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You are here: Home / How-to / Apple Watch Not Connecting to iPhone, How-To Fix

Apple Watch Not Connecting to iPhone, How-To Fix

By Andrew Martin 6 comments Last updated May 6, 2017

Pairing your Apple Watch with your iPhone is a pretty straightforward exercise. Once you have set up the pairing, you are usually ready to go. There are however times when your Apple Watch fails to re-pair/connect with your iPhone and leads to all sorts of problems.

Apple Watch Not Connecting to iPhone

 

Contents

  • Symptoms
  • Solutions: 3 Steps to Fix Apple Watch Connection Issues

Symptoms

The chances are that the issue is related to your iPhone. Most of the times when we have come across Apple Watch issues, we find that they all relate to some aspects of iPhone’s erratic behavior, which usually are fixed with a few changes to settings.

One way to confirm this issue is to try and pair your Apple Watch with another iPhone. If you can do this, it confirms that your Apple Watch is working fine and the underlying issue is with your iPhone.

The pairing/re-pairing issues happen because of connection issues between the two devices. These could be related to Bluetooth or Network Settings.

Please follow each of the simple steps below and check if it addresses your pairing issue. Fully charge your Apple Watch before you attempt to troubleshoot the problem. Sometimes low power issues lead to connection issues.

Solutions: 3 Steps to Fix Apple Watch Connection Issues

Step – 1 Make sure that Airplane Mode is not turned ON on your Apple Watch. Enable and disable Airplane Mode on your watch.

Apple Watch Not Connecting to iPhone, How-To Fix

Step – 2 Start with the Bluetooth Settings on your iPhone. Tap on Settings > Bluetooth. Toggle the Bluetooth ON to OFF, wait for a minute and then toggle it back to ON. Now try to re-pair your Apple Watch with your iPhone.

Apple Watch Not Connecting with iPhone, How-To Fix

Step – 3 Several users fixed this issue by resetting your iPhone’s Network Settings. On your iPhone, Tap on Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.

Apple Watch Not Connecting to iPhone, How-To Fix

Once your iPhone starts up, try and pair your Apple Watch again. Once the watch is connected and you have restored it using the backup, you should have no issues.

Restart both devices. It’s better to restart your iPhone before restarting your watch. Once the devices have restarted, check for pairing.

Unpair Apple Watch

The steps above should hopefully fix your pairing issue. If you are still experiencing the problem, please connect with Apple Support and obtain Genius help so that they assist in determining the issue and provide you the support.

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Reader Interactions

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Show 6 Comments

  1. seoa3 says

    July 27, 2018 at 3:56 AM

    I was tired of asking for people on how to do set up my apple watch. Here is where I got all my questions answered

    Reply
    • Jim Henderson says

      August 2, 2019 at 3:42 PM

      My apple watch is not connected to my i phone but my i phone says it is connected. I get now email, texts and the ping my i phone does not work.

      Reply
      • Jim Henderson says

        August 2, 2019 at 3:44 PM

        That is I get no email, texts on my apple watch.

        Reply
      • Elizabeth Jones says

        August 4, 2019 at 10:58 AM

        Hi Jim,

        First, close all open apps on your iPhone:

        1. On an iPhone or an iPad with no home button from the Home screen, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause slightly in the middle of the screen
        2. On an iDevice with a home button, double-click the Home button and swipe right or left to find the app that you want to close
        3. Swipe right or left to locate the app you want to close
        4. Swipe up on the app’s preview to close it
        5. Repeat for all open apps

        Next, close all open apps on your Apple Watch

          Unlock your Apple Watch
          Press the Side Button once
          Swipe from right-to-left on an app to close it
          Tap Remove
          Repeat for all active apps

        After closing all apps on both the watch and iPhone, restart both devices. Then test if they connect and work.

        If not, keep your Apple Watch and paired iPhone close together–like inches apart. Check that both WiFi and Bluetooth are on for both the iPhone and Watch

        Then check if you see airplane mode enabled on your watch face. Swipe up to open Control Center on your watch to check. Tap it off, if it’s on

        Next, on your iPhone, toggle Airplane Mode on, wait a minute, and toggle it off–see if your watch mirrors this information

        If nothing else helps, try repairing your watch to your iPhone.

          On your Apple Watch, tap Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings
          On your iPhone, open the Apple Watch app, tap the My Watch tab, then tap your watch at the top of the screen.
          Tap the “i” icon next to the watch to unpair, then tap Unpair Apple Watch.
          Tap again to confirm
          Pair your Apple Watch and iPhone again
        Reply
  2. Mary Keilholz says

    September 18, 2017 at 9:23 AM

    Good idea! Thank you!

    Reply
  3. Julian says

    September 1, 2017 at 12:32 PM

    I had this problem, I used the ‘find’ iPhone ping to force the connection and the confirmed in Bluetooth phone settings to confirm the watch was connected.

    Reply

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