Combining the fact that I use Apple Pay on my watch and I have trust issues, keeping a passcode on my Apple Watch feels absolutely necessary. This gives me peace of mind that I won’t accidentally tap a POS on a random Tuesday evening walk.
But when I have phases of not wearing my watch for a long period of time, I tend to forget its password and then randomly type in what I think it could be. This leads to too many passcode attempts on my Apple Watch, which locks me out of it.
If you’ve ever been in such a situation, I’ve got you covered!
How many passcode attempts do I have before my Apple Watch Locks?
If I enter the wrong passcode five times in a row on my Apple Watch, it locks me out for a minute before I can reattempt it.
If I enter the wrong password once again after 1 minute, it locks me out for five minutes. And if the same happens again, then for 15 minutes and 60 minutes. On the 60-minute lock, we get another attempt to get the password right before the Apple Watch gets locked or erased.
This means we get a total of 9 tries, and on the 10th attempt, the Apple Watch:
- Will completely erase the data if ‘Erase Data’ is enabled.
- Will permanently lock if ‘Erase Data’ is disabled, and it will be required to reset the watch to get it working.
The Fix: Apple Watch Locked Out After Too Many Attempts
Fix 1: Soft Reset the Apple Watch
- Place the Apple Watch on its charger and keep it there till all steps are completed.
- Press and hold the side button till the power button shows up on the top right corner of the screen.
- Press and hold the Digital Crown until Erase all content and settings is displayed on the screen.
- Tap Reset and confirm.
Fix 2: Hard Reset the Apple Watch
- Place the Apple Watch on its charger and keep it there till all steps are completed.
- Press and hold the Digital Crown and the Side Button simultaneously till the Apple logo shows up on the screen, and release the buttons.
- Wait for a count of 5 and press and hold the Side Button till you see the Erase all Settings prompt. This may require a few attempts.
- Tap on Erase all Settings and confirm. This will reset the watch fully, and you can pair it again with your iPhone and restore the backup.
Fix 2: Reset using a paired iPhone
- Keep your paired iPhone close to your Apple Watch till the process is complete.
- On your iPhone, open the Watch app > My Watch tab > General.
- Scroll down and tap Reset > Erase Apple Watch Content and Settings. Tap again to confirm.
- Enter your Apple ID and password, if prompted. This will reset your Apple Watch to factory settings and disable the passcode.
- For Cellular models of the Apple Watch:
- Choose to keep your cellular plan if you’re going to pair your Apple Watch with your iPhone again.
- Choose to remove your plan if you’re not going to pair your Apple Watch with your iPhone again. To cancel your cellular subscription, you will need to contact your carrier service.
- Pair your Apple Watch with your iPhone again and restore from backup.
Wrap Up
In case you find yourself locked out of your Apple Watch because you put in too many wrong passcodes, there is a way around it. I simply reset my watch while keeping it on the charger. I find it the easiest way to reset, but there are other ways I have mentioned using your iPhone that can be useful too.
To prevent this from happening again, you might want to keep your Apple Watch in regular use or write down your password somewhere you can easily check.
