Can’t Update Apple Watch Storage? Find Solutions Here

can't update apple watch storage

Your Apple Watch is a tool to keep you on schedule. It lets you check your phone without physically pulling it out of your pocket. However, you must ensure you have enough space to update its storage. Otherwise, you will be unable to keep everything on your watch.

Fortunately, if you can’t update Apple Watch storage, several simple solutions exist. Here we will take you through the most common solutions to storage update issues.

Why Isn’t My Apple Watch Updating?

If you are trying to update your Apple Watch and it is not working, there are a few likely causes. The most likely problem is you do not have enough space on your watch for the update. If that is the case, you will need to delete enough files to make room for the update.

It is also possible that the connection between your Apple Watch and iPhone has failed, or your Apple Watch does not support the update entirely. If those are your problems, you will need to repair the connection. Otherwise, you might just have an Apple Watch that is too old for the update.

Finally, if the battery on your Apple Watch is low, it will not update. Plug your watch into a power source to update it.

How Do I Update My Apple Watch When It Says Not Enough Space?

If your Apple Watch does not have enough space to update, there are a few solutions. Here we will go through the steps you should take to ensure you can update your Apple Watch when it does not have enough space.

Check how much storage you currently use on your Apple Watch

1. Check How Much Storage You Currently Use on Your Apple Watch

You should first check to see how much storage space you have remaining on your Apple Watch. Although you will not use as much storage on your watch as your iPhone, it gets used quickly. As a result, when you cannot update because of storage issues, check to see how much storage space you have left.

2. Follow These Steps to Make More Storage Available on Your Apple Watch

Once you see that you have too little storage space, you should follow our instructions to open up some extra storage space. Do not worry; it should not be challenging to open up storage space so that you can update your Apple Watch.

3. Identify What’s Taking Up So Much Storage on Your Apple Watch

Once you see that you do not have enough storage space for the storage update, identify the source of the problem. Your storage space is not filled with anything but the things you put there. So, go through the things taking up storage on your watch.

You can go to the storage section of your Apple Watch to see which things are occupying the most space. It will sort each app by how much storage they use. So, you can see if you have too many photos or videos on your watch. On the other hand, you may have too many apps entirely. Either way, identify the things you do not need and delete them.

Remove Media from Your Apple Watch

4. Remove Media from Your Apple Watch

Most people will notice that the cause of their storage issues is an excessive number of media files. When we say this, we are referring to photos and videos stored on your Apple Watch. 

While you are not taking photos and videos on your watch, you can store them there after you take them on your iPhone. However, you will quickly run out of storage space if you store too many photos and videos. 

In particular, videos take up a lot of storage space. So, whenever you take a video of fireworks, a baby’s first steps, or something interesting you see walking to work, you will probably be using more than a gigabyte of space. You will quickly run out of space in a few videos like that. 

If you have videos and photos you can live without, delete them. However, if you’d rather save them, you can upload them to your computer. Doing so should not take long if you have iTunes installed on your computer.

5. Delete Downloaded Music from Your Apple Watch Using Your iPhone

If you cannot find enough photos and videos to remove from your Apple Watch, you can move on to music. Each song does not take up a lot of space, but if you have hundreds of songs on your watch, it will take up a lot of space. As a result, you should consider deleting some of the songs you do not listen to that often.

Fortunately, you can delete music from your Apple Watch on your iPhone. When the two devices are connected, you can remove files from your Apple Watch with your iPhone. However, that is not the only way to delete downloaded music from your Apple Watch.

Delete downloaded music from your Apple Watch using your Apple Watch

6. Delete Downloaded Music from Your Apple Watch Using Your Apple Watch

If you do not want to go through the hassle of connecting your phone and watch for the sake of deleting music from your Apple Watch, you can do it from your Apple Watch directly. Go to the music app on your watch, find the songs you do not listen to very often, delete them, and you will have plenty of extra storage for the update.

7. Remove Third-Party Apps from Your Apple Watch

It is common for people to install an unnecessary number of apps on their phones. For example, you might download an app for something one time but never delete the app. Normally this is not a problem, but if you are experiencing storage issues, you will need to delete some of those third-party apps.

Look at the apps you rarely use, delete them, and you will clear up a surprising amount of space on your Apple Watch.

8. Remove Built-In Native Apps from Your Apple Watch

Most of you should have enough space at this point to update the storage on your Apple Watch. However, if you do not have enough space, you will need to clear up storage in other ways. The best thing for you to do after deleting media and music from your watch is to remove unneeded built-in native apps.

Every iPhone and Apple Watch comes with several built-in native apps installed automatically. Some apps are necessary, like the weather app, but many are less useful. For example, not many of us will use the stocks app on a day-to-day basis. As a result, you can remove any unneeded built-in native apps from your Apple Watch to clear up space.

Still can't update your Apple Watch after deleting media and apps? Unpair it, then update

9. Still Can’t Update Your Apple Watch After Deleting Media and Apps? Unpair it, then Update

If you have tried removing media, music, and apps from your watch and it still will not update, you need to unpair your devices. Unpair your watch from your phone, and update it while the devices are unpaired. Wait for the update to complete before pairing them again. Doing so should solve your problems.

Apple Watch Storage Full, but Nothing on it

Sometimes a problem can occur where your Apple Watch says it is full, but nothing is on it. If you encounter this problem, update and restart your iOS and watchOS devices. Delete a few files and apps to force the system to re-index your files. If the problem persists, unpair the devices and pair them again.

Does My iPhone or Apple Watch Recommend Any Apps to Delete That I Haven’t Used Recently?

Although Apple does not give you a list of apps to delete, they do tell you which ones you use the least. Go to General and select iPhone Storage. Here you will find a list of all apps on your Apple Device. They will load in the order of size, with the largest apps at the top of your screen. It will also tell you when you last used the app or if you have never used it. You can delete apps from this section of your device directly.

Is My Apple Watch Too Old to Update

Is My Apple Watch Too Old to Update?

Unfortunately, older Apple Watches cannot accept new updates. For example, if you are updating to WatchOS 8, you must have an Apple Watch Series 3 or later. You must also use an iPhone 6s or newer iOS 14 or later.

How Do I Get More Storage on My Apple Watch?

We discussed this a lot in the sections above, but we’d like to summarize it. If you want more storage on your Apple Watch, there is nothing you can do other than delete files you no longer need. If you do not have enough space, you will need to remove media files, music, and apps to clear up space for incoming updates.

Final Thoughts

You will need to update your Apple Watch storage every once in a while. Unfortunately, the update will not go through if you do not have enough space. If that happens to you, you need to delete things from your watch until you have enough space for the update.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my Apple Watch never have enough storage to update?

Try installing the watchOS update. If you still don’t have enough space on your watch, try removing some apps. Then, go to General > Usage in the Settings app to see how much storage your watch has.

How much storage is needed for the Apple Watch update?

You must have at least 3.0GB of free storage on your Apple Watch to install the watchOS update. You can delete apps to free up storage using the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.

How do I delete apps from my Apple Watch to free up space?

Get rid of apps on your Apple Watch:
1. You can see all your apps on the Home Screen by pressing the Digital Crown.
2. You can view options by holding any app for a few seconds.
3. Click Edit Apps.
4. To remove an app, tap the delete button and then Delete App.
5. To finish, press the Digital Crown.

Is Apple Watch Series 3 too old to update?

The watchOS operating system is not updated for older devices. This contrasts with iOS and macOS, which are updated regularly. A 38mm or 40mm square display and few sensors were the last features of Apple’s old Watch Series 3.