topic Re: Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch in Apple

Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

LonMum — Thu, 08 May 2025 13:44:41 GMT

I've spent an hour on the phone with O2 and am no nearer to setting up my son's Apple Watch.

We have a new Apple watch (SE + Cellular) bought from Apple, that is not yet linked to a network.

We have an Apple iPhone 12 which pre-exists my O2 account but the full "erase and transfer" procedure has been done on it before we set it up for my son. It has just been connected to O2 today via a physical SIM.

I have a monthly SIM-only plan (100GB)

I have put a £30 spending cap on it.

I have tried to set-up the mobile by using the Watch app > Mobile Service

It tells me "Your O2 account is not eligible to enable mobile service on your Apple Watch."

I've turned the phone off/on, and I've done a network settings reset.

The O2 representative says as far as he can tell, my account should have the ability to do this (direct debit in place, I'm on a monthly tariff, etc).

Any advice gratefully received!

Re: Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

MI5 — Thu, 08 May 2025 13:47:59 GMT

@LonMum

It's not uncommon unfortunately.

It may need a few days for the new contract to be updated on all systems.

Re: Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

LonMum — Thu, 08 May 2025 14:10:33 GMT

Thanks. Very frustrating! I will keep trying.

Re: Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

pgn — Thu, 08 May 2025 15:02:55 GMT

@LonMum wrote:
Thanks. Very frustrating! I will keep trying.

As the guide Apple Watch shared by @MI5 above invariably mentions "contact the Social Media team *here* for help", @LonMum, you may find either of the links just below this post of use - each uses a direct message channel (one in X, one on FB Messenger) which keeps a history of your interactions with the team (using some of the regular X or Facebook "boards" fragments the information and makes it harder to keep track of.

I had a couple of interactions on the public-facing X which "disappeared", presumably deleted by an over-zealous X admin or somesuch. Good luck!

Re: Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

MI5 — Thu, 08 May 2025 15:47:48 GMT

There is a message button on each of the links, It would be inappropriate to post your personal details on the public boards. Common sense, no?

Re: Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

LonMum — Thu, 08 May 2025 15:58:27 GMT

Thanks both, I appreciate your help. I've copied this same message to FB messenger and hopefully someone will be able to figure it out. I'm super fed up -- I have spent so long on this today 😞

Re: Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

pgn — Thu, 08 May 2025 16:00:41 GMT

@MI5 wrote:
There is a message button on each of the links, It would be inappropriate to post your personal details on the public boards. Common sense, no?

Given the number of people who click the links in the Apple Watch guide, which goes to linktr.ee, and then click on the O2 Website or Community buttons near the top... 🤦

The two links I have below go straight into X DMs (envelope icon on regular X) and FB Messenger equivalent.

Easier, no?

Re: Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

MI5 — Thu, 08 May 2025 16:02:07 GMT

@LonMum wrote:
Thanks both, I appreciate your help. I've copied this same message to FB messenger and hopefully someone will be able to figure it out. I'm super fed up -- I have spent so long on this today 😞

You're welcome @LonMum

Re: Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

LonMum — Fri, 09 May 2025 08:35:44 GMT

This morning it allowed me to click the "Set Up Mobile Service" button (it was no longer greyed out like yesterday) but when I clicked it, it immediately told me "Connection Failed - The connection to the server was lost. Please try again later." I tried it a few times and got the same repeatedly.

I tried to do a network settings reset (General> Transfer or Reset iPhone > Transfer> Reset > Reset Network settings) but still got the same 'Connection Failed." I had plenty of signal, the watch was charged and it sitting right next to the device.

A few minutes later, I 'woke' the watch up and while the screen was active, I tried again. I got through a log in screen/code challenge and even managed to select a tariff and accept Ts&Cs. But the next screen was "oops, something went wrong" screen. I tried again and got the same result 3x.

The O2 agent on FB messenger replied as I was doing this and we rebooted both devices and tried doing it with Mobile Data only, and then with Wifi only. No luck.

I turned both Mobile Data and Wifi back on. In Mobile Data I turned Roaming to On and I turned "Limit IP Address Tracking" off. THIS TIME IT WORKED. It could be entirely a coincidence -- the O2 agent could have been squirrelling away doing something in the background that worked, or it could be just the fanciful whims of IT gremlins changing their minds!

Now I've gotten to a screen that says "All done -- We've added your new Airtime plan... it can take up to 24 hours to activate." Fingers crossed!

Re: Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

Cleoriff — Fri, 09 May 2025 08:42:00 GMT

@LonMum

Well that seems a great step forward. Fingers crossed it all works 🤞

Re: Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

MI5 — Fri, 09 May 2025 08:44:30 GMT

Fingers crossed @LonMum

Re: Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

LonMum — Fri, 09 May 2025 08:50:30 GMT

Further hiccups --

There was then an item in my "basket" in my online account when I logged in from my PC -- with an airtime package that mirrors the watch packages. I don't want to have two £7 airtime tariffs on my account by accident but the O2 agent said to go ahead and do checkout as I can always call back and have one deleted if I'm billed twice.

Tried to check out and got:

"Something went wrong - Sorry - we ran into an issue while processing your request. It may be a temporary problem; you can try again by re-confirming your selection."

So it will be a continued mystery for the next 24 hours!

Re: Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

Oxonian — Fri, 09 May 2025 17:22:04 GMT

We await tomorrow's instalment @LonMum ! 👍

Re: Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

LonMum — Sat, 10 May 2025 08:59:17 GMT

Unfortunately, I'm no nearer to a resolution. I've waited the requisite 24 hours and the watch is still showing that there is no connection. The O2 representative on FB messenger asked me to delete the service and start over again try to make a new tariff order, which I feel is just another 24 hour delay towards a resolution. Given how many attempts it took for me to get the order to go through in the first place, I'm hesitant to delete it and start over until they try to look into it on their end 😞 The tariff order is still sitting in my shopping basket unchecked out and the website on my side won't let me complete the check out process.

Re: Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

Oxonian — Sat, 10 May 2025 14:38:18 GMT

I'd be inclined to try FB Messenger at a different time of day @LonMum ; you just might get someone else who has a different idea. 👍

Re: Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

Peter_L — Sun, 11 May 2025 09:27:36 GMT

Hello. Just so you know, when you're trying to set the Apple Watch Plan up, your iPhone needs to be connected to 4G/5G O2 UK Network, not to Wifi This could be the reason why the connection failed.

Re: Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

pgn — Sun, 11 May 2025 09:33:42 GMT

It could be, @Peter_L - does give guidance for this task.

Re: Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

LonMum — Mon, 12 May 2025 07:39:19 GMT

Thanks -- I tried both ways... and ironically the O2 rep that I was working with wanted me to retry it on pure Wifi. 🙈

Re: Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

LonMum — Mon, 12 May 2025 07:44:55 GMT

Well after several days of back and forth, we are now up and running! I waited the requisite 24 hours and then got back in touch (actually, I messaged about 30 mins before the 24 hours was up but they made me wait the that 30 mins before they would help again 🤣). That agent tried a SIM reset and it worked almost immediately afterwards. I am so relieved that the many hours of life spent on this were not in vain! Thanks all for your help.

Re: Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

pgn — Mon, 12 May 2025 09:25:16 GMT

Great news, @LonMum - so sometimes the "wait 24hrs" thing works, great to know!

Enjoy your new watch's functions 👍🏼