It’s important to back up your Apple Watch before you do a factory reset.
Doing so allows you to restore your health and fitness data, apps, watch faces, and settings from an existing backup rather than having to start the configuration from scratch.
You can even use the same apps and settings on a new smartwatch if you’ve upgraded to a more recent model.
How Does Apple Watch Back Up Process Work?
The back up process works in four different ways.
Your Apple Watch automatically saves your data to iCloud each time you backup your iPhone. The same process runs in the background whenever the watch is close to your iPhone.
Additionally, your iPhone triggers an auto sync process if you unpair the watch, after which watchOS wipes and restores the smartwatch to its default settings.
The other option is to back up the watch manually.
How Do I Back Up My Apple Watch Manually?
You have to pair your Apple Watch to an iPhone for automatic back up. The same goes for manual back up because your iPhone saves data from a smartwatch linked to it.
For manual back up:
Step 1: Bring your iPhone and the watch close to each other to keep them in range. Then, connect your iPhone to Wi-Fi and your watch will connect automatically to the same network.
Step 2: Go to Settings on your iPhone, tap your name, and select iCloud.
Step 3: Select iCloud Backup and toggle “Back Up This iPhone” if this option is currently off. You can choose “Back Up Over Cellular” to save your data even when your iPhone isn’t connected to a Wi-Fi network.
Step 4: Tap Back Up Now to send the most recent data from your watch and iPhone to your iCloud account.
Now if you unpair your Apple Watch, it will automatically back up data to your iPhone before erasing all data, media, and settings.
What’s in Your Apple Watch Backup?
Your Apple Watch backup includes:
- System settings, including screen brightness, notifications, sound, Siri, and haptic feedback sensitivity.
- Your last saved Time Zone.
- The layout you set up for the watch’s home screen and the order of the dock sorted by favorite or recent apps.
- Health and fitness data, which includes your workout history, achievements, and calibration data used to enhance the device’s accuracy.
- A list of photos you synced across your Apple devices.
- The settings you configured for the Mail app and the Calendar app, as well as the history for every built-in app.
- Any playlist and album you synchronized from Apple Music to your Apple Watch.
- Your current watch face, watch face customizations, and saved watch faces.
What’s Not in the Apple Watch Back Up?
The backup doesn’t include your passcode, credit or debit card information, and Bluetooth paired devices.
