Does anybody have a link to a detailed procedure to transfer my Apple Watch to a new iPhone?
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Set-by-Step procedure for transferring Apple Watch to new iPhone?
- Thread starter ^^BIGMac
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Are you suppose to unpair your watch before activating the new iPhone. It’s not totally clear so that’s why I asked.
My counsel is to un-pair; prior
.When I upped to a new iPhone (13 Mini), I neglected to un-pair; I had to jump some hoops to restore my previously-accustomed operation.
You shouldn't have to do anything before, it should be automatic. When I moved from my old Xs to my 14, my Watch was transferred as part of the migration. I didn't use the restore from Backup option, if you do you'll probably have to unpair the Watch to make sure its data is included in the Backup.
Use the Transfer option.
Use the Transfer option.
no.
I'm doing this once or twice per month:
- Set up the new phone.
- Then de-couple the watch from tho old phone (make sure you have an up to date backup, you can't do that manually, but typically the iPhone backs the watch up when they rest on a charger over night, according to undisclosed Apple algorithms )
- Put the old phone far away from the watch, or turn Blutooth off, or turn the phone off.
- Put the watch next to the new phone.
- They should recognize each other and proceed according to what shows in the Watch app on the new phone.
- It takes a while until all apps get re-installed on the watch, and until the widgets from the restored dials will populate.
You don't have to do any of that.
Turn on your new phone and have your old phone next to it. You should get a popup saying would you like to transfer info from old phone to new phone. Follow those steps and select direct transfer, your new phone should be setup like the old one. When it restarts you'll get a prompt on you Apple Watch saying do you want to pair to the new phone? Hit ok and that I'll setup your watch same as before.
Turn on your new phone and have your old phone next to it. You should get a popup saying would you like to transfer info from old phone to new phone. Follow those steps and select direct transfer, your new phone should be setup like the old one. When it restarts you'll get a prompt on you Apple Watch saying do you want to pair to the new phone? Hit ok and that I'll setup your watch same as before.
You can see why there is confusion. Lots of different opinions and options. Now I have to pick one. Really don’t want to screw this up. It’s the first time I’m getting a new phone since getting my AW two years ago.
This is the way I do it - soooooo easy.
I have 2 iPhones (a 13mini and a bigger version) and use them alternately. Once per year, I usually replace one of the phones. Just a few months ago I replaced a 13 with a 14. I was never prompted by the watch to pair with the new phone (as long as it was paired with the old one). But if it in fact works like that and maybe there was a problem on my end, then this really seems to be the easiest way.
However, my procedure works for both brand new phones or existing ones that one may want to switch to. This is what I know for sure because I did it at least 30 times already, if not more often.
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I'll throw in another wrinkle. Suppose you have already set up the new iPhone... then, what?
My Apple Watch is paired to my old iPhone, which I back up and sync to my Mac.
How do I transfer the watch info and historical data (exercise, workouts, heart rate, ECG, O2 levels, etc.) from my old iPhone to my already set up new one? I do not use iCloud for general back up. In any case, I do not see an option on my Mac or the watch for transferring watch data via iCloud. In setting up the new iPhone, I also wasn't about to transfer over everything from a 7-year-old iPhone!
If I unpair the watch from the old iPhone and, then, pair it with the new, will that bring over the watch's history? My suspicions are that it would not.
There must be a way of doing this as I'd imagine many people would need to transfer their watch data from one phone to another, say a backup or a much newer phone, and wouldn't want to restore an entire phone!
This article describes a way to do this, but it requires putting one's Health data in iCloud, something I'd rather avoid.
www.imore.com
Hope someone has a different suggestion!
My Apple Watch is paired to my old iPhone, which I back up and sync to my Mac.
How do I transfer the watch info and historical data (exercise, workouts, heart rate, ECG, O2 levels, etc.) from my old iPhone to my already set up new one? I do not use iCloud for general back up. In any case, I do not see an option on my Mac or the watch for transferring watch data via iCloud. In setting up the new iPhone, I also wasn't about to transfer over everything from a 7-year-old iPhone!
If I unpair the watch from the old iPhone and, then, pair it with the new, will that bring over the watch's history? My suspicions are that it would not.
There must be a way of doing this as I'd imagine many people would need to transfer their watch data from one phone to another, say a backup or a much newer phone, and wouldn't want to restore an entire phone!
This article describes a way to do this, but it requires putting one's Health data in iCloud, something I'd rather avoid.
How to pair an Apple Watch to a new iPhone
Pair an Apple Watch to your new iPhone in moments
www.imore.com
Hope someone has a different suggestion!
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Seems like.
I had this question a couple years ago. After reading all the different One True methods online, I decided to use this one:
1. Turn on new phone
2. Follow Apple's prompts
3. It just works
Everything was fine, my old watch continued functioning as-expected with the new phone.
A couple weeks later, I did the same for a new watch. Once again after doing my due diligence in reading all of the One True methods online.
1. Turn on new watch
2. Follow Apple's prompts
3. It just works
@Tdude96 I continue to see talk about “unpairing” the watch from the old phone. Nobody in this thread seems to be too concerned with that. Are you using the side by side method to transfer data from the old phone to the new phone?
Yes, I did side-by-side. I did take the precaution of doing an iCloud backup of my old phone beforehand just in case something went wrong, but everything was fine.
I had one weird artifact afterward. The old phone showed up with the new phone's name as a data source for the Health app, but all the data was still intact so it didn't bother me.
I had one weird artifact afterward. The old phone showed up with the new phone's name as a data source for the Health app, but all the data was still intact so it didn't bother me.
FWIW, I agree with PixelWix. I bought a new phone this year & had to transfer my watch over. I've done this in the past (last time I got a new phone was over 2 years ago. In the past, I remember transferring the watch to be a more complex procedure than it was this time. I do feel like I had to unpair & repair, but can't state for sure. I feel like Apple has improved the process in the last 2+ years to make it simpler than it used to be. (But I could be misremembering details about the past)
From my ongoing research, it seems that if you have
1) synched your watch and old iPhone;
2) backed your iPhone up via an ENCRYPTED backup to your Mac; and
3) unpaired the Watch and old iPhone;
then, that
4) on the pairing with the Watch with the new or second iPhone, you will be prompted to restore your data to the Watch.
But will that really work without turning on iCloud Watch synching?!
I can now confirm that it is not needed to do anything besides transferring the old phone to the new.
I migrated from an old to a new iPhone today, both on iOS 17.x.
Side-by-side transfer (no iCloud restore). Intentionally no unpairing of the watch before the transfer.
After app/data transfer was complete, I was prompted if I wanted to pair the watch with the new phone - yes.
Watch settings & content were reestablished 100% identical. Worked like a charm.
I migrated from an old to a new iPhone today, both on iOS 17.x.
Side-by-side transfer (no iCloud restore). Intentionally no unpairing of the watch before the transfer.
After app/data transfer was complete, I was prompted if I wanted to pair the watch with the new phone - yes.
Watch settings & content were reestablished 100% identical. Worked like a charm.