How to restore your Apple Watch from a backup

If you've reset your Apple Watch® to its factory settings or unpaired it from your phone and now want to restore your apps and other data, you've come to the right place. We'll explain how it works and walk you through some simple steps.

Here at Asurion, we help people with their tech every day. From an Apple Watch that won't pair with your phone to an iPhone® that's frozen or unresponsive, we get the devices you rely on back up and running—fast. Here's how to restore an Apple Watch from a backup.

What you can back up on your Apple Watch

When you back up your Apple Watch, you save data for everything that makes your watch yours—your app settings, your Home screen layout, your Health and Fitness data, your playlists, and more.

What's not saved? Your passcode, your Bluetooth® pairings, your credit/debit cards, and your messages (unless you've stored those messages to iCloud).

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How your Apple Watch backs up data to your iPhone

When you pair your iPhone to your Apple Watch, the data and preferences on the latter automatically save to the former whenever the two devices are close to each other. This process is called a backup. It also happens when you unpair your Apple Watch from your iPhone.

Any time you back up the contents of your iPhone to your Mac®, PC, or iCloud®, your phone will save all the data from your watch too.

If you give an Apple Watch to a family member and they don't have their own iPhone, however, that watch will automatically store its data directly on iCloud.

How to restore your data from an Apple Watch using your iPhone

1. To turn on your Apple Watch, press and hold the side button until you see the Apple® logo.
2. Hold your Apple Watch near your iPhone and wait for the Apple Watch pairing screen to appear on your iPhone. When it does, tap Continue.
3. (Another way to pair the devices is to open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone and tap Pair New Watch.)
4. Tap Set up for myself, and follow the on-screen instructions.
5. When prompted, hold your iPhone so that the Apple Watch face appears in the viewfinder. This pairs the two devices.
6. Tap Restore from Backup, then choose the backup you want to restore.
7. Press Continue.