Debugging over Wi-Fi has been unreliable for a long time, which can significantly slow watchOS development. I’m a longtime Apple fan, but this has been frustrating. As a workaround, turn on a hotspot on your Mac and connect both the Apple Watch and its paired iPhone to it. After that, debugging generally works again.

Debugging over Wi-Fi has long been unreliable and can seriously slow watchOS development. Apple should treat this more seriously—significant developer time is being wasted, which isn’t acceptable for a company of Apple’s caliber. The issue seems tied to router Wi-Fi behavior, particularly band-steering between 2.4 and 5 GHz and other recent Wi-Fi features. Workaround: Turn on a hotspot on your Mac and connect both the Apple Watch and its paired iPhone to that network. After that, debugging typically works again. Tested with: Xcode 16.4 · watchOS 8–11 · macOS 15.6.1

Debugging over Wi-Fi has long been unreliable and can seriously slow watchOS development. Apple should treat this more seriously—significant developer time is being wasted, which isn’t acceptable for a company of Apple’s caliber. The issue seems tied to router Wi-Fi behavior, particularly band-steering between 2.4 and 5 GHz and other recent Wi-Fi features. Workaround: Turn on a hotspot on your Mac and connect both the Apple Watch and its paired iPhone to that network. After that, debugging typically works again. Tested with: Xcode 16.4 · watchOS 8–11 · macOS 15.6.1