Apple Watch "cannot connect to mobile data" issue

[Molly3harris]

Hi, so I have an apple watch series 5, it arrived yesterday and it setup fine, paired fine, but I cant connect mobile data to it, which I'm paying for. 

I have a sim with my iphone XR that is with o2 and the watch was brought with cellular from o2 with an airtime contract for unlimited data. 

I have been on live chat for 3 hours today going around in circles - I reset my apple watch about 6 times and paired with a new watch almost every time, the other times I used the backup version, they all showed the same result - unable to connect or set up mobile data. 

I was even told to reset my phone to factory settings - which also did nothing.

Please if anyone can help, I'm desperate now. 

[jhumphreys]

I've just had my number ported over to o2 yesterday and am experiencing the same issues (unable to enable WiFi calling and Apple Watch data plan).


Have you been able to resolve the issue yet? o2 telephone support and live chat has not been able to assist. 

[Bambino]

@Molly3harris, @jhumphreys I will tag our community members @adamtemp64 and @MI5 who are familiar with iPhones and watches. Hopefully one of them can help.

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

@Molly3harris 

I would always call rather than chat but either way, it seems to be taking 3 to 4 days to get accounts updated to register with watch data currently.

Guide: Coronavirus Community Help and Support 

[Molly3harris]

Thanks for replying! So if I wait a few days is there a way of knowing that I can use data? Will I have to reset the watch again or will the option just be available on my phone? 

[MI5]

@Molly3harris 

In theory, once the systems are all aligned, you should just be able to follow the routing on the watch to enable the data plan:

Open the Watch app on your iPhone and tap on ‘Mobile Data’.
Then tap ‘Set up mobile data’. You’ll be prompted to sign in with your My O2 username and password.
Once you’ve signed in, select your Apple Watch plan. Follow the steps on the screen to set up your Apple Watch Airtime Plan.
It can take up to 24 hours to activate, but sometimes it might take a little longer.
To check if your new Airtime Plan is active, open the Watch app on your iPhone and tap on ‘Mobile Data’. In the ‘Data Plan’ section, if you see O2 with the word ‘activating’ then you’ll have to wait a little longer for set up to complete. If you see O2 with an orange ‘i’ next to it, then you’re all set up.
If you get an error message at any point, on the iPhone, go to Settings and select Privacy > Motion & Fitness and switch it on.
Then go back to the watch app/Mobile Data/set up mobile data plan and be ready to put your o2 username and password in to the resulting o2 screen. Also, it costs £5 monthly to add the airtime for the Apple Watch, so you'll need to authorise this after entering the o2 user name and password. The phone app will then say 'activating' which can take a day or so, but at that point, you can try doing a phone call direct from the watch to test it.

[Molly3harris]

Thanks so much for your help, I went in my app this morning and it let me set it up in minutes - all that faf and I just had to wait a few days, glad it’s up and running now!

[jhumphreys]

Thanks all for your help. I can confirm as of today I can now activate my watch data plan.