How to restore from previous backup?

[Caliber26]

So I got a new phone today. Instead of restoring from a previous backup I set it up as a new phone.

I unpaired my watch from the old phone and paired it with the new phone. But it wasn’t until it was finished pairing that I noticed everything was set up as new on the watch. I was never prompted to restore the watch from a back up.

I unpaired from the new phone and paired again with the old one. This time I do see a restore from backup option.

Why aren’t my Apple Watch backups showing up on my new phone? Somebody please help. ☹

 

[clairmyk]

Because you set your phone up as new... so the apple watch backups from your old phone were not transferred to your new phone.

 

[Caliber26]

Because you set your phone up as new... so the apple watch backups from your old phone were not transferred to your new phone.

Ah, I see. I thought the watch backed up independently. So this means my only option is to set up my watch as new just like with the iPhone?

 

[clairmyk]

Ah, I see. I thought the watch backed up independently. So this means my only option is to set up my watch as new just like with the iPhone?

I believe so. I set my new watch up from a back up and my messages were not there. Just my faces and the app layout... I switched to all new faces anyway so I guess I could have set up as new.

 

[Caliber26]

I believe so. I set my new watch up from a back up and my messages were not there. Just my faces and the app layout... I switched to all new faces anyway so I guess I could have set up as new.

I ended up setting up the watch as new. Fortunately, I don’t use it for much other than controlling the playback function for my podcasts and for my workouts. I only had two watch faces saved and that was easy to setup again.

My only real concern was losing all my workout data which, somehow, still made it onto my new phone, so I’m happy that was preserved without a restore.