After much anticipation, the first batch of Apple Watch orders began arriving to customers today. In this how-to article, we will discuss how to setup the Apple Watch and pair it with your iPhone.
The first thing you need to do is power on the device. To do so, press and hold the side button for two to three seconds until the white Apple logo appears, as shown in the picture above. When it is booted, you must select the language of the device by tapping on your answer.
The next screen on the Apple Watch tells you to open up the Apple Watch app located on your iPhone, which automatically was automatically installed to your phone when you updated to iOS 8.2. On the Apple Watch, tap on “Start Pairing.”
When you tap on “Start Pairing” on the Apple Watch, a blue psychedelic animation appears on the watch.
Open up the app on the iPhone and select “Start Pairing.”
From here, you have two different options to perform the setup: automatically with the camera or manually. When you do it with the camera, hold the phone above the Apple Watch, and make sure the yellow box on the screen matches up with the Apple Watch and it will automatically pair. The other option is to manually setup your Watch. On the Watch, pressing the white “i” in the lower right hand corner will bring up the information screen, which displays the name of your Apple Watch. Then on the phone app press the “Pair Apple Watch Manually” button and manually type in the numbers that appear on the screen.
After performing those steps, your Apple Watch is now paired to your iPhone.
The setup process then continues with the Apple Watch app by pressing the “Set Up Apple Watch” button. The next screen asks on which wrist you plan to wear you Apple Watch.
Select your answer and then agree to the terms and conditions of the Apple Watch.
After agreeing to the terms and conditions, enter in your Apple ID password in the grey box by tapping on the word “Enter Password.”
The next step tells you that your Apple Watch uses Location Services and explains the benefits of the feature. There is no option to turn off Location Services. Press “OK” to continue to the next step.
The next screen tells you that Siri is used on your Watch and explains that it is capable of being used for making phone calls and sending text messages. There is no option to not use Siri. Press “OK” to continue.
The next step is to decide whether or not you want to send diagnostic and usage data to Apple to help improve the Apple Watch.
Then you have the option to create a passcode for the Apple Watch. This is only used when you take off your watch and then put it back on your wrist. It is meant to help protect data stored on the Watch in case it is lost or stolen.
Adding a passcode on your watch is an optional step. If you decide to add a passcode, press the “Create a Passcode” button. The Apple Watch app tells you to go onto your watch and enter the passcode there. You enter the passcode two times on the Apple Watch to confirm it.
With the passcode, you have the option to unlock it from your iPhone. This means that when you unlock your iPhone, it will also unlock your Apple Watch while you are wearing it. If you are not wearing the Apple Watch, you will have to enter the passcode even if you unlocked your iPhone. To continue choose either “Yes” or “No” on the Apple Watch. You can always change your mind about using a passcode from the Apple Watch app.
Next, you have the option to download the watch versions of the apps that you already have installed on your iPhone. You also have the option to manually install the apps on the Apple Watch at a later point.
The last step involves syncing the data from iCloud and downloading the apps if you decided to do so in the previous step. From iCloud, your contacts, calendars, Passbook, and favorite photos that are stored in iCloud Photo Library are synced. It also sets up all the email accounts that are on your iPhone, even the ones that are not with iCloud. This step might take a while.
Your Watch will then buzz on your wrist when it is done. Enjoy your new Apple Watch. Make sure you follow 9to5Mac for more how-tos on the Apple Watch.
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My question to this is how does the watch work when paired to an iphone and say my car’s bluetooth? I love to be able to get in my car and hit my pandora starts playing. Will the watch pairing interfere with the phone connecting to my car? Does anyone know how this works?
Yeah it works perfectly. You can connect to bluetooth with all your devices. Additionally, if you ask the watch to play music, and it natively plays it in the car, it will play in the car. Same with your phone. Basically it just works.
I’m afraid that;s not the case with the car systems which allow you to answer your phone. If you have the apple watch on and you enter your car, you will not be able to make nor receive phone calls via the car’s Bluetooth system. This is a confirmed issue all over the forums. I spent 20 minutes with Apple support and they confirmed it was not possible and that this would be addressed in a future update.
There seems to be a big problem with the pass code approach on the apple watch. I cannot get it to accept a passcode. When I try 4 digit it says I need 8 digits, yet the apple support team says it’s only a 4 digit. Also, they only allow digits, not alphanumeric pass codes. The problem for most people that work in government or corporations is that they have strict security policies that are enforced via installed iphone policy profiles that require 8 character, alphanumeric pass codes. In short, the apple watch is not mirroring the iphone security policy for pass codes …. That can become a big problem. No pass code on the watch, then security policies like email / calendar access are violated. And we cannot use apple pay (requires a passcode). Any ideas on how to fix!
Wow, your iPhone battery went from 86% to 23% while writing 1 paragraph and pasting in 4 pics¿
Pulling your leg here Sarah, good article. One thing, can the Watch be activated without an iPhone?
Question: Has there been any word on larger bands? I’m going in for a fitting just to be sure, but I don’t think the current bands support “Hill Giants” as a user. Max size I see on the chart is 215mm wrists; mine measures 228mm.
My gorgeous Apple Watch arrived yesterday (SS 42 with black sports band). Powered it up…went to select the language … nothing! The touch screen was completely unresponsive! After an hour or so on chat with Applecare Support my Apple Watch now has to be returned and replaced as the screen is faulty! Has anyone else experienced a similar issue? To say I was just a bit disappointed is somewhat of an understatement!
How does one get to this magical “i” button?
Watch & phone were not working. Unpaired. Now need to do it manually except where is this “i”??
” The other option is to manually setup your Watch. On the Watch, pressing the white “i” in the lower right hand corner will bring up the information screen, which displays the name of your Apple Watch. ”
Does one have to reset the entire watch to get to it????
Question about the apple ID portion of this process. My wife and I have always shared the same apple ID for ITUNES, but we have separate Apple ID’s for ICLOUD. This isn’t a problem on our phones because there are separate login places withing the Settings. It looks like there’s only one place here on the watch setup. I’m assuming (when our watches finally arrive) we should each just sign in using our ICLOUD ID’s and the watch is just pulling apps from the phone and doesn’t need the Itunes Apple ID. Is that accurate?