Did you decide to purchase an Apple Watch? In that case, you will probably want to pair it with your iPhone.
Pairing an Apple Watch is very straightforward, so to help you avoid problems and confusion, we will give you a step-by-step guide on how to pair Apple Watch to an iPhone in two ways. Keep reading to find out how.
How to Pair Apple Watch
Pairing an Apple Watch with an iPhone is a straightforward operation, and it can be done either manually or automatically, depending on the situation. The automatic process does most of the work, while the manual requires the user to perform several operations.
However, it is not just pairing the Apple Watch that’s important, but also unpairing one from an old device and setting it up with a new one. Problems may also occur while trying to pair an Apple Watch, so we will cover everything in the following sections.
Step-By-Step Guide
As we have said, two ways to pair an Apple Watch with an iPhone are manually or automatically. Let’s take a look at both of them in detail.
Automatically pairing an Apple Watch
The automatic pairing process mostly happens by default between an Apple Watch and an iPhone. To automatically pair the watch, follow these steps:
- Turn the Apple Watch on by holding the side button for several seconds.
- Keep the watch close to your iPhone to begin the pairing process.
- Once the pairing screen appears, choose the “Set Up for Myself” option.
- A QR code will appear, which you have to scan with your iPhone camera.
- Once you scan the code, the pairing process will ask if you want to back up data from an old watch or if you want to set up the watch as a brand-new device.
- Once you choose the preferred option, the pairing process will begin.
Note that automatic pairing is the default way to pair a new and out-of-the-box Apple Watch or a watch that has been reset to factory settings. Nonetheless, to pair an already set-up watch, you will need to do it manually, which we will cover in the next section.
Manually pairing an Apple Watch
Manually pairing an Apple Watch is done when the automatic pairing is not available or fails to appear. It is also how you pair a watch that has already been set up and used with another device. To manually pair an Apple Watch with an iPhone, follow these steps:
- First, check that your phone is set up with the Watch app.
- Turn the watch on by pressing and holding the side button for several seconds.
- Open the Watch app on your phone, then select the top-left menu item that says “All Watches”.
- Select the “Add Watch” option to pair your Apple Watch.
- You can now select the “Pair Manually” option to choose the watch device from a list of locally available devices or use your camera to scan a QR code from the watch.
- Once you choose the preferred option, the pairing process will begin.
Note that if your watch has been paired with another device, such as your old iPhone, you will need to unpair it from that device to pair it with the new one. We will cover this in the next section.
How to Unpair Apple Watch
To unpair an Apple Watch from an old iPhone and pair it with a new one, follow these steps:
- On your old iPhone, open the Watch app and choose “All Watches” in the top-left area of the screen.
- From the window that appears, press the “Info” icon next to it.
- In the info panel, choose the option at the bottom that says “Unpair Apple Watch”.
- The app will ask you to confirm your action by entering your Apple ID and pressing “Unpair”.
- Once the process is complete, your watch will be unpaired and ready to pair with a new iPhone.
Unpairing an Apple Watch with an old iPhone means that all the data and settings will automatically be backed up. The settings, watch faces, and data will be uploaded to iCloud; once you pair the watch with a new iPhone, it will be transferred directly to the watch.
Red more: How to Unpair Apple Watch
Problems That Occur During Pairing
Even though pairing an Apple Watch is a straightforward process, there are several situations in which problems may occur, and the watch will refuse to pair. Here are the most common problems we encountered and how to solve them:
Make sure your WatchOS is up to date
An outdated WatchOS is a common problem when pairing with an iPhone, especially if the phone has a newer operating system. So, if your watch is having problems with pairing or working inconsistently, check to ensure it has been updated to the latest version of the WatchOS.
Remove the Apple Watch from your iCloud account
If the watch is already added to your iCloud account, a glitch might stop it from synchronizing with the account and pairing it with a new iPhone. Removing the watch from your iCloud account might solve this problem.
Reset the Apple Watch to factory settings
If all else fails, you can try to reset the Apple Watch to its factory settings and erase all the data. Resetting the watch will also reset the pairing process, but all your data can be backed up to your iCloud account and later restored once you successfully pair the watch.
Read more: How to Update Apple Watch Without Pairing
Conclusion
Well, this is the end of this short article. Thus, if you are a tech enthusiast, you will have no problem pairing an Apple Watch.
However, if you are having trouble with smartwatch or smartphone devices and how to pair them, we hope our article has provided helpful information for you to understand how to pair Apple Watch using the two methods we described.