Apple Watch Reset – 5 ways to bring your device back from the Wonk

Ahh Technology.  Sometimes it works, and other times, you just have to reboot.  I know it’s a very Moss answer to problems, but there are times with almost everything that has a CPU where it just goes wonky and you have to restart.

Even with Apple devices.

If your Apple Watch starts acting funny – sensors not working, slow response times or it just freezes, try a reset.  Apple support pages on the below are here and here.

Have you tried turning it off and on?

Try this as a first step. It won’t cure everything, but it wont erase data either, and is quick and painless.

1. Press and hold the side button until you see the Power Off slider.
2. Drag the slider to turn off the watch
3. Press and hold the side button until you see the Apple logo to restart the watch.

Reset the watch – The old CTRL / ALT / DEL

If a simple restart doesn’t fix your issue, you can try a reboot of the device.

1. Press and hold in the crown button AND the side button at the same time.
2. Hold….Hold…HOLD (10 seconds or so)
3. The screen will turn off and the watch will reset

Sometimes you just need to start over

If you find yourself and your watch functions have irreconcilably parted ways, you might want to go back to where it all began and try and rekindle the magic.  Please note that this will reset your watch back to factory defaults and if you don’t have a backup of your watch settings, they will be lost forever.  Use caution here!

There are three ways (that I know of) to reset your watch back to factory settings.  The easy way, the slightly redundant easy way, and the hard more difficult also easy way.

Software Reset Using the iPhone Watch app

1. On your phone, go to the Apple Watch app
2. Scroll down to General
3. Scroll down to Reset
4. Tap on Erase Apple Watch Content and Settings
5. Confirm the Reset
6. Once the reset is complete you’ll have to re-pair the watch to your phone
7. In the re-pair process you will have an option to restore from backup or start as a new watch

Software Reset Using the Settings app on the Watch

You can also do this from the watch itself

1. Go to the settings app on the watch
2. Tap General
3. Tap Reset
4. Tap Erase all Content and Settings
5. Enter your Pin
6. Once the reset is complete you’ll have to re-pair the watch to your phone
7. In the re-pair process you will have an option to restore from backup or start as a new watch

Hard Reset

If your watch has become unpaired or if you need to pair to a new phone but didn’t erase the watch beforehand, you will need to manually force a device reset to factory settings.

1. Press and hold the side button to bring up the Power Off menu
2. Force Touch the Power off slider (do or do not, there is no try)
3. Touch Erase all Content and Settings on the next menu
4. Once the watch reboots you will have to re-pair / restore.

 

That’s it, hope this helps you if you’re stuck with a watch that’s acting up.  Remember, this is fun, right?