So, get this:

• If you have an Apple Watch that has been reset to factory state, you can’t do anything with it until you pair it.
• In order to pair it with an iPhone running a current version of iOS, its own watchOS version must also be current.
• If you need to update watchOS, you need to use the Watch app on an iPhone. The watch must be on its charger, and the battery level must be at least 50%.
• But, when it’s in “update” mode, the screen simply shows an Apple Watch logo, and can’t do anything, including show you the battery level.
• So your iPhone, which has the Watch app, simply says that it won’t install the update until the battery level is at 50%.
• Meanwhile, the watch is in a mode where it tells you nothing. It can’t even tell you if it’s getting a charge from the charger. There’s no chirp when you attach it, or anything.
• The Watch app also won’t tell you the battery level, or if the watch is even getting a charge.

So Apple has designed this product in such a way that, if its software out of date, you have to wait a completely unknown amount of time in order to be able to set it up, and your iPhone is tied up during that time. You can’t even know that it will eventually get there, since you can’t see if the watch is getting a charge.

Come on, Apple. You’re the user experience company. Can we have a battery indicator during a watchOS update?

Image from Apple’s website.