How to Pair Apple Watch to New Phone in 2 Minutes

Apple Watch owners who upgrade to a new phone often find that their watch is no longer paired. This article explains how to pair an Apple Watch with a new iPhone or iPad, and why it’s important to have the same brand of watch and phone.

You may be thinking, “But I don’t want to give up my old iPhone for a newer model!” That’s not necessary at all – in fact, you can keep your old device if you like. But before we get into that, let me share some insights about pairing your Apple Watch with your new iPhone or iPad: How do I pair my Apple Watch?

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What is an Apple Watch and Why Would You Want One?

An Apple Watch is a small computer that tells the time and tells you other information, such as how many steps you have walked or how many calories you have burned.

Some people use it to control their iPod or iPhone. You can also set alarms on your watch, check tomorrow’s weather forecast, see sports scores from recent games and more. In short, it’s an attractive device with multiple features for telling you what’s going on in your life – as well as helping you manage it better.

Why Do I Need to Pair it with My Phone?

Your watch can’t do everything without the help of your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

The watch needs an iOS device to work fully, because many features are exclusive to that platform. For example, when you create a new contact on your iPhone, it will instantly appear on your watch; when you dismiss a notification on your phone, it dismisses the corresponding notification on your watch. Many features also rely on having access to information synced from other apps like Twitter and Facebook.

Do I Need an iPhone to Use My Apple Watch?

Yes, you do need an iPhone for most of its best features. The Apple Watch Series 3 works with all iPhones but it does work best if you have an iPhone 5s or later. It also needs to be within Bluetooth and Wi-Fi range of your watch – generally this means leaving your iPhone at home and still getting your messages, calls and alerts on your wrist.

How to Pair Apple Watch with New Phone

Turn on Bluetooth on both your phone and watch
On your phone, go to “Settings” > “General” > “Bluetooth”. Turn Bluetooth on.
On your watch, go to “General” > “Bluetooth”. Turn Bluetooth on.
Select the watch in the list of devices shown in the Bluetooth menu of your phone.
Enter the pairing code (0000) into the field that appears on both devices when prompted to do so.
Your phone will then ask you if you want to trust this device (the watch). Tap “Trust” or “Don’t Trust,” depending on which you would prefer
Once the devices have been paired successfully, a small pop-up with a blue background will appear on your watch and it will say “Connected to your iPhone”9. The Pairing Complete screen will appear on your phone. Tap “Done” to exit the Pairing Mode, if it hasn’t done so automatically already
Your Apple Watch is now paired with your new iPhone!
You can adjust some settings by going into the Apple Watch application on your phone and selecting “My Watch”. On this screen you can turn on or off all of the features that have been enabled by default on your Apple Watch.

How Do I Know if My Watch Needs to be Paired with a New Phone?

If some of your watch apps start to point to a different watch, it means the new one needs to be paired. If you have notifications from some social media app that are saying they’re coming from a new phone, then the same would also be true.

How Do I Go About Pairing My Old Device’s Data with the New One?

In order to pair your old device’s data with the new one, you need to make sure that both devices are running iOS 8.1. In addition, you’ll also need to turn off Find My iPhone and reactivate it for the new device.

If you’re switching from an iPhone to an Android device, go into Settings and turn off iCloud and then turn it back on in Settings on your new phone. You will also need to sign into your iCloud account and sign out of www.icloud.com/FindMyiPhone in Safari on your phone.

To transfer data from an Android device to an iPhone, go into Settings and turn off iCloud and then turn it back on in Settings on your new phone. You will also need to sign into your iCloud account and sign out of www.icloud.com/FindMyiPhone in Safari on your phone.

Will Apple Watch Work with Any Phone? Or Does It Have to be the Same Brand as the Watch?

Apple Watch is designed to work with iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, or iPhone 6 Plus running iOS 8.2 or later.

However, if you have a different brand of phone than the Apple Watch that you want to pair it with then you will need to do a reset on your watch before pairing it to another device. This is because each device stores certain user preferences on the watch which makes it possible for apps to run on the watch.

What Happens if I Try to My Apple Watch to a Different Phone?

If you try to pair your Apple Watch with an incompatible device then the pairing process will fail and you’ll need to do another reset on your watch before pairing it with another compatible device.

Tips on How to Make Sure Your Data Transfer Goes Smoothly from Apple Watch to New Phone

We’ll go over a few tips for making sure the data transfer goes smoothly.

Make sure your new phone is using the same mobile operating system as your old watch, so you don’t have to worry about re-pairing or reconfiguring all your apps.
Download your sync profile on both devices before changing watch models. This helps with transferring active watch faces, clocks, and apps from one device to another.
Turn off any streaming services that are running on your old Apple Watch before starting the synchronization process on the new device. If possible, choose an active Wi-Fi network for start this process – it will be much faster than using Bluetooth to send over data during syncing.
If you are using Apple Music on your watch make sure to turn off sync for any songs before pairing the devices. Just select “Forget All” in order to connect your new Apple Watch with music that is stored locally on the device.
Don’t forget to sign out of iCloud services when transferring accounts from one device to another. Afterward, reconnect by going to Apple ID and iCloud settings on your new phone or watch.
If you have a lot of photos stored in the native Photos app on your old watch, transfer those images before transferring accounts from one device to another. Just connect your Apple Watch with the same account as before and launch the Photos app on the old device – pick all images you want to transfer and tap “Export” in order to save them on your iPhone. Then, go back to Apple Watch and launch the Photos app again – pick the photos you need and copy them over if needed (if they’re not already there).
If you have a ton of messages on your old watch, now is a good time to back them up. With that done, turn off iMessage and any other messaging services before setting up the new Apple Watch.
When you’re setting up a new device for use with iCloud Keychain, it’s important to decide whether you want to transfer accounts from your old watch to your new one. If you are not transferring accounts, make sure to disable iCloud Keychain on your old Apple Watch before pairing it with the new device.

Tips for Re-Pairing Your Apple Watch with a Phone

Items that you will need include a computer, your Apple Watch charger and a Lightning to USB cable.
Ensure the watch is in the OFF position and plug in the charger for 10 seconds. This will charge it enough to turn on. The battery life of your watch may not be 100% when it goes from one phone to another.
Press and hold down both buttons on the right side of the screen until you see a power off animation. This will make the watch show up as an available Wi-Fi network on your phone.
Once both devices are connected to Wi-Fi, open up your phone app and choose to manually set the time zone for your location. You can also tap “set date” under the region.
Once the time on each device has been set, it will ask you to pair your watch with the phone. Tap on “connect to iPhone” and enter in the passcode for your watch when prompted. You may need to do this one more time before both devices are paired up again.
Once your Apple Watch is paired with your new phone, you will need to go into the Apple Watch app on your phone and choose “set up as new Apple Watch” or “erase all content and settings.”
Some apps that are paired with your old watch may have to be re-downloaded. This includes calling apps, messaging apps, etc. If the apps are not downloading, check to ensure you have the same iCloud account on both devices.
Once apps are downloaded and paired with your phone, make sure your settings for that app are still correct. This includes notifications or Apple Pay settings where applicable. It is also a good idea to go into each of these settings individually to ensure preferences match up.
If you use any apps that may require additional accounts such as LinkedIn, Google+, etc., make sure you go into your settings and sign out of them on your old device before you tap “erase all content and settings” option in the watch app. The same goes for Apple Pay if you have set that up with a card.
If you use Apple Pay with your watch, you will need to keep it on the original phone it was paired with in order for the cards associated with Apple Pay to stay active.
Once you have fully transferred all of your content from one device to another, turning both devices off and re-pairing them should be a breeze. You can even do this by simply placing them close to one another and opening up the watch app on your phone.

Why Do I Need to Have the Same Watch and Phone Brand?

It is important to have the same Apple Watch and phone brands for a few reasons. For example, if you have Apple Watch and Samsung phone, then your Apple Watch will be incompatible with that Samsung phone because of the difference in hardware. That means that all your data from your Apple Watch will not be accessible with the new Samsung phone – this includes information like fitness tracking, emails, messages and more. You also won’t be able to download apps or watch a movie with a third party service.

That’s why we recommend pairing an apple watch with an apple phone – when you sync your Apple Watch to an iPhone it will automatically delete any previous data from your previous device when you switch over. It also allows for connectivity between watchOS and iOS in order to allow for a smooth transition.

Conclusion

Pairing your apple watch with a new phone can be intimidating and confusing. The process is not as straightforward as it could be, and there are many steps to take in order to get things set up properly. Thankfully, we’ve put together the ultimate guide for how to pair an Apple Watch with a New Phone that will walk you through each step of this process so that you don’t have any difficulties along the way.

This article includes tips such as: How To Start A Long Press On Your iPhone Screen; How To Tap Pair With Your iPhone When It Appears Onscreen; And What You Need To Do If You Don’t Have Bluetooth Enabled On Your Old Device (Or if it’s disabled). We also include some information on why having the same brand or type of watch and phone can help you pair quickly.

M Hamza Malik

M Hamza Malik is a writer, blogger, and engineer who loves to create, write, and share his insights about computers, products, and technology. Hamza has spent the last years reading books, tech, and computers, which brings him to writing, giving his character a spark! Therefore, PCFIED is where he started his journey professionally.