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Can I Charge My iPhone with Apple Watch Charger? 

As an iPhone owner, I recently found myself in a frustrating situation: my iPhone was almost dead and I didn’t have the right charger. After trying to use my Apple Watch charger, I wondered, “Can I charge my iPhone with Apple Watch charger?” To answer this question and learn more, I decided to do some research and testing. I’m here to share the solutions I discovered and how I eventually solved my dilemma.

Feature/AspectGPS-only Apple WatchGPS + Cellular Apple Watch
SIM CardNo SIM cardEmbedded eSIM
Cellular ConnectivityNot availableAvailable
Monthly FeeNoneAdditional monthly fee depending on the carrier
Battery LifeSlightly longerSlightly shorter due to cellular connectivity
Phone Calls and TextsRequires paired iPhone nearbyCan make and receive calls and texts without paired iPhone nearby
Music StreamingRequires paired iPhone nearbyCan stream music without paired iPhone nearby
Family SetupNot availableAvailable
PriceLess expensiveMore expensive

Can I Charge My iPhone with an Apple Watch Charger?

The short answer would be you can’t quite charge your iPhone with an Apple Watch charger. It sounds rather reasonable, especially looking at how different an iPhone and Apple charger are.

Not only that, but your iPhone is built to serve a purpose that’s pretty distinct from what an Apple Watch helps you with. In other words, it’ll never occur to you that you can use the charger of one to juice up the other.

That said, charging your iPhone with an Apple Watch charger is certainly doable, even if it’s seemingly impossible. While the manufacturer hasn’t specified that you can do that, many Apple users have figured out ways to charge their iPhones with their smartwatch’s charger.

Below, you’ll find three of these tried and tested methods. You can try them out so you can optimize your charging time and make use of only one charger.

1. Use a Duo Charger

Duo or dual-charging ports are the most likely and common option to help you charge an iPhone with an Apple Watch charger. A dual charging station will definitely be able to fill up the batteries of both products, no problem. 

Getting a duo port is a great investment too, particularly if you’re an owner of multiple Apple products. Even if you’re not necessarily charging your iPhone with the Apple Watch charger, the dual option is still highly beneficial.

One of the widespread and quite popular dual charging stations is the MagSafe duo charger. It allows Apple users to charge various products at the same time. The product also comes with USB-C and Lighting cable so you can hook up your iPhone with your Mac or PC. 

Read more: Does an Apple Watch need wifi?

A USB adapter is another option you can pursue to try and charge up your iPhone with an Apple Watch charger. Plus, you’re more likely to have an old, still functioning USB adapter lying around than a dual charging station.

Not just that, but setting up a USB adapter is just easy and intuitive as installing a duo charger. Once you’ve plugged the adapter into an outlet, insert your Apple Watch charger and then connect it to your iPhone.

Keep in mind though, that an Apple smartwatch generally uses smaller battery types than your typical iPhone. In other words, an Apple Watch charger will be pretty slow in charging up your phone. 

Additionally, some Apple watches come with an adapter, which eliminates one step at least. It’ll also take you a few tries before the magnetic strip of a smartwatch charger sticks to your iPhone and charges it.

Read more: Apple TV disconnects from Wifi

3. Get an Apple 5W USB Power Adapter

You can buy an Apple 5W USB Power Adapter from the manufacturer’s store. In other cases, some Apple Watch models come with this specific kind of power adapter as well. Either way, this product can help you quickly hook up your iPhone and Apple Watch charger instantly.

An Apple 5W USB Power Adapter is not the only accessory that you’ll need, however. In addition to this, you’ll also need an Apple or Apple-certified Lightning to USB Cable. When both devices work together, they can manipulate the Apple Watch charger to work with your iPhone.

On the plus side too, each of these Apple accessories is quite available and rather inexpensive as well. The power adapter and Lightning to USB cable are also compact-designed and travel-friendly.

In short, it seems that as it stands, the magnetic charging cable of any Apple smartwatch isn’t able to charge an iPhone—regardless of its model. This is understandable, of course, since either device isn’t cut from the same cloth.

In Summary

Can I charge my iPhone with Apple watch charger? 

The quick answer is you can’t use your Apple Watch charger to directly juice up your phone. That’s mainly because Apple still hasn’t created a port that’ll work with both products.

Additionally, your phone and smartwatch are created differently as well as serve different functions. As such, they have distinct battery types that you can’t use the same charger for.

So, in the end, you can try to use one of our sneaky methods in getting your Apple Watch charger to work with your iPhone.