If your Apple Watch's performance is lagging or its screen is suddenly frozen, the easiest way to fix it is to restart it. Although you cannot restart your Apple Watch using your paired iPhone, you can try restarting both your Apple Watch and your iPhone to establish a better connection between the two. If none of these solutions seem to work, your only other option is to force restart.
In this article, we are going to show you how to restart and force restart your Apple Watch to try to get better and faster performance from the device.
How to restart the Apple Watch directly on the screen
The only way to restart this Apple device is on the watch itself. Moreover, this method is very simple and will only take a few minutes. To restart your Apple Watch, here's what you need to do:
- Press and hold the side button on your Apple Watch.
- Wait for the cursor to appear on the screen.
- You will see three options: "Power Off", "Medical ID", and "Emergency SOS".
- Drag the "Power off" slider to the right.
- Wait a few moments.
- Hold down the side button until the Apple Watch turns on.
As you can see, you restart an Apple Watch the same way you would restart an iPhone. When you turn it back on, everything should work normally. Keep in mind that you cannot restart the device while it is charging. Therefore, if you want to restart it, you will have to remove it from the charger.
How to Force Restart Apple Watch When Frozen
If that still doesn't fix the lagging issue or your Apple Watch won't turn off, your only option left is to force restart it, also known as a hard reset.
Keep in mind that you should not force restart this device while updating its operating system. This will interrupt the OS update and cause issues with your Apple Watch when you turn it back on. However, when this Apple device is frozen, you have no choice but to force restart it.
If you want to know how this device is force restarted, follow these steps:
- Hold and press both watch buttons simultaneously.
- Wait five to 15 seconds to pass.
- When the screen lights up, release both buttons.
- Wait a minute or two.
- Hold and press the side button until you see the black screen again.
Even though force restarting an Apple Watch can fix various issues, it should only be used as a last resort. If you charge your Apple Watch, you won't be able to force restart your Apple Watch.
Reboot and you are good to go
Knowing how to restart your Apple Watch can be really handy when it's lagging, freezing, or when an app is causing frequent crashes. Even if you can't restart your Apple Watch from your iPhone, there are other things you can do to make sure the connection between these two devices is strong. Once you restart your Apple Watch and your iPhone, both devices should work much faster.
Have you restarted your Apple Watch yet? Why did you have to restart it? Let us know in the comments section below.
