How to factory reset your Apple Watch

As with any electronic device, you must erase your Apple Watch before you part with it forever. Here’s how.

If you’re getting rid of your Apple Watch, there’s one thing you absolutely must do before selling or trading it: wipe it completely to remove all of your personal data. This is an absolutely essential step, whether you have “something to hide”or not. Here’s how.

Technically, this can be done in two ways. You can use the Watch app on your iPhone or perform a factory reset directly from your Apple Watch (in Settings > General > Reset). However, if you do this from the watch, Activation Lock will not be removed, which means that the watch will still be associated with your Apple ID and iPhone. (This connection is fine when your Apple Watch is misbehaving, but that’s about it.)

For this reason, we recommend that you reset your watch from the iPhone app; this will disable Activation Lock and Find My Watch and remove your Apple Watch from the Find My app.

To do this, open the Watch app on your iPhone. In the “My Watch”section, click the “All Watches”button in the upper left corner. Find the watch you want to reset and tap the “i”information icon next to the watch name.

Then click “Disconnect Apple Watch”and in the confirmation window select “Disconnect Apple Watch << from such and such >>”. If you have a GPS + Cellular model, choose whether you want to keep or remove your mobile data plan—handy if you’re changing watches.

Next, you will need to enter your Apple ID password to remove Activation Lock. The Apple Watch will then begin the reset process. The system will first make a full backup of your Apple Watch and then start erasing your data.

After a few seconds, the Apple Watch will be reset to its factory configuration, which means you can resell or trade it risk-free.