Apple Care Replacement made me unpair my watch, can I pair it again?

[chiccociolla]

Hello folks!
I just contacted Apple Care to start the procedure to have my AW Sport Edition 42mm replaced due to a problem on the rear (the aluminum coating is starting to crumble).
According to an AS "Genius", my watch is eligible for free replacement with AC+, but they do not do this service in Apple Stores (at least in Italy), due to shortage of supply, differently from iPhones and co&.
So, as I was saying, I contacted by phone Apple Care, and in fact they started the procedure and are sending me a new AW, with the usual thing of the Credit Card "deposit", just in case I do not send mine back.

The strange thing, however, is that to proceed the girl asked me to unpair my watch.
Now, I will have 2-3 days with a totally useless watch at my wirst!
The girl however did not look so sure about the whole procedure, and even if I asked clearly she said that it was impossible to proceed otherwise.
So I was wondering: has anyone here around has had the same experience, and can confirm it? Does it work this way even with iPhones?
And most important: could I pair again my watch to my iPhone, or would it be too a silly solution to the problem?
thanks guy!

 

[thewhitetower]

Hello folks!
I just contacted Apple Care to start the procedure to have my AW Sport Edition 42mm replaced due to a problem on the rear (the aluminum coating is starting to crumble).
According to an AS "Genius", my watch is eligible for free replacement with AC+, but they do not do this service in Apple Stores (at least in Italy), due to shortage of supply, differently from iPhones and co&.
So, as I was saying, I contacted by phone Apple Care, and in fact they started the procedure and are sending me a new AW, with the usual thing of the Credit Card "deposit", just in case I do not send mine back.

The strange thing, however, is that to proceed the girl asked me to unpair my watch.
Now, I will have 2-3 days with a totally useless watch at my wirst!
The girl however did not look so sure about the whole procedure, and even if I asked clearly she said that it was impossible to proceed otherwise.
So I was wondering: has anyone here around has had the same experience, and can confirm it? Does it work this way even with iPhones?
And most important: could I pair again my watch to my iPhone, or would it be too a silly solution to the problem?
thanks guy!

Go ahead and re-pair it...I've done it before and it doesn;t compromise the process or the watch...no it doesnt work this way with iPhones

Thanks

 

[chiccociolla]

Go ahead and re-pair it...I've done it before and it doesn;t compromise the process or the watch...no it doesnt work this way with iPhones

Thanks

great!
so they asked to you too to unpair it!?
what is the meaning in all this? maybe they want to be sure that you are able to unpair the watch?

 

[Rok73]

Well, I wouldn't overthink this. It's absolutely necessary that you unpair the watch before you send it back to them but you don't have to do this days before. Maybe that's what the rep meant in the first place but wasn't clear about it.

 

[chiccociolla]

Well, I wouldn't overthink this. It's absolutely necessary that you unpair the watch before you send it back to them but you don't have to do this days before. Maybe that's what the rep meant in the first place but wasn't clear about it.

that's exactly what I was thinking, but the girl said clearly that without my unpairing she was not (technically!) able to proceed with the procedure..

 

[Brookzy]

The unpairing is required because it's the only way to demonstrate that you have possession of the Apple Watch and that it's yours. Otherwise, with some private information, some fraudster could pretend to be you, request a repair, have the new device sent to an anonymous address, and go AWOL.

 

[chiccociolla]

The unpairing is required because it's the only way to demonstrate that you have possession of the Apple Watch and that it's yours. Otherwise, with some private information, some fraudster could pretend to be you, request a repair, have the new device sent to an anonymous address, and go AWOL.

actually, put in this way it makes totally sense!
Thank you guys, I proceed with the pairing

 

[AndrewR23]

Nobody answered your question correctly so I will.

You had to unpair it because the only way the AppleCare advisor could initiate the process is by having your Apple Watch activation lock turned off. This only turns off when your watch is unpaired.

I've done express replacement twice with mine and had to unpair it twice to turn the lock off. I then just repair until the new one comes.

 

[Brookzy]

You had to unpair it because the only way the AppleCare advisor could initiate the process is by having your Apple Watch activation lock turned off.

...and this is done for the reasons I outlined. In fact, your post offered nothing OP didn't know, since they stated "the girl said clearly that without my unpairing she was not (technically!) able to proceed with the procedure".

 

[AndrewR23]

...and this is done for the reasons I outlined. In fact, your post offered nothing OP didn't know, since they stated "the girl said clearly that without my unpairing she was not (technically!) able to proceed with the procedure".

So if the OP knew that, why did he still ask? He asked because he wasn't sure of the girls answer. My response assures him the girl was correct, thus assuring the OP.
[doublepost=1461698869][/doublepost]

...and this is done for the reasons I outlined. In fact, your post offered nothing OP didn't know, since they stated "the girl said clearly that without my unpairing she was not (technically!) able to proceed with the procedure".

And your post is 100% wrong. They don't have you unpair it so they know the watch is yours. Ive bought an AW off Swappa, and had an express replacement done before the guy even shipped it.

 

[Brookzy]

And your post is 100% wrong. They don't have you unpair it so they know the watch is yours. Ive bought an AW off Swappa, and had an express replacement done before the guy even shipped it.

Where you bought it from is irrelevant! In Apple's eyes, if you can turn off Activation Lock, it's yours.

 

[AndrewR23]

...and this is done for the reasons I outlined. In fact, your post offered nothing OP didn't know, since they stated "the girl said clearly that without my unpairing she was not (technically!) able to proceed with the procedure".

And yes my post did offer something new. The girl only said the watch needs to be unpaired so she can continue the process. But WHY does the watch NEED to be unpaired? Activation lock. Like I said. Apple cannot send a new watch until the activation lock is OFF hence the watch needs to be unpaired before they can ship out the new one. It has nothing to do with anything else lol. Go ahead and call/chat Apple for further proof.

 

[Brookzy]

And yes my post did offer something new. The girl only said the watch needs to be unpaired so she can continue the process. But WHY does the watch NEED to be unpaired? Activation lock. Like I said. Apple cannot send a new watch until the activation lock is OFF hence the watch needs to be unpaired before they can ship out the new one. It has nothing to do with anything else lol. Go ahead and call/chat Apple for further proof.

And why does activation lock need to be turned off? Because of what I said.

 

[AndrewR23]

And why does activation lock need to be turned off? Because of what I said.

But in your post you did not say anything about activation lock. Are people suppose to read that and assume activation lock?????
[doublepost=1461700504][/doublepost]Actually we were both wrong. This is what Apple said

• 
  Before being able to set up mail-in service, you have to disable the Find My Device option and erase the device so it does not have a passcode on it.
  
  Having those enabled would make the technicians jobs much harder.

He told me there are numerous way to prove the AW is yours without unpairing.

There are a lot of other ways to prove it is yours, from the initial Apple ID that is set up on the watch, to it being registered to your Apple ID profile at https://supportprofile.apple.com

So the actual answer is because find my device option needs to be removed. I can post screenshots too.

 

[Purga]

Apple cannot access an Apple Watch that is paired to an iPhone. Its a security feature. Without your passcode or you unpairing the watch it is basically just a useless brick, even for Apple technicans.

I believe telling you to unpair solves two goals:
1) it is less likely you will send in a paired apple watch
2) you prove you have access to your apple id, since you need to enter your passcode

When getting a replacement watch i asked if i can disable "find my phone" on the iPhone instead (which is required for iphone replacements). This was actually sufficient, so i believe it is mainly goal 2).
Alternatively you could also just pair your watch again after unpairing.