How to Reset an Apple Watch

At certain times, applications on the Watch could crash or compel it to slow down, which might encourage you to attempt to restart your device in an effort to refresh it. Other times you could simply wish to sell or gift the Watch you currently own, but you wouldn’t want for all of your personal data to remain stored on that device, causing you to revert it back to its original, factory state.

No matter the specific issue you are currently facing, here are a couple of different ways you could either restart or reset your Watch with minimal effort:

Restarting the Watch

In case you simply wish to restart the Watch as you normally would any other device, then just take a look at these steps:

  1. Click on the Watch button, and make sure to hold it continuously until you notice the ‘Power Off’ bar show up.
  2. Then, simply pull that slider in order to power off the Watch.
  3. Finally, click on the Watch button once again in order to power up the Watch.

Forcing a device restart

If you didn’t manage to restart the device by using the method above, or the process hasn’t helped to resolve your issues, you could also attempt to force a device restart:

  1. Click on the Watch button, along with the Digital Crown, and continuously hold them both for approximately 10 seconds.
  2. The moment that the Apple logo appears, release both.

Unpairing and erasing the Watch

If you wish to do a hard reset, and revert the Watch back to its original settings, there are two different ways you could achieve this:

With an iPhone

  1. Ensure the Watch and the phone are close to one another during this process.
  2. Using the phone, load the Watch application.
  3. Click on My Watch, and then click on All Watches.
  4. Locate the Watch you’d wish to disconnect, and click on the yellow ‘i’ icon beside it.
  5. Now, click on Unpair Apple Watch. If you wish, you could now also decide to retain your mobile plan here.
  6. Tap once again in order to confirm. If prompted, you might also need to type in your Apple account password.
  7. Finally, set up the Watch once again, if necessary.

Note: Keep in mind that a back-up of all your personal data which used to be stored on the Watch will be made on the iPhone automatically during this process, which you could later use for restoring any old Watch settings and data.

Using only the Watch

  1. On the Watch, click on Settings, and then select General.
  2. Here, click on Reset, and then choose Erase All Content and Settings.
  3. If necessary, enter your Apple password. If you wish, you could now also decide to retain your mobile plan here.
  4. Finally, click on Erase All in order to confirm. The Watch will then be reverted back to its factory settings.

And that’s it! Whether you just wish to restart the Watch, or even delete all personal data from this device, you can effortlessly do so in a few quick and simple steps by using the helpful guide above.