Apple has been publishing back to back support articles for the Apple Watch to help out the early adopters of its brand new smart wearable. Earlier today, we shared an article detailing how to fix an unresponsive Digital Crown on your Apple Watch and now, Apple has detailed the steps to erase an Apple Watch in a new support article, in case you forget your passcode.
If you enter the wrong passcode for your Apple Watch six times in a row, you’ll be locked out. You’ll also see a message that says to try again in a few minutes. If you still can’t remember the passcode, follow these steps to erase your Apple Watch:
Make sure you keep your Apple Watch and iPhone close together while completing these steps.
Step 1:
Open the Apple Watch app and tap My Watch.
Step 2:
Now tap General > Reset.
Step 3:
Tap Erase All Content and Settings, then tap again to confirm.
In case you don’t have your iPhone, you can use these steps instead:
Once done, you can pair the Apple Watch again with your iPhone, and restore from a backup if you have one.
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So… it’s possible to backup an Apple Watch? I didn’t know. Now the “Erase all content and settings” is exactly what a thief needs to make it its own. Anybody?
Those settings are found on your iPhone. So the thief would need your iPhone and watch to do it. Also they’d need the password or finger print for your iPhone, assuming it’s locked, in order to get to those settings.
Well, it says (at the very end):
In case you don’t have your iPhone, you can use these steps instead:
Press and hold the side button until you see the Power Off slider.
Then Force Press Power Off and tap Erase all content and settings.
So it seems that even without a phone, the watch can be reset, … then resold… Not good.
Erasing your iPhone without unpairing the watch puts your watch into a “device locked” mode if you had your watch setup to only unlock if your phone is unlocked and your watch is on your wrist.
The last part of these instructions brings you Apple Watch back from complete lock up / lock out. Thanks for the article!