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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
That is I get no email, texts on my apple watch.
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
Good idea! Thank you!
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.