Using your iPhone:
- Make sure your iPhone and Apple Watch are close together.
- Open the Watch app on your iPhone.
- Tap on My Watch.
- Select All Watches at the top left corner.
- Choose the watch you want to reset by tapping the info button (i) next to it.
- Tap on Unpair Apple Watch.
- Confirm by tapping Unpair [Your Watch Name].
- For cellular models, you’ll be asked to choose whether to Keep or Remove your cellular plan. Choose Keep if you plan to pair the watch with the same iPhone again.
- Enter your Apple ID password to turn off Activation Lock, then tap Unpair.
Using your Apple Watch (without iPhone):
- Place your Apple Watch on its charger. It’s recommended to keep it charging throughout the reset process.
- Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch.
- Navigate to General > Reset.
- Tap on Erase All Content and Settings.
- Enter your passcode when prompted.
- For cellular models, you’ll be asked to choose whether to Keep or Remove your cellular plan. Choose Keep if you plan to pair the watch with the same iPhone again.
Important Notes:
- Erasing your Apple Watch with your iPhone creates a backup of your watch data in iCloud. You can choose to restore from this backup when you set up your watch again.
- Erasing your Apple Watch directly on the watch does not create a backup.
- If you’ve forgotten your Apple Watch passcode, you’ll need to erase it using your iPhone and won’t be able to restore from a backup.
Here are some additional resources that you might find helpful:
- Apple’s official guide on unpairing and erasing your Apple Watch: Unpair and erase your Apple Watch - Apple Support
- A YouTube video walkthrough of the process: [YouTube how to reset apple watch ON youtube.com]