Apple Watch Missing Developer Mode Option

So what worked is, turn off your iPhone > turn on > plug iPhone into MacBook > Trust > On Watch: Settings > Developer > Enable all

nvm I still have issues, I'm trying to unpair to see

So, I've fixed it by unpairing and repairing but it isn't straight forward. It takes time, random even.

I was also having the issue where my watch was not showing up in the list of devices, nor did I have an option to enable developer mode. I followed @Igor-ribeiro-dev's advice, but with some modifications:

1. Unplug the iPhone from Mac
2. Unpair the iPhone from Xcode
3. **On iPhone, clear all trusted computers (Settings > Developer > Clear Trusted Computers)
4. Disable developer mode on iPhone
5. Enable developer mode and restart the iPhone
6. **Quit out of Xcode
7. Plug in iPhone via USB cable, and Trust computer
8. **Open Xcode, and try to run app on iPhone, at which point iPhone will prompt you to trust computer again, so do it.
9. Xcode should also detect your watch
10. Enable developer mode on watch
11. Run app on the watch.

I think the issue I was having was when I was plugging my iPhone into my Mac, I also had Xcode open, and so both "trust" messages weren't getting through, because I didn't have time to respond to the first one (entering my PIN) before the second one would pop up. By waiting to open Xcode until after I trusted the computer initially, things seemed to work fine for me. Hope that's helpful for anyone else that might be struggling with this.

My solution was to make an IOS->watch app, install it on the iPhone and from the iPhone watch app install the application on the watch, when I run it on the watch it tells me that to do this I need to have developer mode and now is when Appreciate the developer button on the watch.

-- Develop and hello worlds IOS with watch target -- Install on Iphone -- Open watch app on iphone -- Install watch app on list of watch app (iphone app) -- Execute app on watch -- Appear message... you need to be a dev mode on watch 8'''( -- NOW you can SEE a new button dev mode on watch on setting-> privacy-> DEV MODE!!!

Here is my path to enable developer mode on the Watch, inspired by @tyxop's reply.

My specific issue: Xcode Version 15.3 did not show Apple Watch in Devices and Simulators. It only showed my iPhone 14 Pro, running iOS 17.4.1, but not my Apple Watch Series 9 with watchOS 10.4. This was on a MacBook Air M3 with macOS 14.4.1.

After trying many options listed in this thread, the watch finally showed up in Xcode. Still, I never reinstalled Xcode or unpaired Watch from Phone. Below is what I did and it might be related to the Watch finally showing up:

What did not work: I connected phone via USB, disconnected USB and then unpaired from XCode Devices and paired it again. It did so several times with restarts of Xcode and also switching Developer Mode on iPhone off and on, rebooting MacOS as well. Watch did not show up, nor did I get any trust-this-device query on the Watch, only on the phone. I also dis/enable bluetooth on the Phone, but again, this did not solve my issue. The Watch did not offer the Developer Mode setting in Privacy & Security, also rebooting the Watch in between had no effect.

Finally I created an SampleApp in Xcode with > new Project >Watch Companion App. As the Watch was not shown, I could only target the iPhone 14 Pro as device. As this was the first dev cycle with the iPhone, Xcode promoted to add it to the Developer account Device List and created automatically provisioning profile and execute that SampleApp on the Phone.

What worked: The SampleApp's Watch companion App was shown on the Watch itself (on the Phone Watch App, it was listed under the available apps section). When starting it on the Watch, a message was shown reading "app cannot be installed because its integrity could not be verified" (text my be a bit different, I did not reproduce it an noted it incompletely). I rebooted the Watch, which took quite long (Xcode still open).

When it came back, I could enable Developer Mode on the Watch (I do not remember Xcode's messages, but I think, the Watch was already shown in the Devices list by that time). After enabling Developer Mode on the Watch, I could target the Apple Watch for running the App and Xcode prompted to also add the Watch to the Developer Account Device List before the App finally executed on the Watch.

I tried everything mentioned on this thread and nothing worked. What worked for me was the following steps:

1. Shutdown Xcode.
2. Disconnect iPhone from your Mac.
3. On your iPhone, go to Developer and tap on Clear Trusted Computers.
4. Power down iPhone.
5. Power down Apple Watch.
6. Restart iPhone.
7. Restart Apple Watch.
8. Start up Xcode. Don't open your project just yet.
9. Attach phone to your Mac.
10. Xcode -> Windows -> Devices & Simulators.
11. There should be a banner across the top of the D&S window indicating that the phone and/or phone and watch is/are getting ready for development. Wait for that to complete.
12. When complete, open your project and run on the watch.

I hope this helps and happy coding!

I tried many of the solutions here. What worked for me was unpairing the watch from iPhone and pairing it again, before connect iPhone to Xcode fresh new with a cable.

I tried literally EVERYTHING listed here and nothing worked. Apple PLEASE do something with it, this is ridiculous. Why on earth do you have such complicated and NOT documented logic for this. Its quite logical that i might want to turn on dev mode on apple watch if my iphone already has dev mode

Im really getting annoyed, ive tried basically every sequence in this thread. Pairing and unpairing the watch and phone, restarting, resetting the watch and setting it up as a new watch but nothing works and I cannot continue working on a pretty important project because of it

I have resolved! 🥳🥳 I have created two sample watchOS apps, tried multiple times to install them from (iPhone's watch app). Restarted the watch 5+ times. Restarted iPhone several times. It does not worked. Then I have deleted both sample apps. Then restarted iPhone and watch (the one app automatically uninstalled, while second sample app still exists in the watch).

Finally, got some break time and prayed to God. In the next try, Xcode detected my watch and "developer mode" appeared in the settings!

I have used @tyxop @ahenqs comments. Thanks guys!

I have Xcode 15.4 MacOS 14.4.1 WatchOS 10.5 Phone 17.4.1

and still my Xcode don't show my apple watch and in my apple watch I don't have "developers mode" option. I have tried everything above and cannot continue with my project... Did anyone find a solution for that? :(

I was running into the same thing. Here's the exact sequence of steps that got it working for me.

1. Connect your phone to your Mac and open XCode
2. Go to manage run destinations, and unpair the phone, but don't tap on "Trust this computer" or anything else
3. Unplug the phone from the Mac
4. Go to Settings -> Privacy and turn off Developer Mode
5. Restart the phone
6. Plug the phone back in to your Mac
7. Go to Settings -> Private and turn on Developer Mode (which will trigger yet another restart)
8. Xcode should see your device now, and it should also show your watch as a disconnected device once it's done preparing your phone for development. DO NOT CLICK ON YOUR WATCH IN RUN DESTINATIONS
9. On your watch go to Settings -> Privacy and scroll to the bottom. The mysterious Developer Mode should show up now
10. Tap on it, and then turn it on. This will trigger a restart of your watch
11. Once your watch has restarted make sure to look at it so it triggers the "Are you sure you want to turn on developer mode?" question. Say yes
12. NOW click on your watch in Xcode Run Destinations. This will trigger it to prepare the device and download the run symbols

If that doesn't work for you, then I apologize, but it's what got me finally up and running with it after a full day of futzing around 9)

for me enabling developer mode appeared - without having to run all the steps in the post above - on the watch after unpairing the watch, connecting iPhone by cable (not wireless) and seeing the watch appear. Clicking on it gave me the "enable developer mode" message on the watch, which magically appeared in the watches' settings.

I assume the "wired" connection between Mac and iPhone made the trick.

The watch connected fine, but needed some patience to resolve a transport error listed on the watch screen in Xcode to be resolved, to get the final screen in xCode.

[Xcode 16 b3, iOS 18b3, watchOS 11b3 and MacOS 15b3 - Xcode 16b3]

After wasting a day trying I finally succeeded, first to get Xcode to acknowledge that my watch existed and then to get into Developer mode. Most of the suggestions above will get you there in the end but there is something that needs clarifying. There is a "Developer" button that shows up at the bottom of the Settings screen. Tap that and toggle either or both switches in this screen. Then a "Developer" button shows up at the bottom of the Privacy & Security screen from which you can go through the setup process. Whoever thought this user experience was ready for release needs some remedial training. Xcode 15.4 on M1 MacBook Air