Apple Watch Notifications Will Soon Be Less Annoying
I’ve had an Apple Watch for almost ten years now, and in that time I’ve probably left the sound on all day. No one wants to hear their watch ringing loudly and ringing all day, especially in a quiet room. And since you can only turn notifications on and off through an app rather than a dedicated button, it’s too inconvenient for me to leave the sound on at all. So my watch reminds me to turn on silent mode.
But that could all change with watchOS 26 , Apple’s upcoming update to the Watch. Along with other useful features like the addition of a dedicated Notes app ( finally ), watchOS 26 introduces a new, intelligent way to manage notifications. According to Apple, the update will allow your watch to analyze the noise around you and automatically adjust the volume of the watch’s speaker accordingly. This includes sound effects for notifications, timers, alarms, incoming calls, and Siri — all based on the ambience of the room or space you’re in.
Hypothetically, your watch could detect that you’re in a noisy bar and turn up the volume so you don’t miss a call or important notification. Or, more importantly, it could detect that you’re in a quiet room where people are having a polite conversation and turn the volume down significantly. I’m curious to see how this works in general, but especially when it detects that I’m in a relatively quiet place. If I’m in, say, a museum and no one is talking, will my watch beep? Or will it also default to silent mode to match the volume in the room?
Time will tell when I install watchOS 26 on my Apple Watch. I’ll definitely test it out, but I’m not sure I’ll use it. Even if notifications are more relevant (and I personally don’t have to think about turning them off), I think I’ll stick with silent mode. That’s not necessarily a watchOS feature, though: like many of us, I almost always keep my iPhone on silent. But who knows: maybe watchOS 26 will change my mind.