Need to unpair your Apple Watch but don’t have your iPhone to hand? It’s seriously easy to do this and takes a matter of minutes.
Although it is possible to unpair your Apple Watch without a phone, and erase all its data, its Activation Lock will remain. This means that the Watch will require your Apple ID and password to pair it with a new iPhone or to turn off Find My. Scroll down to Troubleshooting to find out how to turn off your Activation Lock at a later date.
Otherwise, keep reading to learn how to unpair an Apple Watch without an iPhone.
What you’ll need:
- An Apple Watch (these steps will work with all of the best Apple Watch series, such as Series 10 or older, SE 2 or older and Ultra 2 or older.)
The short version:
- Tap Settings on your Apple Watch
- Tap General
- Select Reset
- Press Erase All Content and Settings
- Enter your password
- Confirm Erase All
Step 1.
Tap Settings on your Apple Watch
This is the cog icon, which can be found on your home screen or accessed via the Digital Crown dial on the side of your Apple Watch.
Step 2.
Tap General
You’ll need to scroll down the Settings menu to find this. You can either use your finger or the Digital Crown to scroll.
Step 3.
Select Reset
Similarly, you’ll need to scroll down the General menu to find the Reset option, as it’s towards the bottom of the page.
Step 4.
Press Erase All Content and Settings
Read through the information on-screen to ensure you’re happy to continue without removing Activation Lock. Once you’re happy, tap Erase All Content and Settings.
Step 5.
Enter your password
This is the password used to unlock your Apple Watch.
Step 6.
Click Erase All
Tap Erase All once you’re happy. Remember, once you do this that all your stats and data will be lost. Before erasing, you can back up your data to the iCloud which is recommended if you don’t want to lose anything important.
Troubleshooting
Yes, you can also reset your Apple Watch using the iPhone model that is it paired with, though this method is for people who do not have access to their iPhones and need to reset their Apple Watch.
Essentially the easiest way to remove the Activation Lock is to unpair your Apple Watch with your paired iPhone.
If, however, you don’t have access to the iPhone or even the Apple Watch, then you simply need to visit icloud.com and sign in with your Apple Account. From here, you can access your Find My settings and remove your Apple Watch without needing your device to hand.
No, you can pair more than one Apple Watch to your iPhone and easily switch between them. Your iPhone should detect the Apple Watch you’re wearing and automatically connect to it, however you can also manually switch between watches via the Apple Watch app on your phone.