Personalise your Watch

Take control of the information you get on Apple’s tiniest computer

Apple itself has said the Watch is its most personal device, and not just because you’re… well,

physically attached it. Watch brings you more information than even your phone, because it knows more about your health from its heart rate and activity tracking, while also picking up your notifications and general life data from your iPhone.

So with all this information potentially flowing through your Watch, if you’re going to get the most out of it, you need to make sure it’s working for you. Personalising your device goes way beyond just picking which watch face you want it to display.

In the walkthroughs on this page, some of what we’ll take you through is pretty standard stuff relating to appearance and visibility. But personalising your Watch is much more than that – it should go right down to how you interact with it. The Watch is a passive device, so you effectively only use it when you want something specific (unlike the iPhone, which might be something you only play with when the mood strikes) – which means everything should be totally streamlined when you use it. Do you want your notifications to be visible or private? Would you like to access your favourite apps the easiest, or the ones you’ve used most recently? And how should Watch alert you to things – with sounds, tapping on your wrist, or both? For something that will be with you all day, these aren’t things you should leave on the default setting – get them right, and you’ll love using Watch so much more.

Proactive, not reactive

And there’s more – how much do you want Watch to anticipate your needs, rather than just reacting to external information? The Siri watch face is designed to show everything that might be useful in one place, but have you told it what you really find useful? We mean, come on, does anyone really need Stocks turned on?

And speaking of Siri, Apple’s assistant is another key way of interacting with your Watch that you can control. In the Watch’s Settings app, go to General > Siri to get useful options such as turning “Hey Siri” on or off to activate voice control without pressing a button. On Apple Watch Series 3, Siri even speaks for the first time on the wearable. In the same menu, you can choose whether Siri always talks back, or whether Silent Mode keeps it quiet, or you can make it audible only when using headphones.

With so much information to hand, you need to ensure your Watch works for you