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There are many reasons you need to unpair your Apple Watch from its iPhone, from upgrading to a new model to giving away or selling your Apple Watch or iPhone to another person. Whatever the reason, you can successfully unpair your Apple Watch from its paired iPhone, even if you don’t have that iPhone or Watch around anymore. So, let’s jump in on just how you do that! Related articles
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Okay, we admit that it is a heck of a lot easier to unpair your Apple Watch when both your watch and your paired iPhone are in your hands. That’s because most Apple Watches have Apple’s activation lock enabled via your paired iPhone’s and iCloud’s Find My app. Activation lock prevents others from using your Watch (if lost or stolen) and helps you locate it when missing by requiring your Apple ID and password. Luckily, the unpairing process erases your Apple Watch, removes it from your iCloud account, and disables Activation Lock. Plus, when you unpair your watch from your iPhone, Apple automatically creates a new backup of your watch. You can use this backup to restore your watch’s data. Steps to unpair your Apple Watch using the Watch app on your iPhoneLost your iPhone? How to unpair your Apple Watch without your iPhoneIf you no longer have your iPhone available, you can still unpair the watch from it–you have to jump through a set of different steps. When your watch uses watch OS2 or above (likely most, if not all, of us), Apple automatically turns on Activation Lock for your Apple Watch. When you unpair your watch using its paired iPhone, that unpairing process turns off Activation Lock and removes it from your Apple ID/iCloud account. However, when you don’t have that paired iPhone anymore, you need to manually remove it from the activation lock. Steps to unpair your Apple Watch when you don’t have the iPhone anymore It’s important to follow these steps in order! You should always erase it first and then remove it from the activation lock!
Once you remove your watch, Apple turns off Activation Lock. Removing Apple’s activation lock means you can no longer track that device and allows anyone else to pair the watch to their iPhone. Need to unpair your lost or stolen Apple Watch? How to unpair an Apple Watch without the watchIf you no longer have your Apple Watch, you can still unpair it from your iPhone by following different steps. Please follow these steps in order. You should always erase it first and then remove it from the activation lock!
FAQs
What does unpairing the apple watch do?When you unpair your Apple Watch from its paired iPhone, you return it to its factory settings. That means unpairing erases all data from your Apple Watch. Every time you unpair your Apple Watch from your iPhone, Apple automatically creates a backup of your Apple Watch’s data before removing it. You can use this backup or any previous backup to restore your Apple Watch’s data. And when you back up your iPhone to iCloud, iTunes, or Finder your iPhone, those iPhone backups also include your Apple Watch backup. If you unpair your Apple Watch when it’s away from your iPhone or out of range of your iPhone, your apple watch backup might not have the latest data. Does unpairing the apple watch erase it and delete all my data?Unpairing erases all data from your Apple Watch–but not forever! While unpairing your Apple Watch does indeed erase everything on it, a backup of all that data is automatically created when you unpair your Apple Watch using the Watch app on your iPhone. You can then pair a new Apple Watch or that same Apple Watch again and restore that backup. So yes, the device is erased. But as long as you use the Watch app on your iPhone, you do not lose any data since it makes a complete backup of all your data. Now, if you unpair your Apple Watch when you don’t have your iPhone with you or are out of range, Apple cannot backup your Watch to your iPhone. Consequently, you lose any data created after you last backed up your watch. When you unpair an Apple Watch, does it also delete your text messages?Similar to the answer above, when you unpair your Watch, it deletes everything from it, including any messages--but only from the Apple Watch. When you unpair your watch, it does not erase, delete, or remove ANY of the messages stored on your iPhone, iCloud, or any other device using the same Apple ID as your Apple Watch. How do I unpair an Apple Watch from a lost or stolen iPhone?If your iPhone was stolen or lost, you should follow the steps we list in the section “How to unpair your Apple Watch without your iPhone.” Before you start, make sure you visit Apple’s iCloud website and use Find My to mark your iPhone as Lost or remotely erase it. On your Apple Watch, go to Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings > Erase All. Tapping Erase All resets your Apple Watch to the factory settings. Once done, pair your Apple Watch with your replacement iPhone. You can also remotely erase your watch using iCloud’s website and the Find My app. Since you did not unpair your Apple Watch using the Watch app, you cannot make a backup of your most recent watch settings and data. Look for older available backups to restore or set up your watch as new. How do I unpair a lost or stolen Apple Watch from my iPhone?First, when you lose your Apple Watch or suspect it was stolen, use the Find My app to try and locate your watch or place it in lost mode. If you’ve tried locating your missing watch but conclude it’s forever lost/stolen, you want first to erase it and then unpair it from your iPhone and Apple ID & iCloud account. Erase a lost or stolen Apple Watch
After erasing, unpair your missing Apple Watch
How do I check if Activation Lock is enabled on my Apple Watch?Do you have to unpair Apple Watch from old phone?Before anything at all, you need to unpair your Apple Watch from your previous phone for you to be able to pair with your phone. So, the first thing you want to do is unpair and wipe out every detail on your Apple Watch. Once unpaired, the Apple Watch automatically returns to its factory settings.
Does resetting an Apple Watch unpair it?You can reset your Apple Watch and unpair it from your iPhone through either the Watch app, or from the Watch's settings menu.
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