It’s been a while since I upgraded my Apple Watch to watchOS 7. Barring some common problems, I have had a smooth run (more or less) so far. Recently, I noticed some unusual lag on my Apple Watch. While the animation seemed to be struggling, watchOS felt too slow to deliver peak performance. It reminded me of the terrible sluggishness I had to deal with on my iPhone running iOS 14. So I decided to try out some common fixes to speed up my laggy and slow Apple Watch. If you find yourself in a similar situation, try out these tips to speed up your Apple Watch running watchOS 7 or later.

Let’s first dig into the possible reasons for the unexpected lag or slowdown of your Apple Watch running watchOS 7 or later. You can use the table below to navigate to a viable fix for your problem.

  • What Could Have Caused Your Apple Watch to Slow Down?
  • Force Quit All Apps and Restart Your Apple Watch
  • Force Restart/Hard Reset Your Apple Watch
  • Disable Background App Refresh
  • Reduce Motion and Automatic Resizing of Apple Watch UI
  • Update Apps
  • Update watchOS
  • Declutter Your Apple Watch
  • Erase All Content and Settings/ Set Up Apple Watch Again

What Could Have Caused Your Apple Watch to Slow Down?

From what I can tell based on my experience, the slow down mostly occurs due to clogged up storage and outdated software. Besides, the endless apps running in the background and the poor management of resource-hungry features are no less responsible for the sluggishness.

As outlined above, the endless running of apps in the background can drastically slow down your Apple Watch. Therefore, once you have used an app on your smartwatch, make sure to quit it so that it no longer stays in the background and eats up your battery unnecessarily.

You should take “force quitting of apps” as a habit and not as a solution here. To force quit apps, click the side button on your Apple Watch to access the app switcher and then swipe towards the left on an app card to close the app.

Whenever I run into some unexpected issue on my Apple Watch (or iPhone), the very first trick that I try to rescue the device is to force restart. Believe me or not, it does tend to get rid of the problems more often than not. Knowing how effective hard resetting is in dealing with common watchOS issues, it is apt to give it a shot.

To hard reset your Apple Watch, press and hold the side button and Digital Crown simultaneously until the screen goes black and the Apple logo shows up on the screen again. Once the device has rebooted, use your Apple Watch for some time to see if the issue is resolved. If it has, you are good to go!

Though there is no denying the fact that background refresh is very helpful for apps, it’s a downright power killer at the same time. If you fail to take control of this feature, it will not only drain the battery but also cause your Apple Watch to overheat (in some cases) or even slow down. So, make sure to manage background app refresh wisely on your Apple Watch.

While limiting motion and the automatic resizing of the Apple Watch user interface on the home screen and when launching/ exiting apps may not appear to be a definitive solution to troubleshooting slow down issues, it’s worth a try. With the UI motion and animation reduced, the Apple Watch may appear more fluid in daily use.

Outdated apps also tend to create too many problems. They eat more of your battery and play a key role in slowing down the device. Besides, they are also more prone to unexpected crashing and freezing, which means they can seriously hamper the overall user experience. Also, outdated apps are more vulnerable to hacking.

6. Update watchOS

Outdated software is also equally responsible for a host of common problems, including the unexpected slow down of the Apple Watch. Thus, it pays to keep the smartwatch updated to the latest watchOS version.

Clogged-up storage often proves to be the wrecker-in-chief for issues like overheating, rapid battery draining, and the unusual sluggishness of the operating system. Thus, you should keep a close tab on unnecessary apps/redundant files and delete them before they could start creating problems for your device.

To prevent redundant data from cluttering the precious storage on your Apple Watch, make sure to free up space by cleaning unneeded data and apps frequently. This simple yet quite efficient tip will help you manage the limited storage on your smartwatch and keep issues like lag, stuttering, and more, at bay.

If none of the tricks mentioned above work in making your Apple Watch run smoother, it’s time to go for the ultimate fix. You need to eliminate the entire content and settings on your smartwatch and then pair the Apple Watch again with your iPhone. This radical solution comes in handy in fixing even complex issues. So, we will bank on it to sort out the mess and help speed up your Apple Watch.

Go to the Settings app on your Apple Watch -> General -> Reset -> Erase All Content and Settings. Now, enter your Apple Watch passcode and confirm the action by tapping on Erase All Content and Settings again.