Apple Watch Frozen While Pairing? Here's What Might Be Wrong

As popular as the Apple Watch is, it's not without its occasional frustrations. In particular, it's possible to run into trouble when pairing it with an iPhone, which is an important step in the setup process.

If your Apple Watch gets stuck while pairing — such as an outright freeze or a pairing screen that never changes — there's a good chance something has locked up one of your devices or stalled the process. This could be the result of a random hiccup (anything from a badly-timed automatic suspend process to physical movement), a communication error between the two devices, missing the most recent iPhone update, or even incorrect date and time settings.

Before troubleshooting the cause of this pairing snafu, you'll need to un-stick your devices. Fortunately, it's a simple process, and a second pairing attempt may be successful without any additional work. It all depends on what's going wrong.

It's more likely that your Apple Watch and iPhone will pair without incident, but if you encounter a freeze, this is what to do:

1. Press and hold the Apple Watch's Digital Crown and Side Button at the same time.
2. Continue holding both buttons until the Apple Watch restarts, then release them.
3. After the Apple Watch has finished restarting, push and hold the Digital Crown (or press down on the watch's screen firmly) until the Reset button appears.
4. Tap the Reset button (in some versions of watchOS, it may instead read Erase All Settings), then wait for your Apple Watch to finish resetting.
5. Once the Apple Watch has been completely reset, start the pairing process over again.

Be aware that resetting your Apple Watch will return it to factory settings, which means any apps and other data that might be saved on it will be deleted. If you don't want to lose your data, reset the watch and create an iCloud backup before attempting to reset. After that, you can reset it, pair it with your iPhone, and restore your data.

Continued freezing when you try to pair your Apple Watch and iPhone after a full reset means it's time to start troubleshooting.

1. Double-check the date and time settings on both devices and make sure they're accurate.
2. Make sure your iPhone's system software is up-to-date, and if a newer version of your current iOS is available, install it. You don't need to worry about updating the Apple Watch, as that comes after successfully pairing it with your iPhone.
3. Previous pairings may also cause problems. If your Apple Watch was paired with a different device, try un-pairing the old phone before attempting to pair it with your iPhone again.
4. Be sure to keep both devices near each other and with no objects between them. Also, try not to move them too much until the pairing is complete.

If you've tried all of the above and your Apple Watch still won't pair with your iPhone, you should contact Apple Support for additional help.