How do I reset my Apple Watch without factory settings?

Resetting your Apple Watch can help improve its performance if it’s running slow or acting buggy. A regular reset doesn’t delete your data, settings, or apps. But a factory reset erases everything and restores your Apple Watch to original factory settings.

If you just want to reset your Apple Watch without losing your data, here are a few methods to try:

Table of Contents

Restart Your Apple Watch

The simplest thing to try first is restarting your Apple Watch. This acts like a reset by powering it down and back on. Here’s how to restart your Apple Watch:

Press and hold the side button until the sliders appear.
Drag the Power Off slider to turn your Apple Watch completely off.

Wait for at least 10 seconds.
Press and hold the side button again until you see the Apple logo.

Restarting can help clear up temporary software glitches and give your watch a fresh start. See if this improves performance before trying a deeper reset.

Force Restart Your Apple Watch

If restarting didn’t help, the next thing to try is force restarting your Apple Watch. This performs a deeper reset by cutting power before turning it back on.

To force restart your Apple Watch:

Press and hold both the side button and Digital Crown simultaneously until you see the Apple logo.

Keep holding both buttons for another 10 seconds, then release.
Your Apple Watch will complete booting up.

Force restarting gives your watch an opportunity to overcome any frozen processes or glitches. It’s a bit more drastic than a regular restart but still doesn’t affect your data.

Unpair and Re-pair Your Apple Watch

If your Apple Watch is still having issues, unpairing and re-pairing can help reset its connection to your iPhone and associated settings. Here’s how:

Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
Tap All Watches.

Tap the (i) icon next to your watch.
Tap Unpair Apple Watch.
Follow the on-screen instructions to confirm unpairing.

Once unpaired, repeat the process to re-pair your Apple Watch to your iPhone.

This resets your watch’s connection to your iPhone and refreshes system data without deleting anything. Re-pairing can resolve connection glitches that cause problems.

Erase All Content and Settings

For a deeper reset that fixes severe software issues, you can erase your Apple Watch. This removes all content and settings but doesn’t fully factory reset the watch.

Here’s how to erase your Apple Watch:

Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
Go to General > Reset.

Tap Erase All Content and Settings.
Enter your Apple ID password to confirm.

Erasing deletes all your data, settings, and apps from your Apple Watch. You’ll have to set it up again from scratch. But it preserves the core watchOS firmware.

Restore From a Backup

If you recently backed up your Apple Watch, you can use that backup to restore after erasing your watch. This gets you a clean slate while preserving your data.

To restore from a backup after erasing your Apple Watch:

Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.

Go through the setup prompts like you just got a new Apple Watch.
When asked, choose to set up your watch from a backup.
Select the backup you want to restore from.

This will reload your data onto a reset Apple Watch. If your issues were caused by corrupted data, this should fix it.

Restore to Factory Settings

The most complete reset for an Apple Watch is restoring it to factory settings. This erases everything and reinstalls the latest watchOS firmware from scratch.

To factory reset your Apple Watch:

Back up your Apple Watch if desired, since this will erase everything.
Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
Go to General > Reset.

Tap Erase All Content and Settings.
Tap again to confirm.
Once erased, hold down the side button until you see the Apple logo.

Keep holding the side button until you see the Connect to iPhone screen.
Set up your Apple Watch again from scratch.

Factory resetting installs a clean copy of watchOS and removes all your data and settings. Only use this method if nothing else resolves your issues.

Reset Your Apple Watch Network Settings

Resetting your network settings can help if you’re having connectivity issues like trouble pairing with your iPhone. Here’s how:

Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch.
Tap General > Reset.

Tap Reset Network Settings.
Enter your passcode when prompted.

This resets just your network settings while retaining all other data and apps. Reset the network settings if you can’t connect your Apple Watch properly.

Reset Sync Data

If your activity, health, or other sync data seems corrupted, you can reset just the sync data. Here’s how:

Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
Go to General > Reset.

Tap Reset Sync Data.
Enter your Apple ID password to confirm.

Resetting sync data clears any corrupted data from your iPhone’s records about your Apple Watch. The watch data itself remains intact.

Reset Location & Privacy

Resetting your location and privacy settings can help if you’re having location or privacy-related issues.

To reset these settings:

Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch.

Go to General > Reset.
Tap Reset Location & Privacy.
Enter your passcode when prompted.

This resets your location services and privacy settings while keeping other data in place.

Reset Keyboard Dictionary

If your Apple Watch keyboard suggestions seem off, reset the keyboard dictionary like so:

Open Settings on your Apple Watch.

Go to General > Reset.
Tap Reset Keyboard Dictionary.
Confirm to erase what your keyboard has learned.

Resetting the keyboard dictionary erases your custom words and learned words. This can fix odd behavior with dictation or suggestions.

Reset Home Screen Layout

To reset your home screen layout back to default:

Open Settings on your Apple Watch.

Go to General > Reset.
Tap Reset Home Screen Layout.
Confirm to reset the layout.

This returns your home screen icons to their default placements. Use it if things get disorganized.

Restore From a Backup

If none of those reset options work, you can restore your Apple Watch from a backup. This gives you a clean slate while preserving your data.

Follow these steps:

Back up your Apple Watch to iCloud or iTunes.
Erase your Apple Watch completely.
Re-pair your watch with your iPhone.

Choose to restore from your backup during setup.

As long as you have a good backup, you can reset your Apple Watch without losing personal data this way.

Get Support From Apple

If you still can’t get your Apple Watch working normally, seek support from Apple. Contact Apple Support online or take your watch to an Apple Store. They can diagnose hardware vs. software issues and restore your watch if needed.

As a last resort, you may need to send your Apple Watch in for service if resets don’t improve the performance. But try all the reset options first before taking that step.

Conclusion

Resetting your Apple Watch can often resolve many common issues with performance, connectivity, and glitches. Try easier resets like restarting first before erasing data or factory resetting. Back up your data so you can restore it after resetting. Reach out to Apple for help if you can’t get your Apple Watch working well again through resets.