Five Life Hacks Every Apple Watch Series 12 User Should Know
The latest Apple Watch models have a ton of new features not found in older models, so I figured it was time for a new list of life hacks. While our general tips for using the Apple Watch and tracking fitness still apply, the Series 12 devices offer new features like built-in step counting , a Readiness app, an improved heart rate sensor, an AI-powered version of Siri , and “audio intelligence” that can play back and summarize real-life conversations , within certain limits. Here’s how to get the most out of them.
Add a step counting icon to your watch face to turn it into a simple pedometer.
The Apple Watch Series 12 can finally count steps natively—a feature that, for some reason, is only available now on the newest Apple Watch models. Enjoy! To add a step counter to your watch face, long-press the watch face to edit it, tap the widget (that’s what Apple calls those little icons and numbers that appear on some watch faces), select Activity , and then tap Steps .
To improve the quality of Siri summaries, turn them off by default.
You don’t need this creepy “listen to everything that’s going on” feature, but it can sometimes be useful as a backup. You can turn this feature on and off using a button in the Apple Watch Control Center. Keep it off unless you’re having a structured conversation you want to refer to later. This feature is currently in beta ( you can try it out now if you’d like ), but it’s expected to be available to all users later this year.
It’s worth disabling this default setting not only because of the awkwardness factor, but also because short summaries work best when there’s a single topic of conversation, a clear beginning and end, and only one context. If you leave summaries on all the time, your doctor’s appointment will blend in with your grocery shopping, YouTube, and everyday conversations.
To complete the summary and make it useful, review it shortly after the conversation, tap the three-dot menu, and select “Edit.” You’ll be able to edit the notes and add your own important details. Siri doesn’t recognize conversation partners and seems to avoid including some details, such as people’s names. You can add anything she missed, as well as create your own bullet points, to ensure everything is captured while the information is still fresh in your mind.
Learn these gestures to access features more easily.
This isn’t just for the Series 12, but if you haven’t mastered the pinch and wrist gestures yet, now is the time.
First, a wrist flick : If a notification appears on your screen or you want to quickly end an activity, simply flick your wrist away from you and then back toward you, as if there’s a crumb on your watch face and you want to brush it off. This will return you to the watch face and close whatever you were looking at.
Double-squeeze is another useful feature, though Apple calls it a double-tap. This is confusing because you don’t double-tap the watch ; you squeeze your thumb and index finger together without removing the watch. You don’t even need to touch the watch face. So, when you receive a notification or call, look at it on the watch and squeeze your thumb and index finger (the watch hands) together twice. The watch will recognize the squeeze through a subtle wrist movement and open the notification. You can then use a wrist movement to dismiss the notification. Double-squeeze when there are no notifications on the screen will bring up your Smart Stack. You can then use a double squeeze to move to the next card in the Smart Stack, or a single squeeze to open that card and view its details.
If you want to explore even more gestures, open the Watch app, select “Accessibility ,” and then “Hand Gestures .” You can reassign the fist gesture to an action similar to pressing the digital crown, for example, or to opening Control Center or Siri.
Tap the clock to silence Siri.
This might be a bit harsh, but it’s helpful: with the new AI-powered Siri, answers to questions can sometimes be verbose. If Siri starts spouting off a whole novel and you’re not interested, simply cover the screen with your hand. You’ll instantly return to your watch face, and Siri will stop responding.
Turn on Silent Replies to read what Siri says instead of listening to her.
If you’d still like to see longer responses without having to read them out loud, you can set this up on your phone, and the settings will carry over to your watch. On your iPhone, go to Settings, then tap Siri , then Replies . Select “Silent Replies” instead of “Spoken Replies.” You can then read her responses or skim them, whichever you prefer.