Five Life Hacks Every Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro User Should Know
When I ran the Hyrox race this summer, I chose my Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro —and I was very pleased with the results. While the Amazfit Cheetah line isn’t exactly my favorite , the Cheetah 2 Pro is a great choice for any runner who wants a watch that looks and feels like a high-end watch (albeit with some mid-range compromises ). And while the Cheetah 2 Pro has a clean, marathon-watch-like design, it packs a surprising amount of software that most owners never touch. Here are five features that go beyond the user manual.
Unlock the secret developer mode on your Amazfit watch.
The Zepp app has a hidden menu that most users will never discover by accident. Go to “Profile,” then “Settings,” then “About Device,” and tap the Zepp logo seven times in a row. This unlocks Developer Mode, which allows access to device information and debugging options normally unavailable in the stock app. While this won’t turn your watch into a hacking tool, it’s a fun activity if you enjoy exploring the device’s internals, and can sometimes be useful for troubleshooting syncing issues or inspecting firmware details that the standard interface hides.
Developer mode also allows you to install custom watch faces, instead of relying on the existing built-in watch face library and downloading your own watch face to your computer, scanning the generated QR code, and installing it directly on your watch.
Beat jet lag with help from your Cheetah 2 Pro.
If you frequently travel to races, this model is a real find: your Cheetah 2 Pro watch comes equipped with a “jet lag management” feature. You might not think to look for such a feature in a running watch, but if you’ve ever arrived at a marathon exhibition feeling groggy, you know you’re willing to try anything to adjust your sleep and training schedule before race day.
To use this feature, the watch will prompt you to enter your trip details to receive an Amazfit “Adaptability” score (though I’m not entirely sure what exactly this score includes, so take it with a grain of salt). While the score alone may not be worth paying too much attention to, your watch will then generate recommendations on when it’s best to sleep, be active, and get enough sunlight. With so many other travel-related planning details to manage, it’s nice to receive real-time alerts on your watch to help you adapt faster and get the most out of your trip.
On your phone, open the Zepp app > Device Page > Amazfit Cheetah 2 Ultra > Jetlag Manager to enter your travel details and view possible schedule options. You can then open the Jetlag Manager app directly from the app list on your watch (after scrolling down to find it) and view your personalized schedule and readiness for adaptation, starting 72 hours before departure.
Protect your eyes with the red light feature on your watch.
Most users know that their Cheetah 2 Pro has a built-in flashlight, activated by long-pressing the function button. What’s especially convenient is that it’s not just a single white beam. It uses two white LEDs, plus an additional red LED, with the red LED providing a blinding effect in the dark to prevent blinding yourself and impairing night vision. There’s also a built-in strobe function, which is worth knowing if you ever need to be visible to traffic while jogging before dawn or after dusk, rather than just seeing what’s in front of you.
After pressing and holding the button in the upper left corner to turn on the flashlight, use the UP or DOWN buttons to cycle through the white light brightness levels until you reach the red light mode. You can also swipe down from the watch face to open Control Center and tap the flashlight icon.
Receive only the notifications you need and avoid the ones you don’t.
The Cheetah 2 Pro earbuds allow you to personalize notifications beyond just turning them on and off. This means important alerts or low battery warnings will still appear even if you disable all other notifications. For example, if you go to Settings > Notifications > Calendar on your watch and disable Allow Notifications, calendar-related reminders will no longer appear. Simple!
I turn off all notifications and then only turn on the few apps I really need (like text messages), leaving the rest off during a long run.
In the spirit of “less is more,” the Cheetah 2 Pro collects more data by default than most runners need on a daily basis. Here are three features I limit to save battery life:
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During periods when you are not exercising, reduce the frequency of heart rate monitoring from one minute to five or ten minutes.
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Turn off Automatic stress monitoring and Automatic blood oxygen tracking unless you specifically rely on these data.
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Disable continuous location tracking and heart rate recording when you’re not working out. Just remember to turn both features back on when you start working out.
These quick settings changes will help prevent background activity from draining your watch’s battery, without sacrificing much in terms of data.
Fix the issue with random workout pauses on your Cheetah 2 Pro.
If you use your Cheetah 2 Pro watch during strength training, it’s a lifesaver. I’ve noticed that many Amazfit watches have a crown (aka the top right button) that’s either larger or more sensitive, causing the watch to constantly think I’m pausing my workout if I accidentally bump it. I was practically unable to lift a kettlebell without bumping the button somehow.
Here’s my solution: go to the workout settings and switch the pause mechanism from “single press” to “long press.” Long pressing when I need to pause a workout took a little getting used to, but I’m glad I no longer have to worry about accidental pauses caused by natural wrist movement.
Extra life hack: quickly and easily drain water from your watch.
Finally, while I’m getting ready for a run in the pouring rain, I’ll share one more life hack with you: the Amazfit has a built-in water-removal feature. Water can accumulate in the microphone and speaker ports of your watch, muffling the sound or causing false alarms. Here’s how: swipe down from the home screen to open the Control Center, tap the “Droplet” icon, and hold the watch with the speaker facing down. The watch will vibrate at specific frequencies designed to physically expel moisture from the ports. Like all the other life hacks above, it’s helpful to know about this feature now so you’re prepared when you really need it.