Customize your Watch
Take control of the information you get on Apple’s tiniest computer
REQUIRES
watchOS 4, iOS 11
You will learn
Which settings help you control what info you see on your Watch
IT WILL TAKE
10 minutes
Apple itself says the Watch is its most personal device, and not just because you’re wearing 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, you need to ensure it’s working for you. Personalizing your device goes way beyond just picking which watch face you want it to display.
Some of the things here are pretty standard stuff relating to appearance and visibility. But personalizing your Watch is much more than that — it should go right down to how you interact with it. In practice, you use your Watch only when you want something, which means your experience will be so much better if it’s all set up to suit you. Do you want your notifications to be visible or private? Would you like to access your favorite apps the easiest, or the ones you’ve used most recently? And how should Watch alert you to things — using sounds, tapping on your wrist, or both? These are not things you should just leave on the default settings. Get them right, and you’ll love using Watch so much more.
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? I 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.