Is “unpair my watch” enough to re-pair an AW with another phone tied to me?

[Farrgazer]

For context, I have a work phone and a personal phone, and both are iPhones running 13.7. My Apple Watch is tied to my work phone since that gets a lot more usage throughout the day.

I’m now on holiday, so I have zero interest in following notifications on the work phone for some time. Just about every unpair/repair posts I see have to do with giving or selling the watch to someone else.

Would I need to deactivate activation lock and do the extra steps? Or is just unpairing enough?

 

[CharlesShaw]

When you unpair from the iPhone‘s watch app it will turn off activation lock. Unpairing will also create a backup of the watch on the work phone which you can restore from when your holiday is done.

I’m a big fan and advocate of the watch, but am always annoyed by how long it takes to pair/unpair. I keep a couple dozen songs on my watch for the gym and it takes HOURS to sync that playlist.

 

[waw74]

it takes HOURS to sync that playlist.

slightly off topic comment,
you know the bluetooth trick?
once you've started sync, turn off bluetooth on your phone in the main settings menu, you can't use the quick toggle in control center, as that doesn't really turn it off.
That will force your watch onto wifi, which is much faster than bluetooth. (obviously, you have to be somewhere where you know the wifi)

 

[Farrgazer]

When you unpair from the iPhone‘s watch app it will turn off activation lock. Unpairing will also create a backup of the watch on the work phone which you can restore from when your holiday is done.

So no need to deal with iCloud security and all that?

 

[Craiguyver]

So no need to deal with iCloud security and all that?

No, it really should be as simple as the reply. I've done this many times myself.

 

[CharlesShaw]

So no need to deal with iCloud security and all that?

The iCloud option is only needed when someone no longer has access to the paired iPhone but needs to remove activation lock.