How to Factory Reset Your Apple Watch

21-Feb-2024

If you have an Apple Watch and you intend to upgrade to a newer device, then you might want to sell it or pass it on to a friend or family member. In this case, performing a factory reset is advised so that you can wipe your personal data and protect your privacy. Equally, if you own an Apple Watch and are experiencing performance issues due to a software bug, then a factory reset can help you troubleshoot and potentially remedy those issues.

In the event that you haven’t performed a factory reset on an Apple Watch before, you may be unsure about the steps involved in doing it. Fortunately, it’s a relatively straightforward process, and we’re here to guide you through it.

In this how-to guide, we will provide you with a step-by-step walkthrough for factory resetting all currently supported versions of the Apple Watch, regardless of the situation.

Preparing to factory reset your Apple Watch

Before you go about factory resetting your Apple Watch, you should of course back up your data in case you need to restore from backup later. More to the point, you might also want to remove the activation lock on your device to prevent issues when reconfiguring and pairing it.

To remove the activation lock on your Apple Watch, you can follow these steps:

Place your Apple Watch and iPhone close together.
Open the “Apple Watch” app on your iPhone, then go to the “My Watch” tab and tap “All Watches”.
Tap the info icon, then tap “Unpair Apple Watch”.
Enter your Apple ID password. If you have forgotten your Apple ID password, you can reset it. Then, tap to confirm the action.

How to factory reset your Apple Watch

Depending on the situation, there are three main ways that you can perform a full factory reset on your Apple Watch: via the device’s settings, via your paired iPhone, and by hard reset. Below, we have outlined the steps for each of these three methods.

Option 1) Factory reset your Apple Watch via device settings

The process for resetting all currently supported Apple Watch versions (Series 3-9) via device settings is the same. You can perform a factory reset on any of these devices by doing the following:

Open the “Settings” app on your Apple watch.
Go to “General”, then select “Reset”.
In the reset options, choose “Erase Apple Watch Content and Settings”.
If prompted, enter your passcode, then tap “Erase All” to confirm the action. Your device will handle the rest.

Option 2) Factory reset your via paired iPhone

If you wish to factory reset your Apple Watch via your paired iPhone, then you can also do so by following these steps:

Place your Apple Watch and iPhone close together.
Open the Apple Watch app on the iPhone and go to the “My Watch” tab.
Select “General”, then tap “Reset”.
Choose “Erase Apple Watch Content and Settings”.
If prompted, enter your Apple ID password, then confirm the action. Your device will handle the rest.

Option 3) Hard reset

In the event that you’ve forgotten the passcode to your Apple Watch, you can also perform a factory reset on it without the passcode by following the steps below:

Connect your Apple Watch to a power source.
Press the “Power” button until the power icon appears in the top-right corner of the screen.
Press the Digital Crown and then select the “Erase All Content and Settings” option when it appears.
Select “Reset”, then tap “Reset” again to confirm the action. Your device will then perform a full factory reset.

That is all you need to know to perform a full factory reset on your Apple Watch. Assuming you’ve followed the steps above, your device should now be reset to its factory default settings and all of your data should be cleared. What’s more, any software-based issues you were having should now be gone.

With your Apple Watch now reset to its out-of-the-box state, you can go ahead and sell it or give it to a friend or family member without needing to worry about the privacy of your personal information. Alternatively, if you’re choosing to keep the device for yourself, you can begin configuring it from scratch to enjoy a fresh start with your smartwatch.