How to Manage the Apple Watch Activation Lock
Protecting Your Apple Watch
What is the Apple Watch Activation Lock and how does it work? We explain this important feature.
Just like an iPhone or iPad, the Apple Watch is an expensive device that contains a huge amount of important personal information. And since it's on your wrist, it can easily be lost or stolen.
To protect your device, Apple uses an important security feature called Activation Lock. We'll take a closer look at Apple Watch Activation Lock and highlight how it protects you.
What Is Apple Watch Activation Lock?
Activation Lock is a security measure that protects the Apple Watch and makes it useless if someone doesn't know your Apple ID and password.
There's no need to activate the feature. It's automatically turned on as long as Find My is active.
If you want to confirm that Activation Lock is active, head to the companion Watch app on your iPhone. On the My Watch tab, select All Watches. Select the i next to your watch name. As long as you see the Find My Apple Watch option on that page, Activation Lock is active.
When Activation Lock is turned on, you'll need to enter the Apple ID and password associated with the watch during certain events. These include unpairing your Watch from an iPhone, pairing a Watch with a new iPhone, or turning off Find My on the device.
Since Activation Lock goes hand-in-hand with Find My Apple Watch, there are a few steps you can take if a Watch is ever lost or stolen.
You can head to iCloud.com or the Find My app and see the last known location of your Watch and play a sound to help find it. This is much like tracking down your lost iPhone. In a worst-case scenario, you can also remotely lock the Watch and completely erase all the information stored on the device.
How To Remove Apple Watch Activation Lock
While Activation Lock is a great security measure, there may be times where you need to turn the feature off. These include when you're selling, trading in, or giving away an Apple Watch.
Turning off Activation Lock will allow the new owner to use the Apple Watch normally.
To begin,
- Open the Apple Watch app and select All Watches on top of the My Watch tab.
- Select the i and choose Unpair Apple Watch.
- For cellular models, you also need to choose Remove Plan.
It's also possible to turn off Activation Lock without the Watch nearby. To do that,
- Login to iCloud.com with an Apple ID.
- Head over to Find My iPhone.
- Select the name of the Apple Watch and choose Erase Apple Watch.
- Finally, choose the x button near the Apple Watch name.
Can You Bypass Apple Watch Activation Lock?
If you'd like to reset an Apple Watch without the Apple ID, we've got some bad news for you: it's not possible.
The only way the remove Activation Lock on an Apple Watch is to know the associated Apple ID and password.
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