Text messages not syncing between iphone and apple watch

I LOVE my Apple Watch, and recently got one for my wife for Christmas, but the whole read messages from iPhone not syncing to “as read” on watch has me dumbfounded.

I’ve searched and searched online and in this sub, and the only answer it seems I can find is “it doesn’t work and never has” but I speak with others with an apple watch often and they say they never experience this problem, what gives?

Does everyone else experience this annoying user experience where some messages (most likely SMS only - not iMessages) don’t sync to the watch? We have to manually scroll through the watch messages and hunt down the unread messages and tap them one by one to clear?

Since getting my wife a watch for Christmas her excitement has quickly turned into a part nuisance or chore since she finds herself having to manually clear messages from her watch and she keeps telling me she must be doing something wrong, but this is just how it’s designed? Many of her family and friends use androids and send SMS texts, is that really the culprit of all this? I also remember with my series 1 and 2 back in the day, I never experienced this.

I’ve tried everything, turn off both devices and turn on, reset sync from watch app, make sure iCloud messages are turned on, I’ve just about tried everything.

I find it hard to believe Apple would have designed it this way since it’s such an awful user experience and how easy I assume it should be to simply have an option to fully keep the messages in sync across iPhone and watch. Apple is so OCD about UE, why would they do this?

Rant over. Any help is appreciated if this is actually fixable.

My Apple Watch seems to have a hard time syncing text messages. Whenever I get a text it appears immediately on my iPhone but not on my watch. The text message will usually appear a day or two later on my watch after I get it on my phone. I have all the correct settings on and have un-paired and re-paired my watch, but none of it seems to work. I also have cellular on my watch but it is extremely slow and cannot load maps or other apps most of the time. Is there any way to fix any of these problems? Edit: The messages seem to appear whenever un-pair and re-pair the watch.

Edit: I seem to have fixed the problem by turning off imessages and facetime in my phone settings and turning it on 5 minutes later.

iPhone Tricks > TILs

Posted in TILs by Tyrone on October 8, 2021

Messages read status not syncing between devices

Is the Messages read status not syncing between devices ever since you’ve update to iOS 15, iPadOS 15 and watchOS 8? You read a message on iPhone, but the same text remains labeled as unread on the Apple Watch and vice versa? This is a common problem that can be fixed using the following tips.

Messages Read Status Not Syncing Between Devices

“No matter what I do my messages will not sync with my iPhone. Every message I read on my phone still shows unread on my watch.”

This issue seems to be quite spread out as we could find similar complaints on Reddit.

Fact: Some users claim that they have a problem only with regular SMS text messages, while others don get either the read status of iMessages or SMS synchronized!

How To Fix Messages Read Status Not Syncing

Assuming that you have installed the latest software updates available on your devices, use the following troubleshooting steps to fix this annoying issue:

1. Restart Devices

First, perform a reboot of your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac. A fresh start could clear any temporary communication glitches between your Apple devices.

How to: You can power them Off and then turn them back On, or apply the appropriate force restart trick to reboot the computers in a single step.

2. Re-Enable iCloud Messages

• On your iPhone, browse for Settings -> Apple ID -> iCloud.
• Disable iCloud Messages, by using the toggle next to Messages.
• Wait a couple of seconds and re-enable iCloud Messages.

3. Reconfigure iMessage Settings

• On your iPhone, browse for Settings -> Messages -> Send & Receive.
• Deselect your phone number from the ‘You can receive iMessages to and Reply from’ list.
• Tap Remove to confirm that you want to remove your phone number from iMessage and FaceTime.
• Now, tap the phone number again to add it back to the list!

Have you managed to fix the Messages read status not syncing across devices? Did the tips provided here help you out? Do you have a better solution? Use the comments section to share your feedback.

Related: Check out more fixes for other common iOS 15 and watchOS 8 bugs:
– Facebook Messenger videos flickering during playback.
– Safari videos showing black screen when playing.
– Notifications not working for various apps in iOS 15!
– iOS 15 touchscreen issues.
– Widgets turn white or black on Home Screen and become unresponsive.
– iPhone Storage freezing or showing wrong calculations.

Why is my Apple Watch Messages not syncing with my iPhone?

Why are my text Messages not syncing across my Apple devices?

How do I get Messages on both my iPhone and Apple Watch?