How To Force Restart Or Hard Reset Apple Watch?

It may be necessary to force your Apple Watch to restart if the screen locks up.

The first thing you should do if your Apple Watch, Apple Watch 2, Apple Watch 3, Apple Watch 4, Apple Watch SE, Apple Watch 5, Apple Watch SE 2, Apple Watch 6, Apple Watch 7, Apple Watch 8 or Apple Watch ultra has suddenly stopped responding to your touches and swipes is to restart it. In many cases, restarting the watch will resolve the problem.

You will need to force your Apple device to restart if it continues to freeze and lock up after you have shut it down and turned it back on. The hard reset of an Apple Watch is also called this.

You can do this in a few seconds using this simple method. Please keep in mind that this will not affect the data on your apple watch. The Apple watch device is simply restarted.

Note: A charging Apple watch cannot be restarted, so you must unlock it before proceeding with the following steps.

Also Read: iPhone not charging. Here are some ways to fix it. [Updated]

Here’s how to restart an Apple Watch

You will see the power-off slider on the screen after you press and hold the side button
You can drag the slider to turn off the power
You should see the Apple logo after pressing and holding the side button once your watch has turned off.

Force Restart or Hard Reset Apple Watch

Trying a force restart on your Apple Watch might solve your issue if that didn’t work. Please note that this should only be used as a last resort. Force restart your watch if you are in the middle of an iOS update, no matter what you do.

Here’s how to hard reset an Apple Watch

For at least 10 seconds, hold down both the side button and the Digital Crown
When you see the Apple logo, release both buttons

Force Restart or Hard Reset Apple Watch

You will be prompted to input your passcode when your apple watch reboots. Before you begin this process, make sure you always have your passcode handy in case you forget it.

If you forget your passcode, here’s what you should do

You will need to erase your Apple Watch first and then restore it from a backup if you forget your passcode. Your paired iPhone can be used to perform this action by launching the Watch app. Select the My Watch tab if it hasn’t already been selected. Choose general, then reset and then select Erase content and settings on Apple watch.

Force Restart or Hard Reset Apple Watch

As an alternative, you can start the process of wiping and restoring your Apple watch by connecting the device to the charger and following the instructions.

You will see a power-off screen after holding the side button for a few seconds
Press and hold the Power off slider for a few seconds and then release it
Choose to Erase all content and settings option
When the process is complete, you will be asked to set up your Apple watch again. Make sure you restore from a backup before doing so.

There should be no regular freezing of your apple watch. Whenever this happens on your Apple Watch, you might want to investigate other options, such as updating its software, updating your iPhone’s iOS version, or setting it up again from scratch.

Make sure you have iOS 16.2 installed for better security

If you value security, Apple’s iOS 16.2 update should be installed as soon as possible. With iOS 16.2, a number of important security patches are included. Additionally, iCloud, iMessage, iPhone backups, notes, photos, and more will be encrypted end-to-end with the update.

Upgrade your iPhone to iOS 16 if you are still running iOS 15. As well as these patches, iOS 16 includes a number of enhancements to privacy and security.

Also, messaging and Facetime can only be done on the device that is currently in hand, as the feature resets the system privacy permissions for apps.

There have also been some improvements made to passkeys in Safari by Apple. With iOS 16, you’ll be able to sign in using a new, end-to-end encrypted method that’s secure from phishing and data leaks.

Final thoughts

In most cases, you won’t have to go through this process on your Apple watch.

We hope this guide will help you resolve how to force restart your apple watch if it becomes unresponsive if you encounter any of these problems. Please feel free to contact us if your Apple Watch remains frozen.