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User profile for user: robgal
robgal Author
User level: Level 1
11 points

How to transfer contacts from apple watch to iphone or cloud?

Long story short phone got smashed nothing backed up on cloud however all my contacts are on my apple watch, how do I get those contacts from my watch to either the new phone or cloud or somewhere that I dont lose them? I am worried if I sync the watch to a iphone Its going to erase the watch and put whatever is on the iphone to the watch meaning nothing so I will lose all my contacts data etc from the watch. Please someone must have figured this out thanks in advance

Apple Watch Series 4, watchOS 6

Posted on Jul 20, 2023 5:04 AM

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User profile for user: Branta_uk
Branta_uk
User level: Level 7
32,666 points

Posted on Jul 20, 2023 6:14 AM

Contacts in your Apple Watch are mirrored from the paired iPhone to the Apple Watch. There is no automated way to retrieve the contacts from your Apple Watch to an iPhone which is not paired. Pairing to a new iPhone will require you to erase the Apple Watch before you can begin the pairing. If you did not have a backup before your iPhone was destroyed then it is too late now.


Your only workaround will be to record all the contact information from your Apple Watch the hard way, with a pen and paper. Open the Phone app on the watch, select Contacts then work your way down the list one at a time. You will find this rather slow so you might need to select only priority contacts and skip the lesser ones.

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User profile for user: Branta_uk
Branta_uk
User level: Level 7
32,666 points

Jul 20, 2023 6:14 AM in response to robgal

Contacts in your Apple Watch are mirrored from the paired iPhone to the Apple Watch. There is no automated way to retrieve the contacts from your Apple Watch to an iPhone which is not paired. Pairing to a new iPhone will require you to erase the Apple Watch before you can begin the pairing. If you did not have a backup before your iPhone was destroyed then it is too late now.


Your only workaround will be to record all the contact information from your Apple Watch the hard way, with a pen and paper. Open the Phone app on the watch, select Contacts then work your way down the list one at a time. You will find this rather slow so you might need to select only priority contacts and skip the lesser ones.

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How to transfer contacts from apple watch to iphone or cloud?

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