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Apple watches are a great device that makes our lives much better. It is also a very reliable device. However, as good as they are, Apple watches need occasional restarts to refresh the system. So, how to restart your Apple Watch?
You can restart your Apple Watch in two ways, normal or hard. To normal restart, you long press the side button and slide on the ‘Power Off’ button. To hard restart, press the digital crown and the side button together for about 10 seconds.
This article will discuss why, when, and how to restart your Apple Watch. We also discuss some common questions about restarting your Apple Watch, such as when and how frequently you should restart your device.
When To Restart My Apple Watch?
Generally, you want to restart your Apple Watch when it does not behave normally or is not performing up to speed. You should also consider restarting your device regularly to reboot the system. Experts suggest doing so once a week.
Most Apple devices are engineered to not need daily restarting but to be able to be used day in and day out, much like an appliance.
However, these Apple devices run on operating systems, which are complicated software that operates the device. These devices operate with millions of lines of code that work in sync with each other.
However, since they are so complicated, they may have some issues along the way. Your device may freeze, become responsive or perform slowly.
Such things happen because conflicts have happened in the system, and your device becomes stuck in a logical back-and-forth loop. Eventually, the error caused the device to freeze. You may want to restart your Apple watch to reboot the system to remove these errors.
Your Apple Watch may also be running systems to ensure good tracking and recording of your data, such as heartbeat, steps, and Apple Wallet. When you run too many systems at a go, your device may slow down. Operating your Apple Watch is suddenly no longer a smooth and easy experience.
This may be a result of your device running out of RAM (Random Access Memory). You may want to restart your Apple Watch to close unnecessary apps and free up the RAM. Your device should be much smoother from then.
On top of that, you may also consider restarting your Apple Watch regularly to ensure peak performance. Experts suggested you restart your Apple Watch around once a week to reset the system and free up RAM.
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How To Restart My Apple Watch?
You can restart your Apple Watch in two ways. To normal restart, long press the side button and slide on the ‘Power Off’ button. To hard restart, press the digital crown and the side button for about 10 seconds, and your Apple Watch should restart automatically.
Normal Restart
You may perform a normal restart if your Apple Watch is underperforming or slowing down (lagging). You may be unable to restart if your Apple Watch is frozen, as the device may not respond to buttons.
To perform a normal restart:
- Press the side button and hold. You may need to do so for a few seconds.
- Your screen should then show three options: ‘Power off’, ‘SOS Emergency,’ or ‘Medical ID.’
- Slide the ‘Power Off’ button from left to right.
- Your Apple Watch should shut down by itself. You may notice a sudden dimming of the screen, from a lighter shade of black to a darker one.
- Wait around 10 seconds at least for the device to totally shut down.
- Press the side button to restart your watch, and keep pressing until you see the Apple logo on display.
- Give it some time, and the watch should boot up and be ready to wear and use. You may be asked for your passcode.
Hard Restart
You may be required to perform a hard restart if your Apple Watch is unresponsive or frozen. They may happen due to code errors in the watch’s operating system. This means you cannot perform a normal restart.
A hard restart is similar to turning off your computer with a switch instead of shutting it down. Hard restarting your Apple Watch does not remove the files inside.
To perform a hard restart:
- Long press both the digital crown and the side button. You may need to do so for about 10 seconds or more.
- If your hard restart is successful, your screen should turn black.
- After a short few seconds, you should see the Apple logo appearing on the screen again. This means your device has restarted and is booting up.
- Your Apple Watch should be wearable again after a short while when the display is back showing your home screen.
Battery Drain Method
If both normal and hard restart is not possible, you may consider using the battery drain method. It is, however, very unlikely that a hard restart is not possible.
Simply let the watch operate or leave it on without charging, and the watch will eventually die from draining all the power from its battery. You may then recharge and allow the watch to restart itself back.
Can I Restart My Apple Watch From My iPhone?
Unfortunately, no. Despite your iPhone allowing you to confirm many aspects of your watch, You cannot restart your watch from your iPhone. You can only restart your watch from your watch itself.
Once you paired up your Apple Watch with your iPhone, you can now access many functions of the watch from your iPhone. You can control text size, font, home screen display, and many more.
You may be thinking about this question because you failed to restart your watch from your Apple watch. Perhaps you may consider letting the watch run and drain its battery. The watch will then shut down. You can then recharge the watch, and the watch should restart itself.
Does Restarting My Apple Watch Delete Everything That Is On It?
Restarting your Apple Watch does not delete everything in it. This is because the data inside the watch is not removed when restarting. You only remove all data if you factory reset your Apple Watch.
When you restart your Apple Watch, what happens is that the operating system restarts itself. The operating system operates independently from the files and data in your watch. This means when the operating system restarts, nothing happens to the files.
Your files will remain on your watch if you restart your device. The only time your files are wiped from your Apple Watch is when you factory reset the watch. You do not need to factory reset your watch unless you want a completely fresh start or you are going to sell or give the watch to another person.
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Why Is My Apple Watch Stuck On The Apple Logo After Reset?
There may be several reasons: Software glitches, outdated software, or other more profound issues. The stuck logo problem could be solved by several steps such as recharging, resetting the watch, using the Find My app, and many more.
Your watch may sometimes get stuck on the Apple logo display and not move on. There might be several reasons, but the issue is usually software glitches or errors during restart or software updates.
Waiting on the logo for minutes, sometimes even hours, while you need to use the watch can be frustrating and make you wonder why you spent so much money on an Apple Watch.
Luckily, there are several options to take to get yourself out of this situation:
Wait
This might be relevant if your watch becomes stuck due to software updates. At times, software updates may take much more time than expected, so you might want to give the watch a little more time to download and install the Watch OS updates. Charging the watch may help as well here.
Recharging
Sometimes getting out of the stuck logo problem could be as simple as placing the watch on your charger. This forces the screen to display ‘charging’ mode, which may help to nudge the watch from its ‘slumber’, and function normally again.
Delete Update Files
When your watch updates itself, something might happen during the download process, causing the file to become corrupted. A sudden drop in internet speed or failure to assemble files may result in corrupted files. When your Apple Watch tries to install the file, it becomes stuck and unsure what to do.
You can reverse the file update by using your iPhone. Simply turn on your Watch app, and navigate to My Watch > General > Storage. Tap on ‘Software Update’ and select ‘Delete The Update File’.
You may notice your watch rebooting and returning to its older software version. You can then retry the update process again.
Find My App
You may also use the Find My app to ‘nudge’ your Apple Watch to work normally again. The idea here is to make your watch play sound as if you lost it and need to identify where it is. This helps the watch to display something other than the Apple logo and helps it to function normally again.
To do this:
- Launch the Find My app and then navigate Devices > Your Apple Watch.
- Tap ‘Play Sound’. Your watch may be making sounds, and the display may change.
- Turn off the sound, and see if your watch functions like usual again or not.
Hard Restart
In the worst circumstances, your watch may need to be given a hard restart, especially if it does not react to any of the steps above. You can start with executing a normal restart and move to a hard restart when all else does not work. You can use the steps from above to perform a normal or hard restart.
