How to Pair an Apple Watch to Your iPhone

The Apple Watch Series 5 was released this fall and if you were lucky enough to get your hands on it, you may be wondering how to pair your Apple Watch to an iPhone. If you had an older model of the Apple Watch that you’re replacing, we’ll also show you how to unpair that device. Pairing an Apple Watch with an iPhone is easy—let Trademore walk you through the steps.

The first step in paring an Apple Watch with an iPhone is to make sure your iPhone and your Apple Watch are charged. Neither device has to have a completely full battery, but they each should have enough to successfully complete the pairing process. Also be sure your iPhone iOS is up to date—check which version you’re running by going to Settings > General > About and then scroll down to see the “Version.”

Next, put the Apple Watch on your wrist and turn it on by holding down the side button. The Apple logo should appear on the screen of the watch. Once powered up, a pairing screen should pop up on your iPhone. If this screen doesn’t appear, launch the Apple Watch app on your iPhone and tap “Start Pairing.”

From there, a screen of blue particles will appear on your Apple Watch and you will be asked to position your iPhone so that the Apple Watch is in the viewfinder. Let this register for a second and the two devices will pair.

Now that you know how to pair an Apple Watch to an iPhone, you’ll need to set up your Apple Watch. The watch itself will walk you through the process but here’s what to expect:

If your watch is cellular service compatible, the digital crown will have a red outline of a red circle. If it does not, then your watch is not a cellular model.

For the models that are cellular service compatible, you’ll activate this using these steps:

1. Launch the Apple Watch app on your iPhone
2. Tap Cellular > Set Up Cellular
3. Follow the instructions for your carrier

If you unpair your Apple Watch from your iPhone, you’re returning the watch to its factory settings. Before the watch gets erased, which happens when you reset the watch to factory settings, your iPhone will create a backup of it in case you get a new Apple Watch and wish to restore your original settings.

Launch the Apple Watch app on your iPhone. Go to My Watch and at the top of the screen, tap Apple Watch. The next screen will pop up, and you’ll tap the info icon next to the name of your Apple Watch. Select “Unpair Apple Watch.”

Pairing an Apple Watch to an iPhone is as simple as that! If you recently purchased the new Apple Watch, consider selling your older version with Trademore! For more how-to’s like this one, be sure to check out our blog.