Apple products are famous for the tight ecosystem that ties them together. What many users don't know, though, is that you can use your excellent iPhone to restore a bricked Apple Watch. This spares you the need to head to an Apple Store for repairs, since the latest Apple Watches don't have a port, and you won't be able to connect them to a computer. The process is simple and occurs wirelessly. All you have to do is follow the steps we've detailed below.

Restore Apple Watch with iPhone

An Apple Watch can get bricked if a software update is interrupted or fails. You will either see a red exclamation mark on its screen, or a graphic showing an iPhone next to an Apple Watch. If you see either of the screens on your watch do the following:

  1. Ensure that your iPhone is running iOS 15.4 or later. Your watch must be running watchOS 8.5 or later as well. If you don't meet one of these conditions, then the process won't work.
  2. Unlock your iPhone, turn on Bluetooth, and connect to a Wi-Fi network — preferably a 2.4GHz one, as sometimes this doesn't work on 5GHz ones.
  3. Place your watch on its wireless charger.
  4. Double click the Side Button of your Apple Watch.
  5. A pop-up will appear on your iPhone prompting you to recover the Apple Watch. Tap on Continue, and wait for the process to complete after you go through the prompts.
  6. If you've met all of the conditions and this prompt doesn't pop up on your iPhone, then you will need to contact Apple Support and potentially send it to an authorized service provider for repairs. While this hassle-free process is very useful, the company states that it sometimes doesn't work.

To avoid bricking your Apple Watch, always leave it on its charger when it's updating its operating system, and don't click any of its buttons until the software update completes.

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