If you’re looking to sell your Apple Watch or upgrade phones, you may be wondering how to unpair your Apple Watch from your iPhone.
The unpairing process may differ a little bit depending if you want to pair the Apple Watch with another iPhone or reset it to sell it.
Regardless of what you have in mind, this guide will explain how to unpair an Apple Watch from an iPhone step by step.
What Unpairing an Apple Watch Does
Before we discuss how to unpair your Apple Watch, let’s quickly touch upon what unpairing an Apple Watch actually does.
While the two are linked, the Apple Watch knows what is going on with your iPhone, and can provide users with all of the same information that your iPhone has.
The watch will also be set in a particular manner with settings customized to the wearer’s liking.
When the devices are unpaired, there is nothing for the Apple Watch to retain. So therefore the unpairing process reverts the Apple Watch to its original factory settings.
That means that if the watch is unpaired, short of any external wear and tear, internally its settings are akin to when you purchased it.
How to Unpair an Apple Watch
You may remember when your paired your Apple Watch with your iPhone for the first time, you had to put them close to each other.
During the unpairing process, you will need to have them next to each other again. When the two are near, simply open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone and find the My Watch tab.
Before proceeding, bear in mind that if your Apple Watched is linked to a transit card that allows you to swipe when boarding buses and trains, the card will need to be prematurely removed from the watch before you proceed with the unpairing process.
If this is not an issue for you or the transit card has already been delinked, you can move to proceed with the unpairing.
Steps to Unpair Apple Watch
1. In the My Watch tab, you will notice an All Watches option. Select that and you will see your paired watch appear on the list.
2. On the right side of the watch, you’ll see a small encircled “information i” button. Tap this button and you’ll find all your paired Apple Watches.
3. Underneath you will note an option to “Find My Apple Watch” as well as “Unpair Apple Watch.” Tap “Unpair Apple Watch”
You will be asked if you want to remove your cellular and GPS plans. If you wish to pair the Apple Watch again, keep the plan. Otherwise, if you will pair it with another phone you can remove your plan.
If you will not be pairing it with another phone, you might want to cancel your cellular subscription by contacting your device carrier.
4. Once you make the choice, you will be prompted to confirm that you want to proceed with the unpairing. Confirm your action by tapping on “Unpair (your name) Apple Watch”
5. On the next screen, you’ll enter the password of the Apple ID associated with your Apple Watch to disable the activation lock. Then, tap Unpair at the top right corner of the screen.
When the watch unpairs, your phone will create a backup if you choose to restore the watch by pairing it with the phone again.
Wrapping Up
At this point, your Apple Watch will start to back up the most recent data to your iPhone. After several minutes, it will automatically unpair from your iPhone. This will also erase any Bluetooth paired device, remove all your Apple Pay cards, and delete the passcode.
You will know the unpairing was successful when you see a prompt to “Start Pairing” your watch again.
That’s it, you’ve unpaired your Apple Watch from your iPhone. Now, you can feel free to pair it to another iPhone or sell it if you wish to do so.
In case you are not keeping your watch, unpairing it will return the settings to their factory state, but anything the watch had saved on it will potentially remain.
Whether you are selling, gifting, or even trashing the watch, you will want to make sure to erase all of your data. This is an important step that you can use to protect your privacy.
We’ve put together a quick guide that will show you how to reset your Apple Watch with or without your iPhone and even if you forgot your passcode.
If you have any other questions or suggestions, we encourage you to suggest them in the comments below.
