Earlier this week, I encountered my first problem with the Apple Watch, but fortunately I discovered a quick fix for it. The problem was that my Apple Watch didn’t see my iPhone. The solution was to reset Bluetooth. Here are the details in case this happens to you.
The Apple Watch works best when it is in constant communication with your iPhone — preferably via Bluetooth, but if your iPhone and Apple Watch are too far away for Bluetooth (e.g., your iPhone is upstairs in your bedroom, but you are downstairs), they can also communicate if they are on the same Wi-Fi network. If your Apple Watch doesn’t have that Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection to your iPhone, there are some things that it can still do all on its own, such as:
- Operate as a watch
- Use the alarm, timer, stopwatch
- Play music, if you have previously synced a playlist (up to 1 GB of music) to your Apple Watch
- Track your activity (stand, move, exercise) with the Activity app
- Track workouts (e.g., you can go for a run with your Apple Watch and leave your iPhone at home)
- Display photos that you previously synced to the Apple Watch
- Use Apple Pay to make purchases
But for most of the rest of the features of the Apple Watch — such as work with apps on your iPhone, display your text messages and emails — you need to have that connection to your iPhone.
The problem that I experienced was that I wasn’t getting emails on my Apple Watch, and I looked at the display and saw that there was a red icon at the top center of the watch showing an iPhone with a line through it:
Here’s a close up view of that icon:
This icon was an indication that my Apple Watch lost its connection with my iPhone. And similarly, when I swiped up on my Apple Watch to get to the Glances view and looked at the Settings Glance, I saw an indication at the top that the iPhone was disconnected:
I knew that this should not be happening because my iPhone was in my shirt pocket — just a few feet from the Apple Watch on my wrist. They were more than close enough for a Bluetooth connection. But on my iPhone, when I looked at the Bluetooth settings, I similarly saw that my Apple Watch was not connected, even if I tapped on the entry for the Apple Watch to try to force a connection:
Fortunately, there was an easy fix. I flipped the switch at the top of the screen shown above to turn off Bluetooth, then I waited a few seconds, then I turned Bluetooth back on again. Suddenly, my Apple Watch and my iPhone found each other again.
All of this happened on Monday morning, and in the several days since then, it has not happened again. Hopefully that was just a one-time bizarre problem for me, but if it happens to you too, now you know what to do.
you can just turn on airplane mode on the watch then turn it off again..this would be easier..
I did try that, but for me it didn’t work.
-Jeff
Keep happening here.
If you fix it and it keeps happening again, I’d consider bringing it to an Apple Store to see if it is a hardware problem. If so, they could swap it out for a new one.
For me, it hasn’t happened since that one time earlier this week.
-Jeff
Does the Apple Store even have any watches right now to swap with? It happened to mine last night but I haven’t tried this fix yet since it is now running on wifi. I’ll wait till I leave home later this morning. The airplane mode thing didn’t work for me.
Yes, I have heard multiple people say that the retail Apple Stores do have stock to replace a broken Apple Watch. They just have the base unit and put your current band on it.
-Jeff
What iOS is on your phone? Is it 8.2 or 8.3? Just curious. We are seeing this with a watch as well, and have to toggle bluetooth several times over the course of the week.
I’m using the latest version, iOS 8.3.
-Jeff
I tried that as well (airplane mode). It didn’t work for me. Turning bluetooth off and back on (on the iPhone) worked for me. Thanks Jeff!
This didn’t work for me…I had to reset the watch and restore to backup. It only took about 20 min…
My wife’s watch is having this issue. Had to wipe it three times now, ebpvery few days. Recommendations here didn’t work for me unfortunately.
On phone with Apple support now.
You saved me a call to Apple!! Thanks, this worked! Hope it doesn’t happen again.
It works for me… Thanks Jeff!
My problem started after I used Airplane Mode. The my Watch keep dosconnecting to my iPhone 6 Plus. Howver, it works fine now… Hopefully permanently…
It didn’t work for me at first, but with Bluetooth turned off on my iPhone, I opened the Settings view in Glances and pinged my phone. After my phone pinged, I turned on Bluetooth and it connected.
Thanks very much. It worked.
there seems to be an issue with the Watch, mine is constantly discounted even when iPhone is close by.
I first tried airplane mode but that didn’t work. The bluetooth off did work.
Yay! Easy fix! Thank you!
It works for me, but I have to re-connect at least once an hour…
Setting the watch to airplane mode and then off airplane, worked for me. Turning the Bluetooth off and on, on the phone, didn’t.
Bluetooth reset worked for me thanks
Where is the “i” icon on the apply watch with which to manually connect with the iPhone?
Thanks great fix. This issue started for me when I upgraded to iPhone 6. Never had a problem with my 5s.
After a call to Apple support, I had to reset the watch and restore from backup to get pairing to work.
I got disconnected after a power outage at home. Your fix worked–thanks!
The Bluetooth fix worked for me. Both my phone and watch were low on power. Not sure if that triggered anything but I’ve had the watch for about a month and it was the first time doing this. Thanks!
Same problem here, but BT would not fix it, had to do a complete reset
Thanks Jeff just happened to me today and I followed your steps to get me back on track!
I’m glad that it worked for you!
-Jeff
It worked!! Thanks Jeff
Mines doing it all the time . I find turning watch onto airplane mode then switching back on again makes it work . Tried turning Bluetooth on and off first and that didn’t work
Touch screen not working on apple watch
I had the same problem – red “disconnect” sign at the top of my watch and no Chance to find the iphohne or watch.
i tried to disable/enable Bluetooth, start iphone and watch etc. – no Chance, no Connection.
in the end i had to reset my watch (over Display menu) and restore my backup. this worked fine
I just restart my iPhone, problem solved!
Perfect fix! Thanks Jeff
I’ve had this problems several times and had to reset from new once. It keeps on happening but will use your tips now, thanks!
Did anyone answer this for you? I am looking for it as well.
Hello Jeff,
For some reason, my watch and iphone did not connect using any of the methods mentioned above. I tried the bluetooth (off/on) method but the apple watch was not listed in the devices list. I also toggled the airplane mode on my apple watch and nothing happened. I restarted my iphone and did the bluetooth method but still no luck.
that is only when you pair the phone for the first time. You can see it when that cool “star-swirl” happens.
If these methods do not work, you may need to have someone at an Apple Store take a look at it. Good luck!
-Jeff
What a useless thread. Multiple variations of resetting, repairing, and recovering the phone and/or watch are suggested. I’ve tried each one of these solutions (on my own — no offense, Jeff, but your “solution” should be the first thing anyone with an iota of common sense should try), and still have the issue. Connecting to the iphone is the whole point of the apple watch, and if this functionality is buggy, then the watch is useless to me.
Thanks… that worked!!
This has happened to me twice. The first time the Bluetooth on/off worked but this time it didn’t. Thankfully the aeroplane mode on the watch on/off did the trick.
Thanks Jeff ,
I had tried airplane mode and didn’t work , but turning off Bluetooth off and on worked!
The Bluetooth trick worked like a charm. Thank you!!!!!
I bought a new iPhone 6 and an Apple Watch at the same time. The store helped me set it up. When I got home, I backed up my data onto the iPhone. After that, at some point, I noticed that the watch was no longer paired with the phone. I have turned off Bluetooth on the phone and turned back on. I have tried turning the watch on and off using both Airplane Mode and turning the power on and off. I cannot get the phone to ‘Re” pair with the watch.
When you say they are not paired, I presume you mean you have the icon with the iPhone with a slash through it, as shown above? If so, I’m not sure what to do. You might try to go to the iPhone app and unpair the Apple Watch and the iPhone. That takes a few minutes, and it returns your Apple Watch to a factory-new state. Then repair the watch and the iPhone, letting it restore from your last backup. Maybe that will get you up and running again. Good luck!
-Jeff
I had the watch now for 3 months and it only happens now. Nothing seems to work and unfortunalely, the closest Apple store is 4 hours away.
I have the same problem! Fixed only by restarting iPhone or reset Apple Watch!
So far I’ve had zero problems.
Thanks! This worked for me.
I had the same thing happen and I had to reset the watch and go through the full setup again.
Thanks. My watch and phone had their first disconnect this week and I got the same messages. Reset my watch to get them connected again… Kind of a pain. Glad that there’s an easier solution!
My watch only started this after the last update. This has to be a software issue as everything was working fine before the update.
thanks a million it worked, but it happens to me one day yes one day no 🙁
Worked perfectly! Thanks.
I had the opposite problem although with mine, the phone would say “Connected” while the watch said “Disconnected”. When I turned on Airplane mode and then turned it off again, they synched up. Bottom line: might as well try both.
I feel the earlier comment about this being a useless thread was unwarranted. I have had this problem twice, but the first time I did a reset on watch then paired it again to my iPhone. The next time I experienced the problem I found Jeff’s fix, gave it a try and it worked great. This was much less of a hassle than doing the reset. Thanks Jeff!
Glad to hear that it worked for you! It will be interesting to see if this continues to be a problem for some folks when watchOS 2.0 comes out tomorrow.
-Jeff
After trying all of the suggestions, I had to reset my watch to get it to pair. It worked but I had to reenter in all of my settings.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to write this up. Worked like a charm, and saved me from getting really frustrated with my new watch!
I am having problems with my watch not syncing with my iPhone 6 – was working fine the first week I got it but all of a sudden stopped working and has the red box with the diagonal line through it! I have turned iPhone on and off, blue tooth on and off and unpaired it but not can’t get it to recognise to pair again! Extremely frustrating – any help would be most welcome.
You’ve tried everything that I would try. Unfortunately, you might be at the point where you need help from an expert. To you have access to an Apple Store where you can bring in your Apple Watch? If so, I’d probably try that next. Good luck!
-Jeff
For the past 8 months I’ve had an Apple watch that not once lost it’s setting to my older iphone 5S.
Yesterday I got a new iPhone 6S. Two hours after I paired the watch to the phone, I lost the connection and had to do a full reset. Now today, less than 24 hours later, the exact same problem.
I’ve got an apointment with the Genius bar for Saturday. I think I need a new Phone
It works for me! Thanks! The bluetooth was turned off accidentally on my phone.
Thanks for this…worked a treat. Jeff, it has been a while since your post…has this ever happened again for you? Obviously I’m on the OS2 and have iOS9.1 Haven’t got round to upgrading to 9.2 yet. I’m hoping this disconnect was just a one off…I did have it away from my phone last ngiht and was playing with it a bit…mnaybe I tried to do something it needed the phone for so put it in this disconnected state. I’ve only had my watch 2 days.
No, it hasn’t happened to me again, but given the other comments to this post, it may still be happening to some folks.
-Jeff
The Bluetooth on and off didn’t work, but the airplane mode off on the watch then on did! Thanks!
This did the trick. I had no trouble on my old phone but with my new 6plus it had disconnected twice. Once airplane mode did the trick. The next time the other did the trick. As long as I don’t have to fix it all the time I will be happy
I tried the airplane mode fix and it didn’t work. Went to settings on my 6s and turned bluetooth off and then back on after about 5 seconds and it reconnected right away. Worked fast.
Thank you, Jeff – this is a tremendous article that solved the problem. You’ve exactly nailed the problem, and as a user, I appreciate knowing (a) it’s not all in my head, and (b) airplane mode doesn’t do it, and (c) the iPhone has to “re-discover” its watch when Bluetooth is first turned back on.
I really appreciate you posting this. And the glorious Google indexing of “apple watch loses connection with iphone” leading to this page as the first result.
Hats off to you! 🙂
Yeah, it worked! Thank you.
I tried the Bluetooth off/on and the Airplane on/off method and neither worked for me. Apple Watch showed connected, but iPhone said not connected to the watch. However, restarting the iPhone seemed to work.
Thanks! It was showing connected in Bluetooth on my phone, but the watch said it was disconnected. Turning bluetooth on and off fixed it.
i have apple watch paired with my i phone all went nice but i switched off Bluetooth then if somebody make a call to me i watch not ringing not showing who is calling what i must do kindly inform thanks
Thank you!!!!!
Amazing write up. Thank you very much
Thanks Jeff! Worked for me!
Thanks all, bluetooth worked for me.
Why does it keep disconnecting
Switching on and off the Bluetooth worked for but I need to do this several timew a day even though my phone is with me, which is a real pain. It only started happening with the update before the latest one (V3) and appears to want to connect with the wifi network not the phone, making me think it is a software issue.
Airplane mode on/off didn’t work for me. But switching Bluetooth off/on did work. This is the 2nd time my watch has disconnected. Hopefully nots long term problem. Your solution is very simple. Thank you.
Thanks Jeff. This did the trick. Loved the step by step instructions.
I have tried all suggestions. Bluetooth reset works but not for long. Even talked to Apple Care. Reset watch completely. It still unpaired several times a day. Bought my wife a watch. Now hers is doing the same thing. Apple needs to find a fix. I have $1,000 tied up in watches that don’t work.
Worked for me ….thanks Jeff for taking the time to share this!
Thank-you! This fixed my problem.
Thank you. Turning off and on Bluetooth worked!
Thankyou Jeff! Just nearly had a heart attack when this happened to me as my watch and phone were only purchased at Christmas but thanks to you the Bluetooth on/off has worked after a frantic google search and coming across your feed 🙂 any ideas why this happens anyone?
yes!!!
Thanks for the advice. I was going crazy over it this morning since this was the first time it happened. Yes, so far it’s working fine.
I have had the same problem for days, I have performed all the obvious choices you do with Apple devices, switched Bluetooth on and off several times on both devices, same with airplane mode, no luck.
Next step, factory reset on both devices and unpairing them and pairing back again, still the same. My iPhone 6 Plus has always shown the watch as being connected to the phone at all times , the watch just keeps saying searching but it never connects. I am convinced the watch is at fault, as the phone performs perfectly in ever way, the watch is only 9 months old, so still under warranty. I feel hard at making a claim under warranty, when I feel sure it must be a minor problem which could be cured easily. I live on a small Island and the Apple stores are all in England, putting me off buying another watch from Apple, a device like this should last for years, when you consider the price of them, really disappointed.
I’m tired of turning the watch and phone off and on every time I walk out of the room and leave my phone on the desk. This is a daily event and it just isn’t worth it anymore.
If it is happening every day, that might be a hardware problem with your Apple Watch. If you have access to an Apple Store, I recommend that you make an appointment and see if they can swap out your watch for a new one. Good luck!
-Jeff
I had no pairing issues for the first 8 months or so of getting my new iwatch. For the last month or so, I can rarely get it to pair -even using the methods in the article and in the comments. It’s too bad, because I loved my watch two month ago, and now I’m selling it on craigslist (no sense in keeping something that doesn’t work). Looking for a working product…
I am having problems with my watch disconnecting every time i go into the Kitchen now especially if i try and use it out there. I am connected to both Bluetooth and wifi so i give my wrist a shake and it comes back on. Very strange as only started to do this today but its annoying as i use the watch as a safety device as being disabled if i fall i can call someone. Any ideas on why it just disconnects when im in the kitchen ?
What fixes the problem is, on your phone go to Settings, General, Reset, and Reset Network Settings. Your watch should work fine.
Thanks this works and I can now see my activity on my phone
Thx. Almost 3 yrs later, this worked on my iCrap iWatch3. Astounding that Apple wanted to make me wait an hour at the “genius” bar to address an issue well know and this old.
They are losing their edge.
I also have the problem of my watch disconnecting from my phone. It is very annoying. Often this happens during a running session. Nike Run just pauses or stops altogether. Or I find out the gps was not working and tracking is completely messed up. I am highly disappointed with this, as this renders the watch useless for running. Apple what do you expect me to do about it? Find a bench, take a few minutes to reset my watch and phone while doing a workout? Not! Please make this more reliable.
Also, I often find that notifications just don’t come through to my watch any more. So I am not notified in time, missing appointments, missing sms messages etc. Am I supposed to double check every few minutes on my phone if I have not missed any messages? In that case it is easier to strap my phone to my wrist than to rely on an unreliable watch.
Very disappointed about this. It feels much like having a traditional watch that sometimes stops and thus you never know if the time is right.
This fixed mine too, thank you!