10 Hacks Every Apple Watch User Should Know

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The Apple Watch is both a complement to the iPhone and a very functional device in its own right. It offers notification mirroring as standard so you feel every notification on your iPhone on your wrist, as well as workout tracking so you can keep up with your fitness goals. But this wearable device could be much more than that. It really doesn't take much to make your Apple Watch more personalized and efficient. If you have one, here are ten life hacks you need to know:

Turn off all possible notifications

Take control of your notifications. By default, Apple prefers to forward every alert from your iPhone to your Watch. This is just a recipe for distraction. You should turn off most of these alerts and save only the most important notifications. An important message from Slack or a message from a close friend is worth the distraction; There is no promotion from Uber. Open the Watch app on your iPhone, go to NotificationsScroll down and disable most apps that duplicate notifications from your iPhone.

While you're at it, it might be helpful to keep your watch in silent mode at all times. Open Control Center by clicking Side button and press the button Bell icon to turn off your watch permanently.

Master Apple Watch wrist gestures

The recent Apple Watch wrist gestures have been a huge hit for me. What I thought was a gimmick I now use several times a day. If you have Apple Watch Series 9, Ultra 2, SE 3 or later, you have access to two gestures: Double tap And Flick of the wrist. Firstly, if you double-tap your index finger and thumb in the air, you will perform the main action flowing on the screen. This could include answering a call, stopping a timer, or stopping a workout. Now I use this all the time, even when my hands are not full. Secondly, you can lift your wrist to go back to the watch screen. This is an easy way to exit a menu or return to your watch face without touching the screen.

Automatically unlock your Mac with Apple Watch

I have been using this feature for many years, but since it is hidden quite deep in the settings, many users do not know about it. Once set up, you can automatically unlock your Mac while you wear your Apple Watch. It doesn't even have to be on the same Wi-Fi network, so it works when you're on the go.

To set this up, go to System Preferences on your Mac, then select Touch ID and passcode. IN Apple Watch section, simply turn on the sync feature on your Apple Watch. Once you authenticate with your Mac password, you'll be fine. The next time you lift the lid of your Mac, macOS will automatically sign you in.

I used to love customizing the watch face with all the different complications for timers, shortcuts, and weather, just to name a few. But I was never really satisfied with how cluttered everything looked when everything was set up. That changed when I enabled the Photos watch face and moved all the contextual information and shortcuts to the widgets. Keeping all these features and data points in a collapsible stack of widgets rather than on the screen all at once looks much better.

To try it out for yourself, scroll the screen using the crown or swipe up on the watch face to access widgets. Scroll down and click the Edit button to start customizing your widget stack. You can add three app shortcuts to the top widget. I usually save this for training, battery and quick timer. Plus, I have dedicated widgets for my activity rings, weather, shortcuts, sleep, and more. You can pin widgets in the order you want, and watchOS will also automatically suggest appropriate widgets based on your usage. Dive deeper with our detailed guide to setting up widgets.

Create a stack of watch faces and cycle between them.

Once you move your app interaction to widgets, watch faces will suddenly open up. Spend some time creating and customizing two or three watch faces that you can switch between as you please. It's easy to do at any time: just swipe left or right to change the watch face.

It's actually easier to create and customize watch faces in the Watch app on iPhone. In fact, this is the only place where you can customize my favorite watch face: the Photo watch face. This watch face switches between photos of my wife, nature, and cityscapes, showing me a new selection every day. I really like this dial. You can also create a watch face to track fitness and fitness modes, as well as a simple watch face for regular use. (My favorites are the Typograph and Meridian dials.)

Adjust activity rings as needed

For almost ten years, you haven't been able to edit your activity rings. If you get sick or just want to have an easy day, you will lose your fitness. This is certainly not the healthiest approach to fitness – for that you should check out Gentler Streak app. However, starting with last year's watchOS 11, you have the ability to pause or change your activity rings. You can do this from the Fitness app on your iPhone, which is a little easier than using the Apple Watch itself. In the Fitness app, tap Activity Ringsthen scroll down and see Change goals And Pause Rings. Select the appropriate option to get started. I have detailed instructions are also in my manual.

Control your Apple TV from your wrist

If you use Apple TV, you know how easy it is to lose your remote. You may be familiar with the Apple TV remote control feature on iPhone, but the same feature is available on Apple Watch. You will need to find the Remote app in the list of apps and then select Apple TV. It should show up if it's on the same network as your watch and nearby. From here, you can use gestures and buttons to control playback on your TV.

Turn on alarms even in silent mode.

On the Apple Watch, silent mode and alarm sound levels are linked together, unlike the iPhone. But Apple recently added a feature where you can breakthrough silent mode for a specific alarm – it's just not enabled by default for all alarms. To set it up, open the alarm from the Alarms app, go to Edit alarm menu, scroll down and turn on Break through silent mode.

Customize your tricks with Apple Watch in mind

iPhone-centric are extremely powerful and underrated. And things get a lot more interesting when you add the Apple Watch to the mix. Each Focus can have its own watch face associated with it, so you can have a different watch face for your work Focus, another for your personal Focus, and a fitness watch face for your workout Focus. Go to Settings > Focus customize or create any Focus.

Track your sleep

Your Apple Watch has a built-in sleep tracker. To use it, you can either go to the Sleep app on Apple Watch and create a sleep schedule, or simply switch to Sleep Focus. When you're in sleep mode, your watch will automatically turn off and turn off, so you won't be disturbed by any notifications.

With watchOS 26, your Apple Watch is now also gives you sleep assessmentwhich gives more detailed information about your sleep habits. I've been using Sleep Mode on my Apple Watch Series 10 for the past year and have already gotten a lot out of the sleep tracking feature.