Pairing watch with new phone

[lonman06]

I currently have an iPhone 6 plus and have ordered a iPhone 6S. Can I just pair the watch with my new phone and it will keep all the current apps/settings or do I have to unpair and repair it with the new phone?

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

You won't be able to pair the Watch to the new iPhone unless you re-set the Watch (either by unpairing it from the old iPhone or doing an erase all contents and settings from within the watch).

 

[Mr.C]

I currently have an iPhone 6 plus and have ordered a iPhone 6S. Can I just pair the watch with my new phone and it will keep all the current apps/settings or do I have to unpair and repair it with the new phone?

My understanding is that you will need to un-pair it from the current phone and then pair with the new one. The best thing to do is to make an encrypted back up of your phone and restore the new one with that. Then pair the watch with the new phone. This should retain the apps and settings. This is just conjecture on my part as I have yet to do it myself. You will definitely have to un-pair the watch first as it can only pair with one phone at a time.

 

[YatBob]

1. Unpair
2. Backup 6+ to iCloud or encrypted iTunes backup, some suggested both
3. Restore 6S from backup
4. Pair

 

[iVegas]

I came here looking for info on this, too. I'm a bit confused. I like to set up my new phones as new, not restore from backup. So will I forfeit all my watch data to do that?

 

[Cowboy1629]

Step by step instructions from Apple

https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht205189

 

[iVegas]

I just got off with Apple Support. If you like to set your phones up as new then you will lose all the watch data. Only option is to restore from back up.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

I just got off with Apple Support. If you like to set your phones up as new then you will lose all the watch data. Only option is to restore from back up.

Yes, the anal retentive practice of always setting the iPhone up as new is overkill and unnecessary. You do this only if you have a corrupted backup, which can strike anytime, not just when restoring a new iPhone from a backup.

Sure, you're screwed if you actually get a corrupted backup, but this is rare. My wife and I have backups going all the way back to the original iPhone.