Why Won’t My Polar Watch Connect to my Phone (EXPLAINED!)

Having a watch that connects to your phone can be really convenient for a lot of reasons. However, these connections often have problems that may be a pain to solve, and you may not always know what the problem is. What are some of the reasons that your Polar watch isn’t connected to your phone?

The most common reasons that a Polar watch is not connecting to the desired phone are because the battery is dead, the watch or phone has not been updated recently, the phone’s Bluetooth is not on, or airplane mode on either device is on.

There are many possibilities of why your watch isn’t connected to your phone, and it’s good to know how to troubleshoot and fix these potential problems.

Why Isn’t My Polar Watch Connecting to My Phone and How Do I Fix It?

There are many potential reasons why your Polar watch may not be connecting to your phone. When figuring out what the problem is that is halting the connection, it is good to consider the most common problems first. Here are the most common issues that keep your watch and phone from connecting and how to fix these problems.

Battery

If your Polar watch and phone are not connected, it may be because the battery of one of the devices is dead. It seems like an obvious problem, but it can definitely interfere with the connection. Luckily, the solution is simple: charge your phone or watch. Once both devices are charged enough, the connection should continue as normal.

Update

Another potential problem with the connection between your Polar watch and phone may be that the watch is not up to date. Though not updating the watch usually won’t interfere with the connection, it’s possible that a watch that isn’t updated won’t be able to connect with another device.

The solution to this problem is to update your watch. You can do this using your phone or tablet or by using your computer. The Polar Flow app, which connects to your watch, will notify you if there is an update available, or you can find the available updates in the app settings. A wireless update can take up to 20 minutes, and it is best to charge your watch while this is going on.

The other option is to plug your watch into your computer and update it that way. You will need Flow Sync, a computer application. By plugging in your watch, the computer will sync with the watch and collect its data. Once this is done, Flow Sync will ask you if you want to update the firmware. Click Yes and leave the watch plugged into the computer until the update is finished and the watch has reset.

Bluetooth

Another common reason why your Polar watch isn’t connected to your phone is that the Bluetooth on your phone is not turned on. Bluetooth is what connects your watch and phone and allows them to sync. This is another problem that is easy to fix.

Simply go into your phone settings and turn on the Bluetooth. Within a minute or two, the watch should connect to the phone automatically, provided that your phone and Bluetooth are already paired.

Airplane Mode

The final common problem that prevents your Polar watch from connecting to your phone is that your phone or watch is in airplane mode/flight mode. Airplane mode turns off several of the features on your phone or watch so that your device doesn’t interfere with the functions of an airplane when you are flying. If you are flying and need your phone and watch on airplane mode, you’re just going to have to go without a connection for a few hours until you land.

If airplane/flight mode has been turned on accidentally, it is simple to turn it off again. On your phone, simply look in the settings. A switch to turn airplane mode off and on is usually around where you can find Bluetooth and Wi-Fi settings. On your Polar watch, go from settings to general settings to flight mode to turn this feature off.

Other Problems

If you’ve checked all the above potential problems, your problem is not so common or easy to deal with. There are some steps that you can take that may help fix the problem. Try each of these to see if the problem is fixed.

• Turn the Bluetooth on your phone off, then turn it back on.
• Restart your phone and watch. You can restart your watch by going through the settings or holding the Up, Down, Back, and Light buttons at the same time for 5 seconds.
• Unpair the watch from the phone by forgetting the device in the phone settings or removing the pairing in the watch settings, then pairing the device again.
• Turn on airplane/flight mode on your phone and watch, then turn them off again.
• Uninstall the Polar Flow app on your phone and install it again. The problem may not be with the connection, but rather with a failure to sync.
• Factory reset your watch. This is the last resort and shouldn’t be done unless nothing else will work.

If none of these steps solve the problem, you may need to contact Polar tech support to get help.

How Do I Sync My Polar Watch to My Phone?

There are a couple of ways to sync the data from your watch on your phone. The first is to open the app and hold the back button on your watch, or you can go into the Pair and Sync settings and start the sync.

Either way, your watch will say that it is “connecting to the device,” and then “connecting to the app.” Once it is finished syncing, the watch will display “sync completed.”

How Do I Turn on Polar Bluetooth?

Your Polar watch should always have Bluetooth on unless it is in flight mode. Just make sure that your phone Bluetooth is turned on and that the devices are paired to one another.

To pair your devices, sign into the Polar Flow app, go into the Pair and Sync settings on your watch, and press “Start.” Your watch will display a pin, so click on the device in the Bluetooth settings of your phone and enter the pin when it asks. When you’re done, your watch will display “Pairing completed.”

If you are still having issues connecting your Polar watch to your phone, contact Polar customer service.