4 Reasons Not to Install iOS 15.8.2 & 10 Reasons You Should

Install for a New Way to Restore an Apple Watch

While it was unlisted in the official iOS 15.4 change log, the software brought a useful change to Apple Watch users. You'll get this change with iOS 15.8.2 if you missed iOS 15.4 and newer versions of iOS 15.

According to Apple documentation, users with 15.4 or newer on their iPhone and watchOS 8.5 or later on their Apple Watch can restore their Apple Watch with a nearby iPhone.

The document says your Apple Watch may show an "animation asking you to bring it close to an iPhone if your watch experiences a problem that requires it to be updated or restored." It might also show a red exclamation point.

If that happens, you can now follow these steps:

• Make sure that an iPhone is nearby. The iPhone needs to have iOS 15.4 or later, it needs to be connected to Wi-Fi with Bluetooth turned on, and it needs to be unlocked.
• Put your Apple Watch on its charger.
• Double-click the side button (the button below the circular Digital Crown) on your Apple Watch.
• Follow the steps that appear on the iPhone.

If that doesn't work, Apple says you'll need to check your Wi-Fi connection. You'll want to try using a 2.4GHz network instead of 5GHz and make sure that you're not on a captive or 802.1X network.