Messages on Apple Watch

Stay in touch from your wrist with Watch’s handy texting features

Glancing at your wrist to see a message is convenience served on a silver platter

Receiving notifications you can glance at conveniently is one of the best things about Apple Watch, and that goes double for times people are trying to get hold of you, whether by phone or text. Being able to quickly glance at your wrist to see a message from someone saying that they need to change where you’re meeting, without breaking your stride, is convenience served on a silver platter.

But Apple Watch isn’t just about reading the messages you receive – despite its small screen, you might not realise how capable it is for sending messages. No, you won’t be writing any lengthy sonnets for your true love, but it’s easy to fire over a few key details.

When you get a notification of a message, tapping it will take you to that conversation within the Messages app, and from there you’ve got several ways to reply, which we’ll cover here (with the exception of sending your heart beat, because that’s weird).

If you just head to the Messages app of your own accord, you can view your existing conversations (all synced over from your phone, of course), or create a new message to someone, or even a group. This option is hidden: you’ll need to firmly press on the screen to reveal a New Message button. Tap it, and you can add a contact (it will suggest recents, but there’s also an option to browse your contacts, or use your voice to search for one), then tap Create Message to get the option we’ll go through in our step-by-step guide. The only wrinkle is that you can’t create group messages (though you can respond to them from an existing conversation).

SMS texts

Group messages isn’t the only missing feature here: basically all the advanced features of Messages on iPhone, including iMessage apps and the ability to attach photos, are missing. Thankfully, one exception to this is the ability to send your location – see the last step in the guide for how to do that.

The better news is that you’re not limited to sending messages over iMessage: you can send SMS texts too. If you’re sending by SMS, the response buttons that are blue in this guide will appear green. The messages are relayed through your phone, so it doesn’t matter if your Watch isn’t a model with built-in mobile network connectivity (or doesn’t have a text plan of its own).