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Prepare your Apple Watch for a service appointment

When you bring your Apple Watch in for repair to Apple or an Apple Authorised Service Provider (AASP), such as ourselves, you will be asked to prepare your device for service.



Here are three main things we recommend to do before bringing your Apple Watch in for a service:


  • Update your Apple Watch to the latest version of WatchOS.
  • Create a backup of your Apple Watch.
  • Unpair your Apple Watch from your iPhone.

Update your Apple Watch to the latest version of WatchOS

It is recommended to update your Apple Watch before a service appointment. The service provider may need to access certain features, or diagnostic tools, only available on the latest operating system. By ensuring that your Apple Watch is up-to-date, you can help us quickly and accurately diagnose any issues you are experiencing.

Prepare your Apple Watch for a software update by making sure it is connected to power and has at least 50% battery charge.

To download the latest version of WatchOS using a paired iPhone:


  1. Connect the iPhone to WiFi.
  2. On your iPhone, open the Watch app.
  3. Tap My Watch tab.
  4. Tap General.
  5. Software Update.
  6. If prompted, download the update. It might ask you to enter your passcode to verify.
  7. This process can take some time. Please leave your Apple Watch on its charger while it is updating.
  8. Your Apple Watch will restart automatically once the update has been completed.

Unpairing your Apple Watch

When your Apple Watch is serviced it will need to be temporarily unpaired from your iPhone. This is a safety measure to prevent unauthorised repairs and to protect the customer as well as the service provider. Without unpairing your Apple Watch our technicians are simply unable to initiate the repair.

For this, you will need to know your Apple ID password. If you have trouble with it, click here to learn how to reset it.


How to unpair an Apple Watch using your iPhone?

To begin, place your Apple Watch and iPhone close to each other and ensure that during the unpairing process both devices stay within close proximity.


  1. Open the Watch app on your iPhone. You can search for it by swiping down on the Home Screen.
  2. At the bottom, go to the My Watch tab. Then tap All Watches on the top left.
  3. Tap the info button next to the watch you want to unpair.
  4. At the bottom of the screen tap Unpair Apple Watch.
  5. Tap Unpair (your Apple Watch name).
  6. If your Apple Watch is GPS + Cellular, choose whether to keep or remove the mobile plan attached to it. If you want to pair it to your iPhone again, we would recommend keeping the mobile plan. If you are upgrading, giving it away, or selling it, you can remove your plan.
  7. Enter your Apple ID password to verify and disable the Activation Lock, then tap Unpair.


What happens when you unpair an Apple Watch using your iPhone?

There are a couple of methods to unpair your Apple Watch. The recommended method is via the Watch app on your iPhone.

When you unpair using this method, it will:


  • Create a backup of your Apple Watch and store it on your iPhone.
  • Remove the Activation Lock, which is required for a service provider to initiate repair.
  • Reset and unpair the Apple Watch from your device.

The backup created during this process can be used to restore the Apple Watch back to the state it was before the service.


How to unpair an Apple Watch without an iPhone

If you cannot unpair the Apple Watch using your iPhone, you can alternatively erase it and turn off Activation Lock from iCloud.com.


  1. Using a web browser, go to iCloud.com and sign in with your Apple ID.
  2. Before entering 2-factor authentication, tap on Find Devices.
  3. At the top, select All Devices, then tap on the Apple Watch that you want to unpair.
  4. First, click Erase Apple Watch. Follow the on-screen instructions.
  5. Once it has been erased, an option to Remove from Account should appear underneath the Erase Apple Watch option. Choose that option once you can see it. Alternatively, select All Devices at the top and click the X button next to your Apple Watch.

The downside of using this method is that it doesn't create a backup of your Apple Watch, which can result in data loss. Therefore, we highly recommend using the first method of unpairing your Apple Watch using an iPhone.

KRCS is an Apple Authorised Service Provider (AASP), which means that all of our repairs are done to the highest of Apple standards, our Apple-certified technicians only use genuine Apple parts, and all of our repairs are backed by Apple.


Book a repair

To book a repair at one of our service centres please click the button below. Repairs are made available for collection from where you dropped them off.