your iPhone. Let your phone sit for 20 seconds, then power back up. Open the App Store and download wearOS again. Once installed, restart your iPhone again. Open the wearOS app and try connecting to your Fossil watch–it should show a message that it needs to turn on Bluetooth.
If it still doesn’t work, factory reset your Fossil watch, then run through those steps again. To reset, on the watch open Settings > System > Disconnect & reset.
I have a fossil sport and I’m trying to connect it to a new phone (a moto one, running Android 10). I have done the “disconnect and reset” on my watch multiple times and it won’t finish connecting. It finds the watch in the Wear OS app, the codes match, and they pair, but after a few minutes of ‘setting up my watch’ it says that it “couldn’t update watch” try again.
I have tried uninstalling the app, going it an granting it all permissions, clearing the cache, restarting phone and watch all multiple times and it still does the same thing. Help!
Restart you phone. its the only way i can get it to setup.