Apple Watch won't connect to your iPhone? Here's the fix!

Posted May 18, 20159 yr

If you've gotten stuck in "No iPhone connection" land, here are a few ways to fix it.

The other day, while trying to disable Airplane mode on my Apple Watch, I accidentally tapped the button a few too many times. This overzealous tapping somehow disabled my Watch's iPhone connection — no matter how many times I toggled Airplane mode on and off, it wouldn't reconnect.

If you, too, accidentally disabled your iPhone-Watch connection and can't figure out how to bring it back online, here's how I fixed my issue.

1. Restart your Watch

The first thing I tried was a plain-jane restart of my signal-challenged Apple Watch. I held the side button until the Power Off slider appeared, enabled it, and waited for the Watch to power down. When it was fully off, I restarted by pressing the side button again.

This should fix most basic problems, but just in case you run into trouble a regular restart won't fix, you can also force restart your Apple Watch — just hold down the Digital Crown and side button simultaneously for about 10 seconds.

2. Restart your iPhone

If your Watch still isn't responding, it might have something to do with your iPhone's connection. The best way to cure the iPhone of its networking ills is to restart it as well by pressing and holding on the On/Off switch. This did the trick when it came to my malfunctioning smartwatch, fixing it immediately on iPhone restart.

3. Un-pair and re-pair

On rare occasion, neither a restart on the Watch nor iPhone can cure your connection woes. If you've tried all other options, I recommend un-pairing and re-pairing your Watch from your smartphone. If you do so, you may lose some data in the process, but it should fix and lingering connection problems you may have.

Still have an issue?

If restarts, force quits, and un-pairing didn't solve your problem, it might be time to visit your local Genius Bar and have them try and address it. If you're curious about other troubleshooting tips, holler in the comments or on our Q&A page.

Apple Watch