I’ve got a new phone and I no longer have my old one. I need help setting up my Apple Watch with the new phone, but I’m unsure how to do this without the old device. Any advice would be great.
Oh boy, here we go. So you’ve got a new phone, the old one’s probably off on some grand adventure, and your Apple Watch is now sitting here like “uh, what now?” Chill, it’s not the end of the world (though it might feel like it).
Here’s the scoop: without the old phone, you’re gonna need to reset your Apple Watch completely. Yeah, I know, it sucks, especially if you didn’t back it up beforehand. But we work with what we have, right? Here’s what you gotta do:
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Unpair It (No Old Phone, No Problem)
Okay, so technically you’re not “unpairing” it. Just straight-up wipe it. Go into Settings on the watch, tap General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings. Boom. Fresh start for your watch. Side note: make sure you’ve disconnected it from the old phone account first (if it was iCloud-locked). -
Pair With Your Sparkly New Phone
Once wiped, turn on the watch near your new phone. Fire up the Watch app on the iPhone, then follow the on-screen stuff to pair. Likely, you’ll need to set it up as a new watch, unless you had an iCloud backup with your watch data. If that’s the case, it might give you the option to restore. -
Re-Link Your iCloud Stuff
If the old phone’s iCloud account had some voodoo still connected to your watch (activation lock), make sure you know the Apple ID and password for that account. No ID = no access. -
Reinstall Apps + Customize Again
Assuming you nuked it and started fresh, you’ll need to redownload any favorite apps, fiddle with watch faces/settings, and get everything how you like it. Yay for remembering how stuff was configured.
Pro tip for the future: always back up your phone before switching if you wanna avoid this drama. But hey, at least now your Apple Watch will go into its new life with a clean slate.
Man, this situation really bites. Losing the old phone basically means your Apple Watch is now like, “Who even are you?” Anyway, @andarilhonoturno laid out some solid advice, but let me throw another thought into the mix: maybe you don’t have to reset everything? Well… kinda.
First off, if you were super diligent (and I know most of us aren’t), your Apple Watch should’ve been backed up automatically when your old phone backed itself up to iCloud. That backup lives out there in the magical cloud, waiting for you to breathe life back into it. But—and here’s the trash part—you’ll need to log into the same Apple ID on your new phone to even have a shot at restoring.
Now let’s talk dirty: Activation Lock. This is the digital equivalent of a stubborn door lock that won’t budge without that Apple ID magic. If you don’t remember your credentials (or your account was tied up in the old device), you’re kind of stuck. Apple doesn’t do loopholes here, so no hacking your way out—only passwords.
Here’s a critical thing though—resetting (which @andarilhonoturno mentioned) is legit if you WANT a fresh start. But before pulling the reset trigger, honestly, just hop into iCloud on your new phone and see if the Watch backup is hiding in there already. Saved me once, and I didn’t even realize my stuff was auto-syncing until I checked. So, don’t preemptively nuke your Watch unless you’re sure the cloud isn’t holding onto your sweet, sweet data.
But hey, let’s not pretend you’re gonna magically shortcut this if none of the above checks out. You’re in for taking apart the pairing like it’s a breakup—erase everything, re-pair, and rebuild. On the bright side, it’s kinda therapeutic to start fresh, right? (No? Just me?)