Q: WatchOS 2 and activation lock not reliable
... doesn't sound to be too reliable. I experienced the following yesterday: for unrelated reasons here I did a "reset all settings" on my phone. Once the phone restarted I noticed that the watch couldn't communicate with the phone anymore (clear message from the watch app as well as apps refusing to connect on the watch). Resetting all settings on iPhone does NOT deactivate "Find iPhone"(required to activate "activation lock" on the watch) but still, to solve the issue I decided to reset the watch from the watch itself (there was no other choice) ... watch code was required ... and it worked. It shouldn't have. That's one thing. The other thing and that's worse: when I attempted to re-pair the watch with my phone I was NOT prompted to enter my Apple ID and password. This proves that activation lock wasn't on anymore. Interesting ! And no I don't think that after a full reset the watch was able to recognize my phone. Could be that the phone could identify the watch no idea ...
Another thing, today, after a restore from backup on my phone I had to re-pair my watch again (unpaired it before phone backup and restore ). It took ages until I was able to unlock the watch with Touch ID and it took ages until I saw that activation lock on the watch was on again (the option "mark as missing" in the watch app must appear to confirm). I had to restart both the watch and the phone to get things right.
Anyone experienced similar issues ? Thanks.
adding: there are two distinct screens when setting up the watch, one to just associate the watch with your Apple ID, and a second one that comes first actually stating precisely that Activation Lock protects the watch and also asking you to enter your Apple ID. I'm talking about that screen of course; it just didn't come up.
Apple Watch, watchOS 2, null
Posted on Oct 1, 2015 7:49 AM
Merely erasing the Watch is not sufficient. You have to explicitly mark the Watch as missing using the iPhone with which it is paired. Your Apple ID and password will be required to pair that Apple Watch again.
To learn how to use Activation Lock read About Activation Lock on Apple Watch - Apple Support. Read "Mark your lost or stolen device as missing".
Posted on Oct 1, 2015 8:42 AM