How to Unpair Apple Watch
Unpair an Apple Watch from your iPhone to back it up, erase it, and remove Activation Lock, or erase it without the iPhone and clear Activation Lock on iCloud.com. Includes cellular plans and what the backup leaves out.
You will end up with an Apple Watch that is erased, backed up to your iPhone, and free of Activation Lock, ready to pair again or to hand to someone else. Apple says to turn off Activation Lock before you sell the watch, give it away, or send it in for service, and unpairing is how you do it.
Switching to a new iPhone is the exception. Apple moves the watch across when you set up the new iPhone from a backup of the old one, and you only need to unpair if the new iPhone asks you to start pairing.
Steps 1 to 6 use the paired iPhone. If you no longer have it, step 7 erases the watch from the watch itself and clears Activation Lock on the web.
We checked every step against Apple's support articles and the iCloud User Guide in October 2026, when iOS 27 and watchOS 27 were current. We did not run them on a watch.
Keep your Apple Watch and iPhone close together
Keep your Apple Watch and iPhone close together, with the iPhone unlocked, until the unpair finishes. Apple lists two things to know before you begin. One is your Apple Watch passcode. The other is your Apple Account password, which step 5 uses to turn off Activation Lock. If you forgot the password, reset it before you start, because the unpair cannot remove Activation Lock without it.
Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone
On your iPhone, open the Apple Watch app. Go to the My Watch tab at the bottom of the screen, then tap All Watches at the top to see every Apple Watch paired with your iPhone.
Tap the info button next to your watch
Find the watch you want to unpair in the list and tap the info button (the small circled "i") to the right of its name. Apple's Activation Lock article calls it the More Info button. This screen also shows whether Activation Lock is on. If you see Find My Apple Watch, it is on, and step 5 turns it off.
Tap Unpair Apple Watch
Tap Unpair Apple Watch, then tap Unpair [your watch name] to confirm. This is the route Apple documents for unpairing and erasing, and it removes Activation Lock as part of the unpair. If your Apple Watch has a cellular plan, choose whether to keep or remove it.
Good to know: If you will pair this watch with your iPhone again, keep the plan. If you are selling or giving the watch away, remove it. Removing the plan does not cancel your carrier subscription, which FAQ 3 below covers.
Enter your Apple Account password
Do not cancel at this screen if the watch is leaving your hands. The password turns off Activation Lock, the Find My feature that requires your Apple Account and password before anyone can pair the watch with a new iPhone and use it. If Activation Lock stays on, a new owner cannot set up the watch. Type your Apple Account password (formerly Apple ID), then tap Unpair.
Heads up: If the screen asks for the password of an Apple Account that is not yours, the watch is linked to that account. Its owner has to enter the password here, or clear Activation Lock with the web steps in step 7 from their own account.
Wait for the unpair to finish
Before it erases the watch, your iPhone backs it up so the latest data is saved. Apple's list covers your clock-face settings and customizations, settings for built-in and third-party apps, general system settings like brightness and haptics, and Health and Fitness data including workout and activity calibration. The watch backup is stored inside your iPhone's own backup, and Apple says Health and Fitness data is saved only when you back up the iPhone to iCloud or as an encrypted backup on your computer. Apple lists five things that are not in it: Bluetooth pairings, the credit and debit cards you use for Apple Pay, the watch passcode itself, Messages, and information that syncs to iCloud anyway, like Voice Memos recordings. Expect to re-pair your headphones and re-add your cards when you set the watch up again. After it unpairs, Apple says you can set the watch up again, or turn it off if you are selling it or giving it away.
If you do not have your iPhone, erase the watch and clear Activation Lock online
If you do not have the iPhone your watch is paired with, erase the watch from the watch itself. Apple says this erases the watch but does not remove Activation Lock, and that it is best to unpair with the iPhone if you are selling or giving the watch away. Apple also documents no fresh backup for this erase. The watch backs up to its paired iPhone automatically when the two are near each other, so what you can restore later is whatever it backed up last. On your Apple Watch, open Settings, then tap General, then Reset, then Erase All Content and Settings. Enter your passcode if prompted. If your watch has a cellular plan, choose whether to keep or remove it. Then tap Erase All to confirm. Then clear Activation Lock on the web, and erase the watch there before you remove it. Do not click Remove This Device on its own. The iCloud User Guide says that a device that is online cannot be removed that way, and that on an offline device, Activation Lock comes back if the device comes online after 30 days while it is still signed in to your Apple Account. Apple's steps to clear it are to go to iCloud.com/find, sign in with your Apple Account, click the watch under All Devices, click Erase, and once it is erased, click the Remove button that appears under it, then click Continue. The iCloud User Guide says to leave out the phone number and message, because the watch is not lost. If the watch is offline, the erase starts the next time it comes online, and Apple emails you when it is done.
Heads up: If you already sold or gave away the watch without unpairing it, the same web steps remove Activation Lock without the watch in your hands. The iCloud User Guide names that case.
If the unpair stops at the password screen, reset your Apple Account password and start again from step 4. If a new owner reports that the watch asks for your Apple Account, run the web steps in step 7 from any computer. If you removed the cellular plan and will not pair the watch again, check with your carrier, as FAQ 3 below explains. If the watch is misbehaving and you are keeping it, try a restart before you unpair. Our guide on how to reset an Apple Watch goes from a restart to a full erase.
Questions we get asked about this
Answers from experience, not a textbook.
Yes. Unpairing erases your Apple Watch and restores it to factory settings, so your apps, data, settings, and watch faces are removed from the watch itself. When you unpair through the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, the watch is backed up to your iPhone first. You can use that backup to restore the watch if you pair it again, or to set up a new Apple Watch.
Yes. Bring your Apple Watch close to your iPhone and follow the pairing prompts on the screen. During setup, choose whether to set it up as a new watch or restore it from a backup. A restore brings back what Apple's backup list in step 6 includes, with Health and Fitness data only if your iPhone backs up to iCloud or as an encrypted computer backup. Set a passcode again, re-add your Apple Pay cards, and re-pair Bluetooth accessories, because the backup does not include them.
Removing the plan from the watch is not the same as canceling it. If you are not going to pair the watch with a different iPhone or use a different Apple Watch, Apple says you might need to contact your carrier to cancel your cellular subscription, and that carrier fees may apply. If you kept the plan because you will pair the watch with your iPhone again, there is nothing to cancel.
Activation Lock is part of Find My. Apple says it turns on automatically when you set up Find My on the paired iPhone, and that it requires your Apple Account and password before anyone can unpair the watch, pair it with a new iPhone, or turn off Find My. Unpairing through the Apple Watch app turns it off when you enter your password in step 5. Erasing from the watch itself leaves it on, so after that, erase the watch at iCloud.com/find and click Remove once it is erased, as step 7 describes.
No. Install updates through the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, in My Watch > General > Software Update, or on the watch in Settings > General > Software Update. Unpair when you sell, give away, or trade in the watch, when you send it in for service, or when a new iPhone asks you to start pairing.
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