Unpairing your Apple Watch before you sell it off is necessary in order to prevent data leaks and a smooth transition to a new phone. Whether you have lost your iPhone or sold it off without remembering to unpair your Apple Watch beforehand, here’s how you can do it.
Method 1: Use your Apple Watch
Step 1: Open Settings on your Apple Watch and tap General.
Step 2: Tap on Reset and Erase All Content and Settings.
Step 3: Type in your password if required.
Step 4: For Cellular models of the Apple Watch, choose to keep your plan if you want to pair your watch to your iPhone again. Remove your plan if you don’t want to pair your watch with your iPhone again.
Step 5: Tap Erase All to confirm the reset, and this will reset your Apple Watch to factory settings.
Method 2: Reset your Apple Watch without a passcode
If, for example, you have a password set on your Apple Watch and you forget it when prompted in the previous steps, simply head to your watch face and follow these:
Step 1: Make sure the watch is placed on a charger till this process is complete. Press and hold down the side button of your Apple Watch till you see the power button on the top right corner of the watch.
Step 2: Press and keep holding down the Digital Crown button till the screen shows the option ‘Erase All Content and Settings’ and tap on this.
Step 4: Tap Reset and tap Reset again to confirm. This will reset your Apple Watch to factory settings without prompting for the password. You will need to remove the Activation Lock from your Apple Watch after this setting.
Method 3: Use iCloud
Step 1: Open the iCloud website and log in using your Apple ID and password.
Step 2: Open Find My and select your Apple Watch under All Devices.
Step 3: Tap on Erase under your Apple Watch. Tap Next until the device is erased, and follow the on-screen instructions. This will reset the watch to its factory settings, and it can be repaired with a new device.
Wrap Up
Unpairing your Apple Watch is necessary in case you want to pair it with a new phone or sell it off so that it can easily be paired with the new owner’s iPhone. In certain cases, if we forget to do this, especially if the Activation Lock is turned on, it makes it difficult for the new owner to pair it to their phone.
If that is the case, or if you have lost your iPhone or misplaced it and want to erase the Apple Watch from your devices remotely, follow the steps above.
