Could not launch app on watchOS downloaded from TestFlight

Question

Created Apr ’26

Replies 2

Boosts 0

Participants 3

I have a app that has both mobile and watch versions. Recently some testers report that the watch app could not be launched if the put the app in the background and then resume. And if they kill the app and try to launch again, there is no any response when tapping the app icon. I managed to export some system logs, and this info in the screenshot looks suspicious.

截屏2026-03-30 14.13.55.png

Does anyone have the same issue? Recently the app has been transferred to another developer account, not sure if it is related, this TestFlight version was rebuilt with the new team

Answer 1

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

Apr ’26

Thanks, I believe you also sent a code level support request? The watch as the error “untrusted” occurs when the app provisioning profile is missing. Have you deployed the app using Xcode?

I requested the sysdiagnose from you to check on the untrusted app trying to launch.

Thanks

Albert   Worldwide Developer Relations.

Answer 2

timchristensen OP

1d

Watch TestFlight app became unlaunchable every morning; unpair/re-pair fixed it for me

Sharing this in case it helps someone with a similar watchOS/TestFlight issue.

In my case, the iPhone app was fine, but the watch companion app became unlaunchable by the next morning. Tapping the app icon on Apple Watch did nothing, and reinstalling temporarily fixed it until the next day.

I collected multiple co-sysdiagnose captures and repeatedly saw this pattern:

Watch app installs and is launch-enabled
Overnight/early morning, phone-side TestFlightServiceExtension fetches watch profiles
It then removes the active watch provisioning profile (removeProvisioningProfileWithID)
Watch-side AppConduit logs show removal of the same profile UUID
After that, the watch app is effectively “untrusted”/won’t launch

What fixed it for me:

Unpair Apple Watch from iPhone and re-pair

Important: for me, I did not need additional steps like deleting TestFlight or deleting/reinstalling app first — unpair/re-pair alone resolved it.

My exact root cause may not match everyone’s, but if you have a repeating “works after reinstall, fails next morning” watch TestFlight pattern, unpair/re-pair is worth trying.