iPhone is busy: Making Apple Watch ready for development

Since I upgraded to iOS 15, watchOS 8 and Xcode 13, after I turned off and on my Mac, every first time I want to launch an app from Xcode to my iPhone appear this message (even if I'm not developing for watchOS):

iPhone is busy: Making Apple Watch ready for development

The Mac stays stuck on it for at least 20 minutes.

The only solution I found (until now) is to switch off WiFi on my Watch.

Is there a better solution?

Hi there,

You might have better luck asking this question over in Apple Support Communities run by Apple Support.

Did you try to reboot the watch ?

If that's not enough, try to unpair the watch from iPhone and pair it again.

Toggling Aeroplane mode also works

Airplane - not working. Thousand time this ******** appear.

Having the same issue on Xcode 13.0, iOS 14.7.1 and WatchOS 7.1, also in trying to debug an iOS app (i.e. I'm not developing for WatchOS). I've restarted the computer, watch and phone, and unpaired / re-paired the phone from Xcode's devices, but can't get it to work consistently (I get stuck on "Making Apple Watch ready for development" maybe every other or every third time I try to launch the app).

Turning the watch off entirely does the trick (as I imagine airplane mode would too), but I'd like for my watch to work as well 😕

Facing this issue since Xcode 13 betas. Disabling Bluetooth in the iPhone temporarily fixes the issue for me.

With the Control Center Bluetooth icon in grey, no need to fully disable it in the Settings app.

I had the same problem, but iOS 15.0.2 / watchOS 8.0.1 no longer causes the problem.

I still have this issue in iOS 15.2 and watchOS 8.2. The issue was never gone.

This issue is driving me nuts. And for me it happens literally every time I plug in my iPhone. Unplug, plug it back in, wait 5 minutes for Xcode to make the watch ready for development. Which then usually (but not always) fails by the way! Plug it back in, and you're just stuck waiting for 5 minutes yet again.

When it fails, I get this error:

Unable to prepare iPhone for development Could not locate the device support files.

But building an app to my iPhone still works 🤷‍♂️

I have time to write here because for the 64789675967589205 time, XCode is trying to make my watch ready for development (for the last 10 minutes). And no: I don't want to run anything on the watch.

Apple, please fix that!

Exact same problem. I'm so sick of it. Apple needs to fix this ASAP.

I face this problem almost every day. I go out to pour myself some tea and when I return, this error goes away. It helps me.

same problem here with Monterey 12.0.1, Xcode 13.1, iPhone 11 Pro on iOS 15.1, Watch 5 with WatchOS 8.1. I can build to an SE with no watch connected but that doesn't help me develop our watch app.

Same here... been having this issue for a month now. Every SINGLE time I try to build on my physical device while my watch is turned on, it happens; even if my watch is two floors up. I have to keep my watch turned off just to get work done efficiently.

I'm running:

  • Xcode Version 13.1
  • Big Sur 11.6.1
  • iPhone X - iOS 15.1
  • Watch Model: NJ3T2LL/A aka Series 1 - WatchOS 4.3.2

Same here. Xcode version 13.1 Big Sur 11.6.1 iPhone 13 Pro Max Watch Model: A2095

Apple, please address this, it's extremely frustrating. Just how many times does it need to make my iPhone ready for development?

iPhone is busy: Making Apple Watch ready for development
 
 
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