How to Pair Apple Watch to New Phone? (Step-By-Step Guide)

One of the most popular iPhone owners’s devices is the Apple Watch. Because they can pair it to their phone and connect to the people they care about. The best point is that if they are doing a job, walking, running, cooking, or anything else, there is no need to take out their phone from their pocket. When you are here, it means you probably know all these benefits and have gotten used to using an Apple Watch. Luckily, you recently had the chance to buy a new iPhone and now need help to pair your Apple Watch with it. So, keep reading and find all the steps to pair an Apple Watch with a new phone.

How to pair apple watch to new phone?

In this case, we imagine you had an old iPhone connected to your Apple Watch, and now that you have bought a new one, you need help to pair it again and use it. The first point you should consider here is the below items, which are necessary to pair the Apple Watch with a new phone.

Your Apple’s Apple ID and password to turn off the activation lock
Old and new iPhones, which are both connected to Wi-Fi
Apple Watch and your iPhone both with at least 50% battery charge
Apple Watch password or passcode

If you do not have access to your old iPhone, the scenario will be different, and I will explain it in the last paragraph, but now let’s explain how you can pair your Apple Watch with a new phone when you have your old phone.

How to pair apple watch to a new phone if you have your old iPhone:

Follow the below steps one by one to get a backup from your Apple Watch before pairing it with a new iPhone.

Update your old phone:

In the first step, check to see if your iPhone is up to date on its current version. If it is not, you should update it to the newest available version of iOS, which might take several minutes to an hour. Also, you should keep your Apple Watch updated.

Check Health and Activity settings:

If you get a backup from iCloud, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud and turn Health on. (Pay attention that iCloud doesn’t store your Activity Sharing data.) But if you use your computer to get a backup, you should encrypt your backup to save your Health and Activity content.

Get a backup from your old iPhone:

You can use three ways to get a backup from your iPhone: Back up with iCloud, Back up with Mac, and Back up with PC.

Set up your new iPhone:

Now, you will be asked if you have an iCloud or iTunes backup, and you must take the most recent backup to restore to set up your new iPhone by restoring your data from your old device to the new one. Here, you should see the iPhone asking if you want to use your Apple Watch, so you should put it on your wrist and keep it near the phone. If you don’t see this question, read until the end because other levels might help you. But finally, if none of them were useful, you can contact the Apple company help center.

Open the Apple Watch app on your new iPhone:

While you are keeping your Apple Watch on your wrist with your iPhone nearby, open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone. Follow the steps to confirm that you want to use your watch. Now, your iPhone will ask you to Start Pairing, and you should unpair your Apple Watch and set it up in a way that you can use your Apple Watch with your new iPhone.

How to unpair apple watch from old phone?

As you read above, one of the main tricks you should know to pair your Apple Watch to a new phone successfully is how to unpair it from your old phone, and that is what we want to talk about here. But before that, I should mention this important point: if you use your Apple Watch with a transit card in the Wallet app, remove your transit card from your Apple Watch, and then follow the unpairing steps.

How to unpair your Apple Watch when you have your iPhone:

Put your Apple Watch close to your iPhone.
Open the Apple Watch app on your phone.
Click on the My Watch tab and choose the “All Watches” option.
Then, select the info button close to the watch you want to unpair.
Choose Unpair Apple Watch and select Unpair [your Apple Watch name].
Here, you should decide to keep or remove your cellular plan for GPS + Cellular models. (When you want to pair with a different watch or iPhone, you should usually contact your carrier to cancel your cellular subscription.)
To disable the activation lock, type your Apple ID password, then tap Unpair.

How to unpair your Apple Watch when you don’t have your iPhone:

Go to your Apple Watch, and choose Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings.
If it asks you to type your password, just do it.
On GPS + Cellular models, you should choose whether to keep or remove your cellular plan. (When you want to pair with a different watch or iPhone, you should usually contact your carrier to cancel your cellular subscription.)
Finally, choose Erase All and confirm the whole process, then your Apple Watch will reset to the factory settings.

Why won’t apple watch connect to phone?

If you did all the above steps, but still don’t get notifications, messages, or calls on your Apple Watch, or if you see a red iPhone icon or a red X icon on your watch face, it means your Apple Watch and iPhone are not connected. And this could happen due to different reasons, such as:

Both your Apple Watch and iPhone, or one of them is not updated.
External devices or networks like Bluetooth or Wi-Fi may cause signal interference and prevent connection.
You couldn’t successfully unpair your watch from your previous device.
Also, sometimes, you might face this issue because your Airplane Mode is on.

What to do If you don’t have your old iPhone

And finally, I want to explain how you can pair your Apple Watch with a new phone if you don’t have access to your old phone and it is still connected to your watch.

First of all, you should erase your Apple Watch.
Turn on your new iPhone and sign in to iCloud.
Open the Apple Watch app on your new iPhone, and pair your watch with your new iPhone.
If you are sure your iPhone and Apple Watch are up to date, you should restore from a backup to keep the Activity, Workouts, or settings on your watch.
Here, you might be asked to restore from a watch backup, and you should choose the most recent backup. But if you don’t have a backup, set up your Apple Watch as new.
Then, follow the onscreen steps and finish setting up.
Finally, you can use your Apple Watch with your new iPhone, but it might take a few days for all your iCloud data to be restored.

Conclusion:

Pairing the Apple Watch and a new iPhone is a common concern for iPhone users, but it is not hard to solve. In the above text, I have explained all the details that can help you do this process easily, whether you have access to your old phone or not. And we will be happy if you share your experiences on this topic below in the comments. Also, if you have any questions, you can ask them, and we will try to find the best answer. Or you can check the linked iOS support team address in the text and contact them to ask for help on how to pair apple watch to new phone.