Adding iOS companion later to WatchOS-only app

I had a Watch-only app on the AppStore, and decided to add an iOS companion app now. Technically this was very easy, adding just an according target to my project. TestFlight tests where successful, IAPs remained valid for the whole setup etc., watch app could remain standalone as well -- so everything looked "Go" for release. But now customers that already previously downloaded the watch app just see "Purchased" in the AppStore for the app, and they neither automatically get the iOS companion through the update process, nor can they force a download (as there is no cloud icon to explicitly do so -- just the greyed-out "Purchased" button). The watch app updates automatically to the new version, but it seems impossible to initiate the iOS app download. The initial download of the watch-only app also doesn't show up in their list of purchases/download (only on the watch AppStore app, but from there, the iOS app won't be forced to install either).

Did anyone face this also and can recommend a solution that can be communicated to affected (i.e. all so far...) customers?

Thanks for reporting the issue. I don't have an immediate answer yet, but for debugging purpose:

  1. Can a new customer successfully download the iOS app + watchOS app ? Or does the issue impact a new customer in any way? If everything goes well for a new customer, your new app should have the right configuration.

  2. For an existing customer, if they remove the existing watch-only app, is the App Store back to normal? Removing an installed app may lose data so this is just for debugging.

Also, would you mind to share the impacted app name and ID?

Best,
——
Ziqiao Chen
 Worldwide Developer Relations.

Adding iOS companion later to WatchOS-only app
 
 
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