Passcode setup greyed out on Apple Watch S7

Setup a new iPhone 14 Pro and paired Apple Watch Series 7 (had to reset the Watch because it wouldn’t pair properly as an existing device). Tried to set a passcode for the Watch (via the iPhone and the Watch), however the option to do so is disabled (greyed out). Your help is greatly appreciated! I need the passcode feature enabled on the Watch as part of a Research study I’m a participant of (via Apple Research app).

Apple Watch Series 7, watchOS 9

Posted on Jun 14, 2023 6:10 AM

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Posted on Oct 5, 2023 5:45 PM

In case people are still having issues, what worked for me was as follows:


Settings (iPhone) > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Password Changes (switch to allow)


Mine somehow got set to "Don't Allow", so once I made the switch I was immediately able to set a passcode on my watch.

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Question marked as Best reply

Oct 5, 2023 5:45 PM in response to Bklyn2LA

In case people are still having issues, what worked for me was as follows:


Settings (iPhone) > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Password Changes (switch to allow)


Mine somehow got set to "Don't Allow", so once I made the switch I was immediately able to set a passcode on my watch.

Jul 6, 2023 7:30 AM in response to Bklyn2LA

Wow, I don’t follow the logic, but thank you so much. After rebuilding at least 8 times and a fair amount of stress you solution worked perfectly.

Finally worked it out!

  • Turned OFF screen time
  • Shared across devices - ON
  • Turned OFF wrist detection
  • Waited 2-3 minutes 
  • Option to turn on passcode reenabled (yay!!!)
  • Entered a passcode for my Watch
  • Turned screen time back ON
  • Setup a screen time passcode


Oct 14, 2023 12:28 AM in response to Bklyn2LA

Hey there, this is probably a setting that is not allowing the passcode change. Happened to me and even care coould not solve it.

go to settings > screen time > content restriction > scroll down and find “allow changes” under that check if passcode changes is “ON”. If it’s on turn it OFF . Close the watch app from the background apps. Open it again and I’m sure you will have the options available to make changes.



cheers mate

Jan 21, 2024 7:42 PM in response to Bklyn2LA

I touched my Apple Watch by mistake. I have a passcode on it and it went to zoom. I tapped it twice to get it off of zoom and now the backspace button, the red one on the bottom and the enter button and the dismiss button are missing and it’s black. I can’t get it to come on. It tells me to put in my passcode and it has told me previous amount of times that I put in the wrong code and it’s the right code. What do I do?

Passcode setup greyed out on Apple Watch S7

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