10 Life Hacks Every Apple Watch User Should Know
The Apple Watch is both a companion to the iPhone and a highly functional device in its own right. It comes standard with notification mirroring, so you’ll hear every alert from your iPhone on your wrist, and workout tracking so you can stay on track with your fitness goals. But this wearable can be much more than that. In fact, making your Apple Watch more personalized and effective doesn’t require much. If you own one, here are ten essential tips:
Turn off all notifications you can.
Take control of your notifications. By default, Apple forwards all notifications from your iPhone to your Watch. This is a distraction. You should disable most of these notifications and only keep the most important ones. An important Slack message or a text message from a close friend is worth the distraction; an Uber ad is not. Open the Watch app on your iPhone, go to the Notifications section, scroll down, and disable most of the apps that duplicate your iPhone’s notifications.
By the way, it might be helpful to always keep your watch in silent mode. Open Control Center by pressing the side button and tap the bell icon to permanently mute your watch.
Master Apple Watch wrist gestures.
The new wrist gesture controls on the Apple Watch have been an unexpected hit for me. What I thought was just a quirky feature, I now use several times a day. If you have an Apple Watch Series 9, Ultra 2, SE 3, or later, you have two gestures available: double-tap and wrist flick . First, double-tap with your index finger and thumb to perform the primary action displayed on the screen. This could be answering a call, stopping a timer, or stopping a workout. I use this constantly, even when my hands are free. Second, you can flick your wrist to return to the previous watch screen. It’s an easy way to return from a menu or to the watch face without touching the screen.
Automatically unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch.
I’ve been using this feature for years, but because it’s buried deep in the settings, many users don’t know about it. Once set up, you can automatically unlock your Mac while wearing your Apple Watch. The device doesn’t even need to be connected to the same Wi-Fi network, so it works even when you’re away from home.
To set it up, go to System Preferences on your Mac, then select Touch ID & Passcode . In the Apple Watch section, simply enable syncing for your Apple Watch. After authenticating with your Mac’s password, you’re all set. The next time you open your Mac’s lid, macOS will automatically log you in.
Start using widgets
I used to really enjoy customizing my watch face, adding all sorts of widgets: timers, shortcuts, weather, and more. But I was never happy with how cluttered the entire watch face looked out of the box. That all changed when I switched to the Photos watch face and moved all the contextual information and shortcuts into widgets. Having all these features and data in a collapsible widget block, rather than all on the screen at once, looks much better.
Download Newsletter
To try it out yourself, scroll the watch face using the crown or swipe up to access widgets. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and tap the “Edit” button to start customizing your widget list. You can add three app shortcuts to the top widget. I typically use it for Workouts, Battery, and Quick Timer. I then have separate widgets for my Activity Ring, Weather, Shortcuts, Sleep, and more. You can pin widgets in any order, and watchOS will automatically suggest relevant widgets based on your usage. For more information on customizing widgets, read our detailed guide .
Create a set of watch faces and switch between them.
Once you move app interactions to widgets, new watch face creation options will suddenly open up. Take the time to create and customize two or three watch faces that you can switch between as you wish. This is easy to do at any time: simply swipe from the left or right edge of the screen to change the watch face.
On iPhone, the easiest way to create and customize watch faces is in the Watch app. In fact, it’s the only place to install my favorite watch face: “Photos.” This watch face cycles through photos of my wife, nature, and cityscapes, showing me a new selection every day. I absolutely love this watch face. You can also create watch faces for tracking activity and fitness modes, as well as a simple watch face for everyday use. (My favorites here are the “Typograph” and “Meridian” watch faces.)
Adjust the activity rings if necessary.
For nearly a decade, you couldn’t edit your Activity Rings. If you got sick or simply needed a break, your fitness streak would be interrupted. Of course, this isn’t the healthiest approach to fitness—for that, you should consider the Gentler Streak app . However, starting with last year’s watchOS 11, you now have the ability to pause or edit Activity Rings. This can be done through the Fitness app on your iPhone, which is a bit easier than using the Apple Watch itself. In the Fitness app, tap “Activity Rings,” then scroll down to “Edit Goals” and “Pause Rings.” Select the appropriate option to get started. Detailed instructions are also available in my guide .
Control your Apple TV with the device on your wrist.
If you use an Apple TV, you know how easy it is to lose your remote. You might be familiar with the remote control feature on your iPhone, but the same feature is available on your Apple Watch. Find the Remote app in the app list, then select your Apple TV. It should appear if it’s on the same network as your watch and nearby. You can then use swipe gestures and buttons to control playback on your TV.
Turn on alarms at full volume, even in silent mode.
On the Apple Watch, unlike on the iPhone, silent mode and alarm volume are linked. However, Apple recently added a feature that allows you to turn off silent mode for a specific alarm—it’s just not enabled by default for all alarms. To set it up, open the alarm in the Alarms app, go to the “Edit Alarm” menu, scroll down, and turn on “Turn Off Silent Mode.”
Adjust focus settings to suit the specific needs of your Apple Watch.
The Focus features on iPhone are incredibly powerful and underrated. And with the addition of the Apple Watch, things get even more interesting. Each Focus feature can be paired with its own watch face, so you can have a dedicated work Focus, a personal Focus, and a fitness watch face for your workouts. Go to Settings > Focus to customize or create any Focus feature.
Track your sleep
Your Apple Watch has a built-in sleep tracker. To use it, you can either go to the Sleep app on your Apple Watch and create a sleep schedule, or simply switch to Focus on Sleep mode. In Sleep mode, your watch automatically turns off and mute sounds, so you won’t be disturbed by any notifications.
In watchOS 26, your Apple Watch now also provides a sleep quality score , giving you more insight into your sleep habits. I’ve been using Sleep mode on my Apple Watch Series 10 for a year now, and the sleep tracking feature has been incredibly helpful.