Hi, I’m trying to test an independent watchOS app on an Apple Watch Series 6 Cellular that is set up for a child using Apple Watch For Your Kids (Family Setup). My current environment: Apple Watch Series 6 Cellular watchOS 26.6 The Watch is set up for a child using Apple Watch For Your Kids / Family Setup Xcode 26.6 Parent iPhone running iOS 27.0 Developer Mode is enabled on the parent iPhone The Family Setup Watch does not appear as a development device in Xcode/CoreDevice There is no Developer Mode option visible on the Family Setup Watch For comparison, I also have another Apple Watch used for normal development, and that Watch can be detected by the development environment. The issue appears specific to the child’s Family Setup Watch. I would like to understand the Apple-supported development and testing workflow for this configuration. Specifically: Is an Apple Watch set up using Apple Watch For Your Kids / Family Setup expected to be available as a direct Xcode development device? If direct Xcode deployment is not supported, can an independent watchOS app be installed and tested on a Family Setup Watch through TestFlight? If TestFlight is supported, what is the correct workflow for installing the beta on the child’s Family Setup Watch / child Apple Account? Is there another Apple-supported testing or distribution method developers should use for this scenario? I’m specifically asking about an independent watchOS app that can operate without the parent iPhone nearby, rather than a Watch app that depends on an iPhone companion app. I’d also appreciate clarification on the distinction between direct Xcode development deployment and TestFlight/App Store distribution for Apple Watch For Your Kids. Thank you.

I’m validating the officially supported distribution path for an independent watchOS app. Target device Apple Watch Series 6 GPS + Cellular watchOS 26.6 Configured using Apple Watch For Your Kids / Family Setup The Watch belongs to a child Apple Account Managed from the parent/guardian’s iPhone 11 running iOS 27.0 The child does not have their own iPhone Direct development deployment from Xcode is not available in this configuration on my setup. The Family Setup Watch does not appear as a development destination / CoreDevice device and does not expose Developer Mode. Main question Does TestFlight officially support installing a watchOS-only or independently installable watchOS app onto an Apple Watch configured with Apple Watch For Your Kids / Family Setup? If yes: Is installation initiated from TestFlight on the parent/guardian iPhone that manages the Family Watch? Should the Family Setup Watch appear as an eligible Apple Watch target inside TestFlight? Should the child Apple Account or the parent/guardian Apple Account be added as the TestFlight tester? Are there any additional restrictions or requirements specific to Apple Watch For Your Kids / Family Setup? Is Developer Mode required on the Watch for TestFlight installation? I’m specifically asking about an officially supported TestFlight/App Store Connect distribution path, not Ad Hoc distribution, manual IPA installation, private APIs, or unsupported workarounds. Thank you.

Why doesn't iPhone 13 Pro Max and Watch Series 11 not connect to Xcode 27.0? Something is wrong and I cannot vet the application before submitting for App Store.

Recently I was trying to update my app to detect and support the latest Series 12 and Ultra 4 watches, as there is an element in the app that draws on the corners of the watch, hence corner radiuses must be matched with the device. That is a very small change, and I was still using Xcode 26.6 to build that app, as the app still supports watchOS 8.4 and above for now. However, the binary was rejected with the following in App Store Connect: 90389: Size limit exceeded. The size of the watchOS variant at “/Payload/Pigeon.app” is 105MB, which exceeds the maximum allowable size of 75MB after app thinning. For details about reducing your app’s size, view: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode/reducing-your-app-s-size. Considering that the recent prior builds (the last being from Sep 7) all uploaded and processed fine, with pretty much similar contents and sizes, just minor fixes and minor feature changes for TestFlight users, I don't see why this latest build should be rejected, unless there is a change in how it is calculated under the hood. My prior presumption was that the size limit was calculated based on each architecture slice, so as long as no slices exceed 75MB, it should be alright. (and it appears to be the case for the past years) My guess here is that, since the uploaded binary still contained an armv7k slice, it fails the validation, as perhaps something was changed in the backend to not consider it, but rather to consider as a whole, which resulted in the rejection. The requirement to have a minimum SDK of 27/Xcode 27 only starts on April 2027, so until then, I don't see why there should be a change in this calculation or premature size limitation for app updates that still target watchOS 8. I've tried to recompile the app with an updated minimum OS deployment of watchOS 9 via Xcode 27, which drops armv7k, and sure enough, App Store Connect takes it. I've filed this as FB24807214. I assume it's a bug. Let me know if it isn't. Thank you. PS: Food for thought, its 2026, all watches that supports the latest watchOS 27 comes with 64GB of storage, up from 8/16GB of storage, in 2017, when the watchOS app size limit was last increased from 50MB to 75MB. Maybe its time for a fresh review?

I have filed Feedback Assistant report FB24182480 for this issue. On an Apple Watch Series 6 running watchOS 26.6 (23U67), a TestFlight watchOS app can successfully load a non-consumable StoreKit 2 product from Sandbox and display its localized price. However, a subsequent single call to product.purchase() can fail before, or while, the system confirmation sheet is displayed. The app itself remains alive. It receives StoreKit.StoreKitError.systemError (code 1), with an underlying NSCocoaErrorDomain error 4097, consistent with losing the XPC connection to storekitd. The affected run’s private co-sysdiagnose shows this sequence: storekitd starts processing the payment. The Sandbox purchase request returns HTTP 200. AMSPaymentSheetTask begins. The kernel reports that storekitd exceeded its ActiveSoft 5 MB limit and terminates it as the high-water process. The app receives Cocoa error 4097. A later user-initiated retry was handled by a restarted storekitd process and ended with the same result. There are no overlapping product, entitlement, or purchase operations, and the app does not automatically retry purchase(). The issue is intermittent: in other runs on the same Watch, the Sandbox purchase sheet has appeared successfully. This makes it appear to be a system purchase-service lifecycle or memory-management issue rather than a product-configuration or product-loading issue. Environment: Apple Watch Series 6 (Watch6,4) watchOS 26.6 (23U67) TestFlight build StoreKit 2 Sandbox non-consumable IAP One explicit Buy tap per attempt Has anyone seen storekitd being terminated with a high-water reason during a watchOS purchase flow, or found a supported app-side mitigation for the resulting StoreKit error 1 / Cocoa 4097? I have kept the sysdiagnose and recordings private in Feedback Assistant because they contain account, device, and network information.

In the WWDC 2019 session "Extended Runtime for WatchOS apps" the video talks about an entitlement being required to use the HR sensor judiciously in the background. It provides a link to request the entitlement which no longer works: http://developer.apple.com/contect/request/health-monitoring The session video is also quite hard to find these days. Does anyone know why this is the case? Is the API and entitlement still available? Is there a supported way to run, even periodically, in the background on the Watch app (ignoring the background observer route which is known to be unreliable) and access existing HR sensor data

I'm developing a watchOS app for Watch Ultra 2 that implements water detection using CMSubmersionManager. I would like to make it appear in the Auto-Launch settings menu, but my app is not appearing in the settings (Settings > General > Auto-Launch > When Submerged > Selected App).... What additional steps should I take to make this work? Environment Device: Watch Ultra 2 watchOS: 11.2 Xcode: 16.0 Implementation I have implemented the following as per documentation: Added the Shallow Depth and Pressure capability and Entitlement. Added the "Shallow Depth and Pressure" capability Confirmed entitlement "com.apple.developer.submerged-shallow-depth-and-pressure" was automatically added Note: I initially thought I should use "com.apple.developer.submerged-depth-and-pressure" (without "-shallow") since I'm targeting a maximum depth of 6 meters, but this resulted in compilation errors. ref: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/740083 ref: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/735296 Added NSMotionUsageDescription and WKBackgroundModes <key>NSMotionUsageDescription</key> <string>Required for water detection</string> <key>WKBackgroundModes</key> <array> <string>underwater-depth</string> </array> According to the documentation: "It also adds your app to the list of apps that the system can autolaunch when the wearer submerges the watch." What additional steps are needed to make the app appear in Auto-Launch settings? Has anyone successfully implemented this feature?

I'm developing an app for Apple Watch, but I can't connect the Apple Watch to Xcode when I try to run the app on the actual device. I get the following errors: A networking error occurred The device rejected the connection request and A connection to this device could not be established. Timed out while attempting to establish tunnel using negotiated network parameters. The iPhone connects to Xcode without any problem. I've already tried several things without success: Resetting the "trusted computers" settings and trusting the Mac again Restarting all of the devices Making sure all devices are on the same Wi-Fi network On the iPhone, I can see the Developer Mode toggle in Settings, but on the Apple Watch there doesn't seem to be a Developer Mode toggle at all. I'm wondering whether enabling Developer Mode is required in my case. Could anyone tell me how to enable Developer Mode on Apple Watch, or suggest any other way to resolve this issue? Here is my environment: Mac mini (M1, 2020), macOS Tahoe 26.4.1 Xcode 26.4.1 Apple Watch SE 3, watchOS 26.1 iPhone 13, iOS 26.5 Thanks in advance for any help.

Hi everyone! After about 4-5 months of development, I released WatchBlocks v1.5 today. The project started as an experiment to answer a simple question: Could you build a real sandbox survival game that runs well on Apple Watch? It eventually grew into a cross-platform game supporting Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Some of the technical challenges I enjoyed solving included: Optimizing rendering and gameplay for watchOS. Designing controls around the Digital Crown and the watch display. Building multiplayer across Apple platforms. Creating a content system that lets players make and share their own blocks, items, mobs, and biomes. The new update also transitions the game to a free-to-start model, making it easier for people to try it before deciding whether to unlock the full experience. I’d love to hear from other developers building for watchOS. It’s a platform that doesn’t get much attention for games, but I think there’s a lot of untapped potential. If anyone has questions about developing games for Apple Watch, I’m happy to answer them. App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/watchblocks-craft-build/id6760209351

Summary: When applying a configuration profile that uses allowListedAppBundleIDs to permit a defined set of apps, essential Apple Watch apps are unexpectedly removed from the paired Watch — even though their associated iPhone bundle IDs are explicitly included. This issue occurs with a minimal profile, and has been consistently reproducible on the latest versions of iOS and watchOS. Impact: This behavior severely limits the use of Apple Watch in managed environments (e.g., education, family management, accessibility contexts), where allowlisting is a key control mechanism. It also suggests either: Undocumented internal dependencies between iOS and watchOS apps, or A possible regression in how allowlists interact with Watch integration. Steps to Reproduce: Create a configuration profile with a Restrictions payload containing only the allowListedAppBundleIDs key. Allow a broad list of essential system apps, including all known Apple Watch-related bundle IDs: com.apple.NanoAlarm com.apple.NanoNowPlaying com.apple.NanoOxygenSaturation com.apple.NanoRegistry com.apple.NanoRemote com.apple.NanoSleep com.apple.NanoStopwatch com.apple.NanoWorldClock (All the bundles can be seen in the Attached profile) Install the profile on a supervised or non-supervised iPhone paired with an Apple Watch. Restart both devices. Observe that several core Watch apps (e.g. Heart Rate, Activity, Workout) are missing from the Watch. Expected Behavior: All apps explicitly included in the allowlist should function normally. System apps — especially those tied to hardware like Apple Watch — should remain accessible unless explicitly excluded. Actual Behavior: Multiple Apple Watch system apps are removed or hidden, despite their iPhone bundle IDs being listed in the allowlist. Test Environment: iPhone running iOS 18 Apple Watch running watchOS 11 Profile includes only the allowListedAppBundleIDs key Issue confirmed on fresh devices with no third-party apps Request for Apple Engineering: Please confirm whether additional internal or undocumented bundle IDs are required to preserve Apple Watch functionality when allowlisting apps. If this behavior is unintended, please treat this as a regression or bug affecting key system components. If intentional, please provide formal documentation listing all required bundle IDs for preserving Watch support with allowlisting enabled. Attachment: .mobileconfig profile demonstrating the issue (clean, minimal, reproducible) Attached test profile = https://drive.google.com/file/d/12YknGWuo1bDG-bmzPi0T41H6uHrhDmdR/view?usp=sharing

Xcode 27 Beta 3 / watchOS 27 Beta 3 - Apple Watch won’t show PIN when pairing in Device Hub (Solved) I ran into an issue where my Apple Watch could no longer pair with Xcode after I manually removed it from Device Hub. Environment Xcode 27 Beta 3 macOS Tahoe Beta iOS 27 Beta 3 watchOS 27 Beta 3 Symptoms iPhone appears in Device Hub and is Connected. Apple Watch does not appear in Device Hub. On Apple Watch: Settings → Privacy & Security → Developer Mode → Devices My Mac appears in the list. Tapping the Mac: Enter watch passcode. Tap Pair. Expected: Xcode should display a 6-digit PIN. Actual: Xcode remains on “Waiting to Pair” forever. No PIN is shown. Additional observations Running: xcrun devicectl list devices Only shows the iPhone. The Apple Watch never appears. Also, while reproducing the issue, coredeviced receives no pairing request at all. So it doesn’t look like the pairing challenge is failing—the pairing request never reaches the Mac. Things I tried (none worked) Restarted Mac, iPhone and Apple Watch. Removed pairing from Device Hub. Removed the Mac from Apple Watch Developer Mode → Devices. Turned Developer Mode off/on. Erased and re-paired the Apple Watch with the iPhone. Re-enabled wireless development. None of these solved the issue. Solution What finally worked was surprisingly simple: Completely power off the iPhone. Keep the Apple Watch and Mac powered on. Pair the Apple Watch from Device Hub again. Immediately after the iPhone was powered off, Xcode displayed the pairing PIN and the pairing completed successfully. After the watch was paired, I powered the iPhone back on and everything continued to work normally. My guess It seems the iPhone (the companion device) may be holding a stale developer pairing state after the watch is manually unpaired from Device Hub. With the iPhone powered off, the watch appears to communicate directly with the Mac, allowing the pairing challenge to be created successfully. Hopefully this helps anyone else who gets stuck at “Waiting to Pair” with no PIN appearing.

Hi everyone, After watching WWDC26 and going for a run today, I came up with an idea that I believe could be a natural extension of Apple Intelligence and Apple Watch. This proposal is not intended to replace Custom Workouts. Instead, it focuses on removing the manual setup required to create them by allowing Apple Intelligence to understand workout plans written in natural language. Today, Apple Watch already supports Custom Workouts, but users still have to manually recreate interval workouts. For example: • Walk 5 minutes • Run 1 minute • Walk 1 minute 30 seconds • Repeat 6 times Instead, Apple Intelligence could understand workouts written in natural language and automatically generate a structured Apple Watch workout. This could work from multiple sources: Notes Messages Mail PDFs Screenshots Photos of printed training plans Websites The generated workout could then be reviewed by the user before being saved and synchronized to Apple Watch. Intelligent Haptics I also imagined an optional feature called Intelligent Haptics. Instead of using a single vibration for interval transitions, the watch could communicate through different haptic patterns: Progressive vibration before a running interval starts. Decreasing vibration when an interval ends. Rhythmic vibrations during recovery to help regulate breathing. The goal isn't simply to notify the user—it is to reduce the need to constantly look at the display and allow them to stay focused on the workout. Since Apple Intelligence is becoming a system-wide capability, I think workouts could be understood just like calendar events, reminders or emails. I have already submitted this proposal through Feedback Assistant, but I would love to hear what other developers think. Would this be a feature you would like to see in watchOS? I'm curious to hear how other developers would improve this concept.

I couldn’t find a way to simulate the Apple Watch double-tap gesture in the watchOS Simulator. Is there a keyboard shortcut or another way to trigger it? I’m implementing support for double tap in my app, so being able to test it in the Simulator would be really helpful. If anyone knows whether this is possible, I’d appreciate the help!

Hello, I updated my Apple Watch SE 3 (GPS + Cellular, 44 mm) to watchOS 27 Developer Beta (Build 24R5289n) and noticed what appears to be a change in the Digital Crown behavior. After the update: • A single press of the Digital Crown now shows fewer applications, which seems consistent with the changes announced for watchOS 27. • However, a double press of the Digital Crown no longer opens the App Switcher as it did previously. • As a result, I can no longer access the interface that allowed users to view recent apps and force-close applications by swiping them away. Before updating, double-pressing the Digital Crown opened the App Switcher and provided a way to close running apps. That functionality now appears to be missing. I would like to know whether: This is an intentional design change in watchOS 27. This is a known issue in the current Developer Beta. There is a new gesture or workflow for accessing recent apps and force-closing applications. Device: Apple Watch SE 3 (GPS + Cellular) 44 mm Aluminum Model: MEPJ4LW/A Software: watchOS 27.0 Developer Beta Build: 24R5289n The behavior is reproducible after restarting the watch. Thanks.

Hi Devs, I'm working with WatchOS for the first time and am having a frustrating time with Xcode to Watch, to say the least. I have a Series 9 dev watch and Xcode does not reliably connect to it. Spending 15-20 min per build/run attempt just trying to get xcode to find and connect to the watch. It WILL sometimes recognize and allow a build to run, the issue is I can't tell any reliable way to establish the connection. It drops after every build and leaves me at square zero. Current solution is some amount of force quitting, reconnecting iPhone to USBC, disconnecting watch to wifi and back on. Devices Window usually reads: Previous preparation error: A connection to this device could not be established.; Timed out while attempting to establish tunnel using negotiated network parameters - swapping to some attempting to connect state that never (reliably resolves). Is this why no one builds for WatchOS? Hoping someone has pro tips on this.

Environment: MacBook Air M4 macOS 27 Golden Gate Beta Xcode 27 Beta iPhone running iOS 27 Beta Apple Watch paired to the iPhone Steps to Reproduce: Install macOS 27 Beta and Xcode 27 Beta. Pair an Apple Watch with an iPhone running iOS 27 Beta. Enable Developer Mode on the iPhone. Connect the iPhone to the Mac and launch Xcode. Open Window → Devices and Simulators. Attempt to locate the paired Apple Watch or enable Developer Mode on the watch. Expected Result: The paired Apple Watch appears in Xcode for development purposes. A Developer Mode option is available on the Apple Watch. Xcode is able to recognize and communicate with the watch through the paired iPhone. Actual Result: The Apple Watch does not appear in Xcode. No Developer Mode option is visible on the watch. The iPhone is successfully paired and running iOS 27 Beta, but the watch remains unavailable for development workflows. Additional Notes: The iPhone and Apple Watch are already paired and functioning normally. Developer Mode is enabled on the iPhone. Restarting devices and reconnecting the iPhone did not resolve the issue. Unsure whether this is a limitation of the current beta builds or a regression in Xcode/watchOS development tooling.

I have a app that has both mobile and watch versions. Recently some testers report that the watch app could not be launched if the put the app in the background and then resume. And if they kill the app and try to launch again, there is no any response when tapping the app icon. I managed to export some system logs, and this info in the screenshot looks suspicious. Does anyone have the same issue? Recently the app has been transferred to another developer account, not sure if it is related, this TestFlight version was rebuilt with the new team

The process of copying shared cache symbols from my Apple Watch has been horrendous. I cannot even get past 2% complete before this process fails. Every device is on the same network. I have trusted my machine. Developer mode is enabled on the watch. I have successfully paired the phone and watch. I managed to install an Watch app onto the watch. But the shared cache symbols were never copied from the watch. I gathered several commands at the terminal to help me. rm -rf ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData rm -rf ~/Library/Developer/CoreDevice sudo killall -9 remoted CoreDeviceService 2>/dev/null || true xcrun devicectl manage ddis update xcrun devicectl list devices Clear CoreDevice state. With Xcode quit: rm -rf ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.dt.Xcode Reset Xcode's Local Network permission. tccutil reset Local-Network com.apple.dt.Xcode tccutil reset Bluetooth com.apple.dt.Xcode xcrun devicectl device info hardware --device MY_DEVICE_ID xcrun devicectl list devices ping -c 3 MY_IP_ADDRESS Confirm no VPN/proxy/filter is lurking scutil --nwi ifconfig | grep -E "utun|ipsec|tap|tun" xcrun devicectl device info details --device MY_DEVICE_ID xcrun devicectl manage pair --device MY_DEVICE_ID I keep obtain this type of error: Unable to copy shared cache files Domain: com.apple.dt.deviceprep Code: -33 User Info: { DVTErrorCreationDateKey = "2026-05-20 23:41:00 +0000"; NSLocalizedRecoverySuggestion = ""; "com.apple.dt.DVTCoreDevice.operationName" = dtfetchsymbols; } -- The operation couldn’t be completed. No route to host Domain: NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code: 65 Failure Reason: No route to host -- System Information macOS Version 26.5 (Build 25F71) Xcode 26.5 (24943) (Build 17F42) Timestamp: 2026-05-20T16:41:00-07:00 Does anyone have ideas to help me overcome this nightmare?

I'm making an apple watch game and it's running so smooth and nice while developing but I ran into a showstopping problem that I wouldn't even have noticed until i deleted the app and reinstalled... Every first-run on a freshly installed copy of the game has major frame hitches as it loads assets. Every run after that has ZERO hitches and runs like butter. Even if i install a new version on top of the old one (which is why i never noticed this problem in my almost finished game) it runs smooth. Framerate issues come back if I delete and reinstall. I think it's compiling shaders or caching geometry but I haven't been able to trick it into doing the hard work during non-critical moments in the game. I've tried preloading assets in the main menu, loading at the start of the level, loading and rendering in a tiny part of the screen, rendering behind dialog boxes... it seems no matter what i can only get rid of the frame hitches after the game has been played through once... and I'm going to lose all customers on that first terrible impression even though the game is actually really good and fun when it's running properly... Any suggestions how i can prewarm/precompile the assets to avoid framerate hitches and freezes during gameplay? I thought I was so close to release but I feel this is un-shippable! I can send a link to my test flight build to anyone that wants to see the problem first hand. Also please note that I am artist-forward with a technical lean, but certainly not a real programmer, unfortunately. Jiovanie

I was having some trouble installing app to test on my Apple Watch (Series 9) so I removed it and thought to re-add it. However, after removing it, it no longer shows under my iPhone for me to add it as a possible run destination. I have tried numerous actions: Restart all devices Repair my watch Use hotspot so everything is on the same network Delete and reinstall Xcode None of these actions seem to be working. Does anyone have a way to get my watch to show up?