topic Going round in circles with EE trying to activate Apple watch in Apple Devices

Going round in circles with EE trying to activate Apple watch

Synthex — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 18:35:29 GMT

So I’ve had an Apple Watch for around d 4 years that I’ve paid a separate plan for. I own the watch outright.
recently moved to the full works iPhone plan which includes the watch plan. When I moved onto full works the watch pairing stopped receiving calls although the watch plan is showing on my EE account at £12 a month.
I’ve read here in the forum that the watch plan needs to be removed in order to activate it on the full works plan and that’s what it says on their instructions page but despite several calls to EE they refuse to remove it and keep doing the same thing - attempting to send an ESIM to the watch and asking me to wait 24 hours. This never works.

was promised a call back today by the tech team which didn’t happen so I called And was told someone would call me back within 20 minutes which also didn’t happen.

who exactly do I need to speak to at EE to get this resolved? At this point I’m seriously thinking of cancelling and moving to another network.

Re: Going round in circles with EE trying to activate Apple watch

Leanne_T — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 09:42:27 GMT

Morning @Synthex

Thanks for coming to the community.

I am very sorry you're unable to use the watch on cellular since changing plans and have called multiple times with no call back.

The best way to get this looked into and see what is needed to get the watch paired up again is to speak to our technical support guides, they have full account access and can check everything for you, if needed the team can open a support ticket which will be sent to the relevant team for investigation.

To speak to the team please try calling us again on 150, and selecting option 1, then option 2 to speak to a guide. If you prefer not calling again, you can open a complaint using the Make a Complaint form and the team will get back in touch with you.

Hope you get this sorted soon 🙂

Leanne.

Re: Going round in circles with EE trying to activate Apple watch

Schockwave — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 15:09:27 GMT

@Synthex , did you try unpairing the watch and say keep the plan and then pair it again to see if that works? Not sure why this has happened to you, as it did not do that when I went for full works.

Re: Going round in circles with EE trying to activate Apple watch

Synthex — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 19:51:49 GMT

I did successfully set up mobile service today but when I spoke to tech it had been activated on the £12pm plan. I’d previously been told this would be discounted in full but the advisor I spoke to today said this is not the case. She transferred me through to upgrades who completely removed the £12pm plan so I can select the correct £7pm plan included in iPhone full works but after waiting 4 hours as reccomended I cannot set up mobile service.

so progress has been made but looks like I need to call tech again tomorrow, get the eSIM resent and wait another day or so and hopefully activate it.

yes I have tried a full reset of the watch to no avail. It was a hassle to get going a few years ago but unfortunately I cannot remember the exact steps.

Re: Going round in circles with EE trying to activate Apple watch

Schockwave — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 10:06:24 GMT

@Synthex , you may want to take a look here:

https://ee.co.uk/help/mobile/smart-watches/set-up-my-apple-watch

Re: Going round in circles with EE trying to activate Apple watch

Synthex — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 15:24:01 GMT

Hi yes I have seen that thanks, and am following the directions

Re: Going round in circles with EE trying to activate Apple watch

Synthex — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 15:28:13 GMT

Yesterday I spoke with a level 2 agent. They checked that the watch wasn’t linked with any other devices or plans, refreshed my account and sent some new network settings but it still wouldn’t work. It has now been passed to the technical specialist team so waiting for them to get in contact.

Re: Going round in circles with EE trying to activate Apple watch

Leanne_T — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 16:18:42 GMT

Hi there @Synthex

Thanks for coming back and letting us know this is being looked into by the relevant team.

Please pop back once they have been in touch and let us know how you're getting on, if you get the chance 🙂

Leanne

Re: Going round in circles with EE trying to activate Apple watch

Synthex — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 14:17:32 GMT

So after talking with the technical specialist yesterday this was eventually sorted. Here is what was required.

1). Remove existing watch data plan and refresh account

2). Ensure watch and phone were not paired with any other devices or attached to any historic plans

3). Manually add watch £7pm plan to account

4). Re send eSIM

5). After 24 hours attempt reactivation ensuring WiFi turned off on phone and watch. For me it failed on first attempt but on second attempt the plan was visible and after clicking setup mobile data watch was activated with no further steps required.

earlier this morning before attempting the activation I received a text message saying the 100% discount had been applied to my watch plan that is included in iPhone full works so all good now if after several hours effort.

Re: Going round in circles with EE trying to activate Apple watch

Lesley_W — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 16:20:18 GMT

Thanks for the update @Synthex

I'm pleased it's up and running now 🙂

Lesley

Re: Going round in circles with EE trying to activate Apple watch

Sinbrad1966 — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 22:10:26 GMT

Please explain the following statement "For me it failed on first attempt but on second attempt the plan was visible"

What do you mean by second attempt, was it that they issued a new esim or did you yourself reattempt the reactivation?

Re: Going round in circles with EE trying to activate Apple watch

Synthex — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 21:45:02 GMT

Sorry for late reply. From what I can gather there’s a very specific procedure that needs to be followed when activation fails on first attempt. The issue is getting to speak with a level 2 agent who actually knows this procedure. And even then it may still fail first time. The guy who i spoke to last who got it working appeared to be looking at some logs and amending things on the system while I was going through the activation with him. I had to activate on a paid plan and then they switched it over manually to the plan included with the full works tarrif.