Garmin Forerunner 265 won't update from 27.09

First of all, my watch never found an update via internal setting > software update. It didn't find update via Connect app on my iPhone either. When I plugged in the watch on my Windows laptop and opened Garmin Express, it told me it found an update (28.0) so I accepted and it downloaded. However it never prompted my watch to install the update. I've tried side-loading the GUPDATE.GCD and adding a force.tmp file but doesn't work. I'm not sure what to do because the 27.09 version is horrible. It hasn't even been able to realiably connect to my wifi network since I'm on this version. How do I get out?