The Apple Watch is a superb device that allows you to track your fitness with ease. Everything from your heart rate, oxygen levels, sleep quality, and even weight trends is compiled as you go about your life. It’s a device that’s excellent for keeping track of your health data when you travel and is a great gift for teenagers.
The Apple Watch also has potential pairing compatibility with other devices. So, if you want to learn to pair your Apple Watch to iPad, we’ll be covering how you can pair your Apple Watch to your iPad, iPhone, and more!
Are you able to connect your Apple Watch to your iPad?
As it turns out, the Apple Watch doesn’t natively pair with the iPad, no matter if it’s an iPad mini or iPad Pro! Apple doesn’t offer support for this, mainly because Apple intends for the Apple Watch to be a complementary item to the iPhone, not its standalone product.
This assumption is fair, as many people will default to using their iPhone and Apple Watch together rather than an iPad. iPads are still primarily used for general internet browsing, reading books and comics online, and drawing. Nevertheless, unless you have an iPhone or Fitness app, you won’t be able to use your Apple Watch to its full functionality.
There are ways to view stats and real-time updates from your Apple Watch on your iPad, but the convenience of using it on your iPhone trumps it all.
What Can your Apple Watch Pair with?
Your Apple Watch only pairs with your iPhone, regardless of what Apple Watch series you have bought. As we’ve mentioned before, the Apple Watch isn’t a standalone device but rather a product meant to be used along with the iPhone.
So, unfortunately, there’s no direct way to connect Apple Watch to an iPad, MacBook, iPod, or any other Apple product that you have. That being said, don’t restrict your iPad as just a tool for playing Roblox online or drawing using Adobe Illustrator, because you can still connect your Watch to your iPad in other ways.
How to Connect Your Apple Watch to Your iPad
Before we divulge how to connect your Apple Watch to your iPad, we recommend checking that your iPad is updated to the latest software version, or at least have it updated to iOS 11.0 — any older software will not allow you to connect your Apple Watch.
Once you’ve confirmed that your iPad is updated to a version that supports Apple Watch compatibility, you’ll need to download the official Apple Watch Fitness app, formerly known as the Activity app.
This app is available on the App Store if not already pre-installed onto your device and can be downloaded on most iPad devices including iPad Pro, iPad Mini 2, 3, and 4, iPad Air, and the iPad. Once you’ve downloaded the Fitness app, follow our steps to pair your Apple Watch to the Fitness app:
- Ensure that all the Apple products that you want to use are under the same Apple ID, otherwise, your devices will not pair.
- Similarly, ensure that you have the Keychain app & Home app installed on all your devices — The Home app allows for ease of access between all your devices while the Keychain app allows you to easily log in and acts as a password saver.
- Once you’ve connected everything, your Fitness app on your iPad should have the Apple Watch open to connect to it. To ensure that you can use the Apple Watch on your iPad, it’s best to turn off Bluetooth on your iPhone until your iPad has connected.
That’s all there is to it. And while this is more legwork than connecting your Apple Watches to your iPhone, you can still enjoy the updates from your Fitness app on your iPad as you work out. If you just plan to use the Apple Watch without buying an iPhone then purchasing an iPad for cheap is your best alternative.
How to Connect Your Apple Watch to Your iPhone
Connecting your Apple Watch to your iPhone is significantly easier than connecting it to your iPad. Before we lay out the steps, ensure that your iPhone is running on iOS 11.o or higher software:
- Turn on your iPhone’s Bluetooth and place it near your Apple Watch.
- Your iPhone will prompt you to connect to the Apple Watch, which you can confirm. If your iPhone isn’t prompting you, try turning your device on and off.
- Then, navigate to your Watch app, which is a pre-installed app on your iPhone. From there, choose the “Set Up for Myself” option and you’ll be guided through several instructions that go through setting up your Apple Watch.
And that’s all there is to it! The Apple Watch requires much less for you than an iPad, and that’s by design. The iPad is not meant specifically to be connected to the Apple Watch, but instead to watch Netflix videos or play ABC Mouse with a family member.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Apple Watch is an incredible piece of technology, and we hope that by looking through this guide you’ve completed the initial setup and have gotten your Apple Watch to work properly. If you’re still experiencing snags or have any further questions, then browse through the most frequently asked questions that we’ve found online.
If you’re all set then fantastic! Feel free to browse our articles about the top 3D modeling tablets or the best tablets for engineers.
How do I pair my Apple Watch without my iPhone?
Your Apple Watch has a setup procedure that you can complete without using an iPhone. Turn on your Apple Watch by holding down the side button until you find the Apple logo. Once that’s done, simply swipe right to begin the setup process.
You won’t be able to access the Apple Watch features like making phone calls or using Apple Pay, but you will still be able to access your fitness app through the Apple Watch. You can also use your iPad to pair your Apple Watch to the Fitness app, but you won’t be able to pair your Apple Watch to the iPad.
How do I sync my Apple Watch to another device?
You’ll need to erase the Apple Watch before you want to connect to another device. Once you have, you’ll have to sign in once more, and then sync the iPhone you want to connect to the Apple Watch through the Apple Watch app.
From there, you should have an easy time pairing your Apple Watch — it’s a simple process from there. Keep in mind that you won’t be able to pair your Apple devices to your iPad, or any tablet for that matter.
Can an Apple Watch be used on multiple devices?
Unfortunately, you aren’t able to connect your Apple Watch to multiple devices at once. If you want to connect your Apple Watch to different iPhones, then make sure to disconnect your Watch first and then connect it to the new iPhone.
Conclusion
And that’s all she wrote! We hope that you’ve successfully been able to pair your LTE Apple Watches app to your iPhone or iPad. We’ve outlined the simplest and easiest ways to do so, so feel free to read through our article for further clarification.
Pairing Apple Watch to your iPad or iPhone is a superb way to track your health data through Apple Fitness, as well as other features like Apple Pay, cellular connectivity if you have an LTE connection through a cellular plan, text messages, and so much more! We highly recommend you pick one up if you have either of Apple’s products.
Want some more great articles from The Holy Tech? Check our content articles about the top tablets for streaming video or the best tablets for artists!
Writer Graham Grieve brings two decades of technical communications experience to The Holy Tech coverage. Isaac contributes articles on laptops, tablets and PCs, alongside various software and hardware guides. Isaac is a former newspaper journalist who also worked in tech communications for some of the country’s biggest corporations. He also counsels and creates material for other technology publications and hosts a podcast.
Isaac’s in-depth reporting and knowledge of hardware and software issues helps The Holy Tech’s readers learn how to choose the right products, or solve tricky problems.