Apple Watch (waiting for first unlock) in Xcode

I assume you unlocked the iPhone attached to the Mac.

What do you see in "Devices" window in Xcode when attaching the iPhone (with which the watch is paired) to the Mac through USB ?

Do you see the paired Apple Watch ?

I get this a lot, too. The only way I've found of fixing it is to quit Xcode, reboot the Watch, launch the iOS app manually (not build and deploy) and launch the Watch app manually (by tapping it on the Watch), then restarting Xcode. It occasionally works, but not every time.

It really is ridiculous that these stupid little things get in the way of working. Xcode needs to realise that there is an iPhone with a paired watch connected. There's no reason for "Waiting for first unlock" to appear when your iPhone is plugged in and your Watch is unlocked and paired with your iPhone.

If you get this, can you please try unlocking the watch and then unplugging the paired phone from the Mac and plugging it back in? Would love to know if that helps.

Did you - on you watch - go to settings and enable Developer Mode? https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode/enabling-developer-mode-on-a-device

It has to be done on the watch as well as on the iPhone.

This happens with one of my watches but not the other. On my laptop I can fiddle around with some of the steps mentioned above and eventually get that Watch to make Xcode happy, but when connected to my Mac Studio it never works. Says it's waiting for the first unlock when the Watch is clearly unlocked and usable.

It is really unfortunate what a gigantic step back Xcode 14 has been in terms of watch development. It can be more than 30 minutes for Xcode to finish loading metadata and all the rest, only to get stuck with "waiting for first unlock". Yes, developer mode is enabled, yes both phone and watch are unlocked, no plugging and un-plugging doesn't work.

For all of you suffering with this issue, I'll share a workaround which is good if you don't need to check output from the Watch device on the Xcode debugger console and the watch App is setup as an extension (not standalone).

• First, delete your Watch app from the Watch
• Build and Run the app to the Phone (not the Watch)
• When the Phone app is installed, go to the Watch app (the official Apple Watch app where you can change the Watch Faces)
• Scroll all the way to the bottom, there you should see your Watch app as "Available" to install, hit that Install button
• This will also take a little bit to complete, BUT it will be much faster than waiting for Xcode 14!

At the end you will have your Watch app installed on the Watch and the debugger attached to the Phone. That might be enough for some people. It was enough on my case, I was testing some UserInfo Transfer and could see the requests arriving on the Phone side and into the Xcode debugger console.

I hope that helps someone!

I get this very frequently as well. It seems like the Watch → iPhone → Xcode connection chain is incredibly flimsy. I've yet to find an incantation (short of reboot everything) that reliably solves it.

I have found this is much worse when using a USB hub rather than a direct UISB cable to connect the iPhone.

Using iOS 16.0 on iPhone 13 Pro and WatchOS 9.0.2 on Apple Watch 7 Xcode 14.0.1

I was having similar issue waiting for first unlock. Developer mode enabled on both phone and watch. Tried all the recommendations to no avail. Finally disabled and then enabled developer mode on the phone (which required a phone re-boot). I was then able to test on the watch (waiting for first unlock warning disappeared)

This is beyond ridiculous. It is impossible to work on apps for Apple Watch. I've been rebooting everything for two days and it still doesn't work.

I have found the following to work: from your phone, remove the watch app by toggling the "show on watch". If you have a watch only app, delete the app from the watch.

That's it, you should now be able to install and launch the watch app from Xcode.

I upgraded to Mac OS Ventura 13.0.1 today and it seems to have fixed the "first unlock" issue i.e. Xcode can now see my watch thru my phone without me doing a bunch of stuff randomly. Yay!

Same problem here. This is completely ridiculous and makes it impossible to develop watch apps on Xcode 14.

This is like 9 version of watchOS, and literally not a single one allowed development on real device. Number of disconnects, deletions, cache clear, pairing unparing required AND ADVISED by APPLE!!! its insane. I am really scared what will happen once they actually ditch ports, we will be completely screwed.

I ran into this problem and other while building a watch app. Developing watch apps in XCode 14 using a physical device is now extremely difficult. All solutions above partially working, you need to experiment.

It feels to me like every year advances are promised in improving watch app build, installing & debugging with Xcode. Sadly these fixes and changes seem to either not do that or introduce other errors. Having an Apple Watch Series 6 & Newer or SE 2 is a good start because they have the dual band wifi chip needed to work with networks at 5GHz, debugging over Bluetooth is pointless. Using Xcode 14 is probably the best debugging experience I've had over the Apple Watch lifetime, but the standard is so low its not saying much. Once I have app building and debugging working I can do endless app builds to the watch without issue in one session. But its just getting it working initially thats the issue. Problems such as:

• Copying Watch debug symbols
• Saying Developer mode not enabled on watch when it is
• Getting a random failed to install WatchKit app on Xcode with no further details
• No paired Apple Watch even being listed for an iPhone that definitely has one

You get this idea....

Just wasted 3 hours and counting on this. Developing for Apple Watch is turning into a bigger and bigger waste of time with every version of Xcode because certain things are not available in the simulator (like file transfers for some dumb reason), and each build on the physical watch seems to take hours.

• My watch shows it is connected to the phone
• "Devices & Simulators" in Xcode show both my phone and watch as ready
• But the main Xcode window won't change from "Apple Watch (waiting for first unlock)." It randomly seems to work every hour or so after reconnects and restarts.

Hardware:

• iPhone 12 Pro Max
• Apple Watch Ultra

This has been one of the crappiest, most frustrating developer experiences I've ever had. And I've been developing for the ecosystem since the days before ARC.

Getting the same error on Apple Watch SE and iPhone 14 Pro.

Seeing the same error "(waiting for first unlock)" on an iPhone 12 mini, with an Apple Watch Series 7. Phone is connected via USB-C cable directly to the Mac, no hub.

Xcode 14.2, iOS 16.2, watchOS 9.2

This is my first attempt at watchOS development (years of Xcode experience in macOS/iOS) and I've tried all the workarounds, restarted everything. Not sure where to go next - kind of a bummer.

Unfortunatly updating to iOS 16.3 and WatchOS 9.3 didn't help. Still 'waiting for first unlock'. Hope there will be an Xcode update soon that will resolve this problem. I cannot test watchOS apps on my watch (only the simulator works).

I ran into this problem as well. Here is what I found that helps me fix this issue.

1. Make you your iphone and apple watch are unlocked
2. Connect your iphone to your Mac
3. Open Xcode

It is important that Xcode is not opened before (1) and (2). This is just from me experience, I have no other explanations....

Hope it might help.

I continue to experience this all the time.. I reboot everything...MacBook, iPhone, watch and every so often deployment works and, more often than not, it fails (waiting for connection/unlock). Really poor. How do people manage with this?

After many many tries with above solutions, I finally had success with:

Apple Watch > Settings > Bluetooth off/on

and the error was gone!

At least in my case ;-)

I was able to get Developer Mode option in Privacy&Settings following these steps (watchOS 9.3):

1. I turned on developer mode on my iPhone
2. I tried to run watchOS app from Xcode on my watch although it said its unavailable
3. I turned off developer mode on my iPhone and they turned it back on
4. Tried to run app watchOS app from Xcode again on my watch, this time I got error massage that I need to turn on developer mode
5. I went back to Privacy&Settings on my watch I Developer Mode appeared on the bottom

Hope this helps!