Apple comes out with a new smartwatch every year, or at least they have historically, since their first one in 2015. At the moment of publishing this article, Apple has so far released eight generations and eight series of Apple Watches. This creates enough options for Apple watch lovers to choose from. Whether you are considering trading in your old Apple Watch for a discount on a new one, selling it, or giving it away, the first thing you need to do before your trade or sell your Apple watch is figuring out how you will correctly wipe your personal information and reset your Apple Watch. The fact is if you do not unpair or reset your Apple Watch, the new recipient will fail to purposefully use the Apple Watch.
Now that you have finally made the decision to trade or sell off your Apple Watch, you will need to first unpair your Apple Watch from your iPhone, turn off Activation Lock, remove all personal information and reset Apple Watch before any trade activity. The step-by-step guide below will teach you how to properly set up your Apple Watch for sale.
1. Start with putting your Apple Watch and iPhone close together.
2. Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
3. Tap the All Watches tab at the top left corner of the screen.
4. Next, tap the info button (i) next to the Apple Watch that you plan on selling.
5. Go ahead and tap “Unpair Apple Watch.” If you have a GPS + cellular model, you will be asked if you want to keep and remove your plan. Tap “Unpair Apple Watch” again to confirm.
6. If prompted enter your Apple ID password and tap unpair in the top right corner of the screen. The unpairing process will take a little while. Your iPhone will create a new backup of your watch before erasing it. When erasing a family member’s watch that is paired with your iPhone, their watch will back up to the cloud instead.
You have finally unpaired your Apple Watch from your iPhone, erased the Activation lock and reset your Apple Watch all at once. Now you can trade or sell off your Apple Watch. The new owner will then make the decision to pair their Apple Watch with their iPhone.
Sold your Apple Watch Already? Here is What you Should Do
I read a dilemma post on Twitter where an individual was worried about the worst yet to come since they had sold their Apple Watch before resetting it. Ooops!! People in the comment section were advising him to call up the new buyer to send the Watch back to him for resetting and sending it back after. The shipping costs made the proposal impossible. What other option is available if you already gave away your Apple Watch? Well, you can erase all personal data and Activation lock from icloud.com. Here is how;
- On a computer, go to Find My iPhone on iCloud.com and sign in with your Apple ID.
- Select All Devices, then click your Apple Watch.
- Click Erase Apple Watch. Select Next until the device is erased.
- Click the X button next to your Apple Watch.
Quick Note: When you erase all content and settings, it completely erases your device, including any cards you added for Apple Pay and any photos, contacts, music, or apps. It also turns off iCloud, iMessage, FaceTime, Game Center, and other services. Your content won’t be deleted from iCloud when you erase your device.
If you plan on selling or trading your iPhone, here is what you need to do before you give it away.