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I can only receive messages from my watch but not my phone

When someone texts me I receive the notification but only on my watch and when I check messages on my phone I don’t see the message that they sent but when I check messages on my watch it shows?

iPhone 12 mini

Posted on Jul 2, 2023 12:39 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 30, 2024 4:19 PM

when I get a certain group thread the text will only show up on my Apple Watch and not on my iphone

16 replies

Jul 31, 2024 3:05 PM in response to Javs_520

I was having the same problem and found that the messages I weren't seeing on the phone were in "Junk". If you click the left arrow that says "< Filters", then scroll down to "Junk" you will likely see those messages there.


I wish there was a way to not get Notifications for specific folders, but in any case the messages were there, just not visible in the standard view.

Jul 2, 2023 3:22 AM in response to Javs_520

In normal use Messages on your Apple Watch should mirror the paired iPhone. If the devices are working close together the message is received by the phone and forwarded to the watch over Bluetooth. If your watch has cellular function it will switch to standalone cellular only if it can’t communicate through the iPhone.


This suggests your watch is a cellular model, and your iPhone is having problems communicating. If it is not receiving text messages the problem is probably a software glitch or between the iPhone and the cellular network. I suggest you begin by restarting both devices then test again to see if anything has changed.

Restart your Apple Watch - Apple Support

Restart your iPhone - Apple Support


Nov 5, 2024 1:06 PM in response to Kathie614

Try this: on your phone, open the iMessages app, click on Edit in the upper left hand corner, then select "Show Recently Deleted". Now, peruse the list for any recent unread messages that were automatically filtered out of your IMessages feed. --you can restore these, and it seems to restore the historical and go-forward missing thread across your devices.


The issue seems to be more frequent around group chats. My wild guess is that if you have ever muted or left a group text, then later re-engaged, the thread was still marked as "spam". This hints at a separate problem regarding the BT push from an iPhone to the watch that does not seem to apply those same spam filters on the forwarded texts . . .


Apple, I wish you would curate and consolidate 100's of support threads on this topic. It took me repeated attempts and a 1/2 a day to surf community solutions and find this resolution.

I can only receive messages from my watch but not my phone

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