How To Backup Your Apple Watch (It Couldn't Be Easier)

Jeff Weisbein -

Apple has made it extremely easy to backup your Apple Watch, in fact, it’s so easy that you don’t even have to do anything. Your Apple Watch will automatically backup to your companion iPhone. So whether you backup your iPhone to iTunes or iCloud it will have the latest data from your Apple Watch and can be easily restored.

According to an Apple support document published today, here’s the types of data that is (and isn’t) included in your Apple Watch backup.

Here’s what your Apple Watch backup will include:

  • General system settings, such as your watch face, known Wi-Fi networks, brightness, sound, and haptic settings
  • Language
  • Time Zone
  • Settings for Mail, Calendar, Stocks, and Weather
  • App-specific data and settings, such as Maps, distance, and units
  • Health and Fitness data, such as history, achievements, and user-entered data (To back up Health and Fitness data, you need to use iCloud or an encrypted iTunes backup.)

Your backup won’t include:

  • Workout and Activity calibration data from your Apple Watch
  • Playlists synced to your Apple Watch
  • Credit or debit cards used for Apple Pay on your Apple Watch
  • Passcode for your Apple Watch

So it does appear a majority of the data on the Watch is being backed up, but definitely be prepared to re-sync your music playlists and re-enter those credit and debit cards for Apple Pay.

One last thing to note: If you unpair your Apple Watch from your iPhone it will first create a backup with all the latest data and then will erase everything from your Apple Watch.