How to Reset Apple Watch (All Methods)

Every now and then there comes a time when you need to reset your devices. It’s almost a law of nature — it happens with the best of laptops, desktops, smartphones, and, even smartwatches. Maybe your Apple Watch feels slow after years of use or maybe you wish to delete everything from your smartwatch and give it a fresh start. No matter the reason, resetting devices can help you get things back in shape. If you’re unsure how to go about it, here is how to reset your Apple Watch.

Reset Apple Watch Directly from the Watch

If you wish to get a fresh start with your Apple Watch and pair it again with your own iPhone, you don’t need to disable the Activation Lock since you’ll be using it with the same Apple ID. Here’s how to do that:

• Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch and tap on General.

• Here, tap on Reset. and choose the ‘Erase All Contents and Settings’ option.

• When prompted, enter your passcode.
• On the next screen, tap on Erase All.

• On an Apple Watch with a Cellular Plan, you can choose to keep the plan if you wish to pair the watch with your iPhone again. Otherwise, you can choose to remove the plan.

Your Apple Watch will now reset to factory settings and you can set it up with your iPhone again.

How to Reset Apple Watch Without Passcode

If you have forgotten your Apple Watch password or have entered an incorrect password too many times, you can still factory reset your Apple Watch without a passcode. You can do it either from your Apple Watch or paired iPhone. We’ve discussed both methods in this article. Let’s check them out one at a time.

Reset Apple Watch without Paired iPhone

This method will let you hard reset your Apple Watch if you’ve forgotten the passcode, disabled your smartwatch, or don’t have access to the paired iPhone. Here’s what you need to do:

• First and foremost, put your Apple Watch on its charger. Yes, you have to do it, otherwise, the below steps won’t work. If your smartwatch won’t charge, try these fixes.
• Once your watch is charging, press and hold the Side button until you see the sliders.
• Now, press and hold the Digital Crown to see the Erase all content and settings screen.
• Next up, tap on Reset and choose Reset again to confirm your decision.
• Once the process finishes, you can set your Apple Watch as new or restore from a backup.

Reset Apple Watch with Paired iPhone

If you wish to factory reset an unresponsive Apple Watch, you can easily do it via the Watch app on your paired iPhone. Below are the steps to do it:

• On your iPhone, open the Watch app and tap on My Watch.
• Here, tap on General, swipe down, and choose Reset.

• Tap on ‘Erase Apple Watch Content and Settings‘ and tap again to confirm your decision.

• You may have to enter your Apple ID password to complete this action.
• If you own an Apple Watch with a Cellular Plan, you can keep the plan if you wish to pair the watch with your iPhone again. If you wish to sell your smartwatch, pair it with another iPhone, or cancel your cellular subscription, you must remove the plan.

Your Apple Watch will now reset and erase all its contents. Once the process completes, you can then set up your Apple Watch again and choose a passcode.

Earlier you could have done this via the watch itself. However, that requires a force touch interaction on the power-off slider in the Apple Watch. Unfortunately, with watchOS 7, Apple has removed Force Touch, so you can’t use that method.

What happens when you Reset your Apple Watch

It’s worth knowing that when you reset your Apple Watch, it erases all content from Apple Watch and restores all settings to their defaults, but leaves your smartwatch paired with your iPhone. Also, it doesn’t remove your Apple Watch from your iCloud account or disable the Activation Lock. This method is helpful in cases when you wish to keep your smartwatch and simply reset it to ensure optimal performance.

In case you plan to sell or give away your smartwatch, you must unpair your Apple Watch from your iPhone. Otherwise, your smartwatch won’t pair with another iPhone. For complete details, you can visit our dedicated guide on how to unpair the Apple Watch.

That’s all you need to do. Personally, I have reset my Apple Watch only twice- once because I had filled it too much with third-party apps and I didn’t want to go through the pain of uninstalling them all. The other time, when my smartwatch was disabled because I entered an incorrect password multiple times. So, yeah, there will be times when you might want to reset your Apple Watch back to factory settings.

In case of any doubts, feel free to reach out to us in the comments below.