How To Fix Apple Watch Not Syncing With iPhone

The Apple Watch is a great accessory if you own an iPhone. What’s more, the watch is a great activity tracker whilst also perfect to download music to or reply to notifications. However, what do you do if your Apple Watch is not syncing with iPhone?

This handy how-to guide will take you through some tips and tricks to try and fix iPhone not syncing with Apple Watch or taking a long time to connect.

Toggle Bluetooth off and on

The simplest fix is to toggle Bluetooth on and off. Check if your Apple Watch is displaying a “Disconnected” message when you swipe up on the face to access the control centre.

To reconnect the watch and the iPhone, bring them close together and then press the ping control centre option on the Apple Watch. The ping option is the phone with vibrations coming out.

Next turn off the Wi-Fi option in the Apple Watch control centre. Subsequently wait a few moments and turn it back on. Then do the same with Bluetooth in the settings menu.

Finally, restart your iPhone and Apple Watch to see if they sync with one another. If the iPhone and Apple Watch have synced then there will be a green phone icon at the top of the screen in the control centre.

Toggle Air Plane Mode if Apple Watch Not Syncing With iPhone

If turning off and on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth mode hasn’t worked, try the same with Air plane mode.

Open the control centre on the Apple Watch and turn off the Air plane Mode option. Wait a few moments and the turn it back on again.

As Air Plane mode stops signal transmission this re-syncs the Apple Watch and can force it to connect to the iPhone once again.

Log in with the same Apple ID

As your data is linked via the Apple ID it’s a good idea to log in to the same account with both your iPhone and watch.

Force quit the Activity App

Apps can still be running in the background if they are not forced to quit. In order to force quit the Activity App, press and hold the side button. Swipe each app that is open and tap the red “x” that appears in order to close it.

Software updates can solve Apple Watch not syncing with iPhone

Check to make sure that both the iPhone and Apple Watch are running the latest versions.

You can check your iPhone to update iOS in “Settings > General > Software Update”.

Furthermore, it’s also good to check that you are running the latest version of the Apple Watch App itself. Open the App and go to “Settings > General > Software Update”.

On the Apple Watch, go to “Settings > General > Software Update” and download any new version.

Reset the Apple Watch Sync Data

In order to reset the Apple Watch sync data, go to the Apple Watch App on your iPhone. Go to “Settings > General > Reset > Reset Sync Data”.

Hard reset the Apple Watch if it doesn’t sync with iPhone

If there is a temporary bug with your Apple Watch connecting with the iPhone a hard reset can solve this.

Press and hold the side button along with the digital crown simultaneously until the Apple logo appears. The Apple Watch will then go through its start up procedure and will reset itself.

Re-pair Apple Watch if it’s not syncing with iPhone

Unpairing and then reconnecting the Apple Watch with the iPhone can often fix syncing issues. This will delete the data and settings on the Apple Watch, so we’ll need to back it up before doing a re-sync.

To unpair your Apple Watch, go to the Watch App on your iPhone. Tap on the information icon next to your watch. Next, click the “unpair” option when it appears.

Follow the on-screen instructions to backup and reset the Apple Watch. In this way it should sync with your iPhone once again.