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Unpair and Erase an Apple Watch: Unpairing your Apple Watch and erasing its content restores it to its factory settings, ensuring that your Apple Watch is ready to be sold, traded, or passed down with no strings attached. Here’s how you can do just that, with or without the iPhone it is paired to.
Before You Begin:
- If you have your paired iPhone, make sure to follow these steps. Unpairing your Apple Watch with the paired iPhone removes Activation Lock and erases all content and settings. If you don’t have the paired iPhone, you can still erase your Apple Watch, but Activation Lock will remain.
- If you use a transit card in the Wallet app on your Apple Watch, make sure to remove it before unpairing.
- Note that Apple Watch doesn’t have a physical SIM slot or reset button. The holes in your Apple Watch case are designed for sound and water-depth measurement. Do not insert any object into these holes to avoid accidentally damaging your device.
Instructions to Unpair and Erase Your Apple Watch (with your iPhone):
- Keep your Apple Watch and iPhone close together throughout the unpairing process.
- Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
- Go to the “My Watch” tab and tap “All Watches.”
- Locate the watch you want to unpair and tap the info button (small “i” icon) next to it.
- Tap “Unpair Apple Watch.”
- Select “Unpair [your Apple Watch name].”
- For GPS + Cellular models, decide whether to keep or remove your cellular plan:
- If you plan to pair your Apple Watch and iPhone again, keep your plan.
- Remove your plan if you do not intend to pair your Apple Watch and iPhone again. Note: If you don’t plan to pair it with a different watch or iPhone, you may want to contact your carrier to cancel your cellular subscription.
- Enter your Apple ID password to disable Activation Lock, and then tap “Unpair.”
- Before erasing all content and settings on your Apple Watch, your iPhone will create a new backup of your Apple Watch. You can use this backup to restore a new Apple Watch. Once your Apple Watch is successfully unpaired, you will see the “Start Pairing” message.
- At this point, you can either set up your Apple Watch again with a different device or safely sell it/give it away without worrying about it being locked to your device.
Watch the video version of Unpairing and Erasing Your Apple Watch:
Instructions to Erase Your Apple Watch (without your iPhone):
- On your Apple Watch, go to “Settings.”
- Tap “General” and then select “Reset.”
- Choose “Erase All Content and Settings.”
- If prompted, enter your password.
- For GPS + Cellular models, decide whether to keep or remove your cellular plan:
- If you plan to pair your Apple Watch and iPhone again, keep your plan.
- If you do not intend to pair your Apple Watch and iPhone again, remove your plan. Note: If you don’t plan to pair with a different watch or iPhone, you should contact your carrier to cancel your cellular subscription.
- Tap “Erase All” to confirm. This action will reset your Apple Watch to its factory settings.
- You can now set up your Apple Watch again. Make sure to have the Apple ID and password associated with the watch to turn off Activation Lock.
Follow these instructions carefully to unpair and erase your Apple Watch, either with or without your iPhone. By following these steps, you can ensure a smooth transition and maintain the security of your device. It should be noted that without the paired iPhone accessible, your Apple Watch will remain locked to your iPhone even after resetting. To fully erase your Apple Watch, you need to use the iPhone instructions.
