How To Restart Your Apple Watch When It's Frozen

With the seamless functionality of the Apple Watch, it's hard to imagine that it could ever run into issues. But that's the reality of any consumer electronic, and your Apple Watch has its fair share of common problems, too. Don't worry, though. You can fix some of these issues by restarting your Apple Watch. 

Restarting usually involves holding down the side button, tapping the power icon in the upper-right corner, and sliding the Power Off handle to the right. You can also access this power-off option from the Settings. Just go to General, and select Shut Down. Once the Apple Watch shuts down, you can turn it on after a few seconds with a long-press on the side button.

But what if your Apple Watch is frozen and you can't touch the screen or use your favorite Apple Watch features? Maybe an app is malfunctioning, there's a minor software bug from a recent update, or the watch is extremely low on battery. In that case, an alternative fix is a force restart. This doesn't require a working screen, and it's pretty quick and easy to do. To force restart the device, simply press and hold both the Digital Crown and the button below it. Keep holding until you see the Apple logo, which should take roughly 10 seconds. The Apple Watch should then boot up and work normally.

If your Apple Watch continues to freeze or gets stuck on the Apple logo, you can try two other fixes. One, see if the watch is due for a software update. Go to the Watch app on the paired iPhone. Then, head over to My Watch and choose General. Check for any updates in the Software Update section. The other potential fix is to unpair your Apple Watch from your iPhone and re-pair it afterward. This resets your Apple Watch, but you can still restore its data. To proceed with unpairing, follow these steps:

1. In the Watch app on your iPhone, go to All Watches in the top-left corner.
2. Find the Apple Watch you need to unpair.
3. Press the info icon to its right.
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the details page.
5. Hit Unpair Apple Watch.
6. Tap on Unpair [Apple Watch's name] to proceed.
7. Type the password for your Apple account.
8. Press Unpair in the top-right corner.

Once the unpairing process finishes, pair your Apple Watch with your iPhone again:

1. Back on the Apple Watch app, select Start Pairing.
2. Tap Set Up for Myself.
3. Scan the Apple Watch with the iPhone camera.
4. Choose Restore from Backup to revert your watch back to its previous state.

Your frozen Apple Watch should go back to normal. If not, you may want to have it checked in a service center.