Can I Pair My Apple Watch to a Jailbroken iPhone?

Several users have send emails asking the most obvious questions around Apple Watch and a jailbroken iPhone.

Does the Apple Watch work with a Jailbroken iPhone?

The short answer is Yes as long as you can put up with some minor annoyances.

Folks that have a jailbroken iPhone 6 and higher have noticed that the Apple Watch works flawlessly on their jailbroken phone.

Problems were seen when users with older devices tried to use it with the Apple Watch. Some of these users decided to take the moto 360 route, and that is unfortunate.

If you remember clearly, Apple only bundles the built-in Watch app in iOS 8.2 and later. Without the app installed on your iPhone, you cannot do anything with the Apple Watch.

Detected Issues

Several users reported trouble in pairing their Apple Watch with the iPhone running iOS 8.3 that have Cydia installed. It will be less complicated when your Watch is running watchOS 1.1 and iPhone using iOS 8.4.

As a result, we high recommend updating to iOS 8.4 first and then jailbreak, this way it will provide a code to pair the two devices manually.

We also noticed the error message such as “Phone out of date.” If you are encountering these messages on your jailbroken iPhone, it is easy to fix since these are related to firmware version. Remember, if you update your watch to watchOS 2 or 3, you will need to upgrade your iPhone to iOS 9 as well for the pairing to work.

Here’s a simple rule to keep in mind:

• iOS 8.4 goes with watchOS 1.1
  iOS 9 or higher works with watchOS 2 / 3

There is no easy way to downgrade WatchOS on the Watch without taking it to the Apple Store, and we are not sure if they do that anymore.

It is particularly important to remember this when you are buying a used Apple Watch from eBay. Pay particular attention to the watch’s version.

If your jailbroken iPhone is still running iOS 8.4, make sure to get the watch that has not been updated to recent watchOS version (2.0 or higher); otherwise, you are asking for a lot of trouble!

The Correct Way(s) To Pair an Apple Watch with your iPhone

If you recently brought home a brand new Apple Watch and have done all the unboxing. It’s time to start using it.

But before we can do so, there are some steps needed to be taken. This new piece of gadget was designed to work alongside with your iPhone.

To pair an Apple Watch, your iPhone must meet these three requirements:

• Running on iOS 8.2 or later
• Recent iPhone models such as iPhone 5c to the newest iPhone 6s Plus
• Apple Watch app installed (should be on your home screen by default)

There are two ways in which you can easily pair your Apple Watch with an iPhone and in this tutorial, we will show you both methods just in case one doesn’t work as expected on your side.

The most well-known and quickest way to pairing an Apple Watch is through the automatic Camera detection. Apple developed this method as their primary go-to setup procedure so that beginners can quickly start using their Apple Watch right away.

Using the Camera feature

1. Find the Watch app on your home screen and open it (Can’t find it? Click here)
2. Tap on the Start Pairing button
3. Hold Apple Watch to the iPhone’s camera
4. Be sure they align in position as shown
5. The watch will guide you through the rest with their on-screen instructions.

As I mentioned earlier, some people were unsuccessful at pairing their Apple Watch using the camera feature. That’s why there is another option that allows you to do everything by hand.

Doing it Manually

1. Launch the Apple Watch application
2. From the main screen, tap Start Pairing
3. Choose Pair Apple Watch Manually from the bottom of the screen
4. Tap the i icon to see its name
5. Select the name that appears on your Apple Watch app

Then again, finish the setting up process by following the on-screen instructions provided in the Apple Watch app.

There is no way anything could go wrong with either option. Apple has made the pairing process so easy that all you have to do is let the camera of your iPhone detect the Apple Watch screen.