How to Factory Reset Your Wear OS Smartwatch

Mar. 24, 2024

Wear OS has come a long way since its inception and it has gone through several changes in recent years. Now, it sits firmly as the second-biggest wearable software platform globally, with Samsung and Google leading the smartwatch market. If you own one of thepopular Wear OS smartwatcheslisted here and want to set it up from scratch for whatever reason, here’s how you can reset your Wear OS smartwatch.

NoteBefore you begin, make sure you’ve backed up all the data. You can do so by going to Settings > System > Backup on the Pixel Watch and other Wear OS devices.On Samsung Galaxy watches running Wear OS, navigate to Settings > General > Backup and Restore.

Reset a Pixel Watch or other Wear OS watches

If you’re an Android user, Wear OS should feel like home. It carries a lot of UI traits from Android, including the settings options, making it easier to find things. Here’s where you can find the Reset option in your Wear OS smartwatch.

Samsung’s One UI Watch is a tad bit different from the vanilla version of Wear OS. This means the option to reset Galaxy Watches is located at a different place. So, let’s go the process:

Google and Samsung offer dedicated apps to control different aspects of your smartwatch from your phone. Google’sPixel Watchapp and Samsung’sGalaxy Wearableapp are the apps that you can use to manage your watch’s settings. These apps also allow you to reset your smartwatches directly from your phone.

Using the Pixel Watch App

Using the Galaxy Wearable App

If you’ve lost your Wear OS device, you can reset it using Google’s Find My Device network. Here’s how:

If you don’t want to factory reset your watch and simply wish to lock it because it has been stolen, you can use theSecure deviceoption. It will lock the device with a PIN or password and sign out the Google Account on the smartwatch. Additionally, this can be used to add contact info in case someone finds the device.

With Wear OS 4.0, Google introduced a new feature called “Transfer watch,” allowing users to transfer the Watch data from one phone to another without resetting the watch.

These are some of the ways you can factory reset or transfer a Wear OS smartwatch. What are your thoughts on Wear OS as a platform? Let us know in the comment section below.