How to connect your Samsung Galaxy Watch to a new phone

Pairing your Samsung Galaxy smartwatch to your smartphone is a simple process, even more so if you own a Samsung smartphone. However, connecting the Galaxy Watch to a new phone requires a few additional steps, depending on which model you own. Here’s how to do just that.

Backing up your Samsung Galaxy Watch

While connecting your Galaxy Watch to a new phone includes a native backup solution, we’ve found that it doesn’t always work. Creating a backup of your Galaxy Watch before jumping to a new phone is a good idea. We prefer using the Galaxy Wearable app for this step, and here’s how to do it.

1. Open the Galaxy Wearable app on your phone.
2. Select Watch settings > Account and backup.
3. Select Back up data under the Smart Switch subheading.
   • If you don’t have Samsung Smart Switch installed, you may be prompted to download it to your smartwatch and phone. The app facilitates Samsung’s backup creation process.
4. Tap the data fields you wish to include in the backup. Once you’re happy, tap Back up to begin the process.

If you don’t go through this process, don’t worry, the Galaxy Watch will give you one last option to back up your data just before the new phone connection process completes.

Of course, if you want to set up your watch as new alongside your new phone, you don’t need to create a backup at all.

How to connect your new Wear OS Galaxy Watch to a new phone

With the Galaxy Watch 6 series, Samsung introduced a new ability to transfer your watch data to a new phone without resetting it. This feature first appeared alongside One UI 5 Watch and Wear OS 4, so it should be broadly available on all of Samsung’s Wear OS watches as of April 2025.

1. Open Settings on your Galaxy Watch.
2. Tap General.
3. Tap Transfer watch to new phone.
4. Read the notice on the watch.
   • To facilitate the transfer, both the watch and the phone must share the same Google account. Additionally, if you’re signed in to a Samsung account on the phone, that account will be used on the watch.
5. Once you’ve read the requirements, tap the blue checkmark to proceed.
6. Next, the watch will begin the transfer. Grab your new phone, and wait for a popup noting that a new device has been found. Tap Connect on your phone.
7. Your watch and phone will now display a PIN. Ensure that the number matches, then tap Confirm.
8. Follow the remaining prompts for setting up Google Assistant, wait for your phone to download the required software, and review permissions and privacy options.

How to connect your older Wear OS Galaxy Watch to a new phone

If you haven’t yet received the latest Wear OS update on your older watch, or are resistant to updating it, you’ll have to reset your watch before connecting it to a new phone. This will likely change with a future software update, but this is how to connect your watch to a new phone for now.

1. Open Settings on your Galaxy Watch.
2. Tap General > Connect to new phone.
3. On the next screen, tap Back up data if you haven’t already created a backup earlier. Follow the prompts on your paired phone.
4. Once the backup is complete, tap Continue to begin the reset.
   • Importantly, there are no warnings after this step. Tapping Continue will immediately reset your Galaxy Watch.

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