Apple Watch and iPhone notifications are inconsistent

Hi everyone, I’m using an Apple Watch Series 9 paired with an iPhone 16 Pro Max, and I’ve been running into very inconsistent notification behavior. I’m hoping someone here can help me understand what might be going on.

Here are the issues I’ve been seeing:

• At times I receive notifications on my Apple Watch, but nothing appears in my iPhone’s Notification Center afterward, even though the alert should appear on both.

• Other times, while my iPhone is locked, it will buzz and receive the alert, but the Apple Watch receives nothing.

• And occasionally when I am actively using my iPhone with the screen on, the Apple Watch still receives the notification even though the phone is unlocked. That should not happen if handoff is working correctly.

These situations alternate unpredictably, and I cannot find a pattern.

Here is what I have already tried:

• Restarting both devices

• Toggling Focus modes off and on

• Turning “Mirror iPhone Alerts” off and on

• Checking that both devices are updated

• Resetting notification settings for specific apps.

None of these have fixed the issue. If anyone has experienced something similar or knows additional steps I should try, I would really appreciate the help.