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How to Restart an Apple Watch to Boost Performance

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It takes no more than 60 seconds to restart an Apple Watch. And doing so fixes minor watchOS glitches and performance issues without erasing your settings, personal data, and apps.

An Apple Watch doesn’t have a restart button or function. So to restart the watch, you have to turn it off and then turn it off.

This article covers the steps to turn the watch off and on, how to force restart the device, and the difference between restart and reboot.

How to Turn Off Your Apple Watch

To turn your Apple Watch off:

Turn-Off-Apple-Watch
  • Press and hold the side button until the power off screen appears.
  • Select the power icon on the top right side of the screen.
  • Tap, hold, and drag the Power Off slider to the right.
  • Wait for your Apple Watch to turn off.

How to Turn Your Apple Watch On

To turn on your Apple Watch:

turn on apple watch
  • Press and hold the side button until the Apple logo appears.
  • Enter your passcode to unlock the watch if you have one set.
  • Give the watch a few seconds to load watchOS.

How to Force Reboot an Apple Watch

Is your Apple Watch frozen or not working normally? A force restart can help fix the problem and get the smartwatch performing optimally again.

To force restart the Apple Watch:

apple wacth hard reset
  • Press and hold the side button and Digital Crown at the same time for about 10 seconds.
  • Release the buttons when the Apple Logo appears on the screen.

When Should I Restart My Watch?

Restart your Apple Watch only when you encounter a problem with it.

A restart can fix some of the most common Apple Watch problems such as syncing issues, unresponsive screen, poor battery life, freezing, an inactive Digital Crown, and watchOS software glitches. 

In my experience, restarting an Apple Watch is singlehandedly the easiest fix for just about any problem you can think of on the device.

What’s the Difference Between Restart and Reset?

The difference between restart and reset is what each function does.

Restarting an Apple Watch doesn’t erase your data, device history, or settings. Its purpose is to fix performance issues and software glitches and give your device a fresh start and performance boost.

If you factory reset your Apple Watch, you’ll lose all your data and settings and restore the watch to default. You’ll then need to reconfigure the device as a new Apple Watch or restore from an existing backup.

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Michael Jonathan

Michael Jonathan is the brainchild of Apelo Studio. He loves talking about wearable devices, and he is passionate about helping you push your wearable device to its limits.

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