How to Back Up Your Apple Watch Before Transfer
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Tested on
- watchOS 10.5 - Apple Watch Series 9
- You will need
- iPhone with iOS 17.5 or later, Apple Watch currently paired to the iPhone, Stable Wi-Fi connection
Step by step
Disable Automatic App Installation
Open the Watch app on your iPhone. Navigate to the My Watch tab, tap General, and toggle off Automatic App Install to ensure a clean sync transition.
Verify Proximity and Connectivity
Place your Apple Watch and iPhone side-by-side. Ensure both devices are charged to at least 50% and connected to the same local Wi-Fi network to facilitate the data transfer.
Note: Keeping the devices near each other prevents data corruption during the synchronization process.Initiate the Unpair Process
Within the Watch app on your iPhone, select All Watches in the top-left corner. Tap the Info button (i) next to your current watch and select Unpair Apple Watch.
Note: Unpairing automatically triggers a full backup of your watch data to your iPhone.Confirm Backup Completion
Enter your Apple ID password if prompted to disable Activation Lock. Wait for the progress bar to finish; once the watch resets to its factory settings, the backup is stored on your iPhone.
Verify Local Backup in iCloud
Open iPhone Settings, tap your name, select iCloud, and verify that iCloud Backup is enabled for your device. This ensures your watch data is also safely synced to the cloud.
Note: Your watch backup is contained within your main iPhone backup.