You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Apple Watch Stuck on Enter Passcode. Reset won’t work

One morning I woke up with a weird message on my Apple Watch. It said I had too many failed passcode attempts. That was weird since I was sleeping, and definitely not entering wrong passcodes.

I didn’t mind too much though, since the watch would unlock as soon as I unlocked my phone.


Up until this morning where it wouldn’t unlock. I attempted to reset it with the Apple Watch App but that failed and ended up just unpairing but leaving the watch on the „too many tries, reset“ screen.


Now I was unable to try it again using the app, since my watch is no longer listed there.


I attempted to reset the watch by holding the side button. It did nothing (no shutdown slider) until it eventually rebooted and went to the „enter passcode“ screen. However, my (correct) password would not work. Attempting to reset with the side button caused the same behavior as before.


I would really appreciate any help on this issue.

Apple Watch Series 3, watchOS 5

Posted on May 16, 2019 11:12 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 16, 2019 11:46 PM

Please try the second procedure in If you forgot your Apple Watch passcode - Apple Support and note you MUST have charger power applied or it will not offer the Erase option. If that doesn’t work you need hands-on help from Apple, Contact Support and arrange a Genius Bar appointment.

Similar questions

2 replies

Apple Watch Stuck on Enter Passcode. Reset won’t work

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.