How can I downgrade Watch OS 2 to 1.0.1?

[trevkat]

Ladies, and Gentlemen As I am no genius on this, I guess it was just by luck that i was able to figure this out. I also was one of you that jumped the gun and installed all the Beta OS. On my Applewatch, iPad, iPhone, OS X. But as Beta goes, they are all but too buggy for everyday use. So to the good stuff. I have highlighted the info below that will help solve this head ache!!

Pre-work: Make sure your iPhone that the watch is synced to and has the old back up is still running iOS 9. It will need to find the backup 1.0 Applewatch file

Step 1. Factory Restore Applewatch
Step 2. Sync Watch manually do not use the QR scanner as it only reads the 2.0 profile
Step 3. Restore from backup any previous 1.0 back up. 1.0.1 backups will not work as it was an OTA update
Step 4. Let watch do it's magic

And........wait for it, wait for it..... Repaired!! Back to WatchOS 1.0
Follow OTA update back to 1.0.1 and recover your backup file.

I suggest everyone remove iOS9 as well after the watch is fully restored.

Thank you.

This DOES NOT WORK! In fact just to make sure I didn't mess it up I tried it 2 different times. I also had a 1.0 backup. I'm giving up and just leaving it the way it is. I'm sick of restoring this damn thing lol.

 

[suprmanx7]

Guess ill just reset it and set up as new. Will see if i have similar results tomorrow. Today it was not the best, no taptic, bad heart sensor,i worked out and comparatively it was way off from my usual Wednesdays.

 

[vader317]

HI everyone,

This was working but for some reason the watch told me to pair with iPhone again. After i downgraded my iPhone to iOS 8.3 it did not work??? This sucks. I will keep trying as i believe we are getting a bit closer.

 

[suprmanx7]

Does anyone have the compilations option on their apple watch app, and it doesnt load anything? was it there before?

 

[vader317]

That's part of 2.0Beta. I also seen it on the options but when you select it, it does nothing. Complications is a new feature they were demoing during WWDC

 

[smalenke10]

Can you be so kind to send your watch OS 1.0 backup to me? Is that possible? I need my watch!

 

[vader317]

It will not work. I advise you to go back to 2.0beta until there is a fix. I'm sure the dev community is looking for a fix. It won't take long.

 

[Scatabrain]

Re: Downgrade watchOS 2 to 1.0.1

Friendly reminder: if you removed your watch dev profile, remember to put it back on your phone or you won't get any (hopefully) upcoming beta updates.

Cheers.

 

[suprmanx7]

Re: Downgrade watchOS 2 to 1.0.1

As suggested before, I reset my watch and set it up as a new watch and have taptic and messages working again!! whooohoo.
Battery has only gone down 4% since 8, so thats not too bad I think?

Will report back tommorow after a full day of use.

 

[smalenke10]

My issue is that I want my activity data from my backup of my phone on iOS 8.3. I didn't think of not being able to continue that activity data when upgrading to iOS 9 and watchOS 2. Any suggestions?

 

[Scatabrain]

Re: Downgrade watchOS 2 to 1.0.1

After the create watch as new in 2.0 I am seeing 33% used in just under 7 hours. Not quite as good as before but workable.

 

[leonchowleon]

actually i want to downgrade to 8.3only cause ios 9 is easily get hot and the battery drain i cannot accept it.However when I downgrade to 8.3 i cannot use my watch...
if one week later it still cannot downgrade to os 1 I will still downgrade my phone and use the watch without pair!!!!

 

[MikeyDeezy]

Hopefully it won't come to that. Fingers crossed.

 

[jarran6]

Hi guys, this has been a really interesting thread, I was considering trying the beta ios 9 and watch os 2 but I guess i will wait now till its the public beta, hopefully it will be more stable by then.

It looks like going forward it might be prudent to do a backup of your watch before doing any update, I am pretty sure the three times I have unpaired mine it was after doing the 1.0.1 update so I havent got a 1.0 backup either.

I hope you guys get them sorted.

 

[realogic]

Guys, in NO WAY you'll be able to go back to earlier version.
There's a success rate of 1 user being able to do it. A user with one post and nothing else. This means NO USER won.
Apple doesn't copy firmware file on backup, it wouldn't make any sense.

Don't get fooled by that "1.0 or 1.0.1" near OS version on watch backup; also in iTunes you see iOS version next to backup file saved previously, this doesn't mean that inside you can find a copy of the firmware.

There could be just two possibility to reflash an older version:
- Send it to Apple and pay
- Hope that Apple will release a tool to reflash it by bluetooth (as long as it's possible to flash this way, it should be easy for them to release such tool) but it's pretty impossible that this could happen.

So let's wait for the new beta in a couple of weeks.

 

[Chihhao Wei]

it's can not software to 1.0.1

 

[anon(5718668)]

There could be just two possibility to reflash an older version:
- Send it to Apple and pay
- Hope that Apple will release a tool to reflash it by bluetooth (as long as it's possible to flash this way, it should be easy for them to release such tool) but it's pretty impossible that this could happen.

So let's wait for the new beta in a couple of weeks.

My Watch was sent off to Apple through the Genius Bar with no additional charges and no questions asked

 

[realogic]

My Watch was sent off to Apple through the Genius Bar with no additional charges and no questions asked

That's quite what I was expecting, others here told that maybe could be charged.. Hope they will not

 

[Mouxy]

They actually sent the watch to Apple, or did they solve (downgraded) instore?

Thanks!

 

[anon(5718668)]

They actually sent the watch to Apple, or did they solve (downgraded) instore?

Thanks!

Hi there! Unfortunately to process of flashing the device cannot yet be completed in store so the device was sent off for a depot repair. I was told it should take a couple of days to a week! Hope that answers your question