The Apple Watch is a pretty nifty piece of tech, and you’ve probably grown accustomed to using its full suite of basic functions in your day-to-day life.
However, did you know that you’re probably missing out on a ton of useful features that aren’t as obvious?
Well, you likely are, and today, we’re going to reveal 20+ useful tips to help you get the most out of your Apple Watch. Let’s get started.
1. Customize Control Center
The more you use your Apple Watch, the more you’ll discover the Control Center features you rely on most.
To make things even easier, you can personalize your Control Center by rearranging these functions.
To customize the control center on your Apple Watch, follow the steps below:
- Swipe up on your Apple Watch screen until you find the “Edit” button.
- Tap “Edit“.
- Once you tap “Edit” your Control Center icons will be draggable with a fingertip.
- Take your time, arrange the icons where you want them, and then click “Done.”
If you have trouble swiping up, check our guide on what to do when your Apple Watch won’t swipe up.
2. Hide the Red Dot (Notification Indicator)
The little red dot on your Apple Watch tells you when you have a notification. It’s a nifty feature, but if you’re reducing your screen time or just don’t want to be bothered by it, you might want to hide it.
Here’s how to ride the red dot notification on your Apple Watch:
- Go to the Apple Watch app on your phone and head to the “My Watch” tab.
- Select “Notifications”.
- Then, toggle off the Notification Indicator setting bar.
Your watch will no longer have a red dot for notifications. To turn it back on, you can turn on the toggle on the same menu.
3. Customize Your Apple Watch Dock
Pressing the side button on your Apple Watch shows you the most recently used apps. But you can change that feature to show your favorite apps in the Dock.
Here’s how:
- Open the Watch app on the paired iPhone.
- Tap Dock from the My Watch tab.
- Select “Favorites” under the DOCK ORDERING section.
- Tap the “Edit” button to add apps to FAVORITES.
From here, you can long-press app icons to move them around, move them to the removal option, add apps, or do anything else you’d like to do.
4. Change Default City on Apple Watch
Alright, you’ve had your Apple Watch for two years, and you absolutely love it. However, you just moved for work, and it’s still using your old default city for several apps.
Here’s how to change the city on your Apple Watch face complication.
- Go to My Watch on your iPhone.
- Then, choose the Weather app.
- Tap Default City to choose which city’s weather you’d like to see in Watch Face Complications.
- Use the weather app on your iPhone to add your city to the list if it’s not included.
From there, you can set that city as your default with the edit option, and it will populate your watch screen.
5. Use Portraits Photos as Apple Watch Face
Do you want to set up a portrait picture of yourself or your significant one as your digital watch face, or maybe have several pictures rotate at set intervals?
To set up one or more Portrait photos as a watch face, follow the steps below:
- Go to the My Watch app and select the Face Gallery tab.
- Scroll down and tap the Portraits option.
- Then tap “Choose Photos” (up to 24).
- You can check the photos you wish to include and then tap Add. You can even set them to fit several watch face themes.
6. Adjust the Intervals of Reflect and Breath
The Mindfulness app on your Apple Watch encourages you to focus, center, and connect as you breathe daily.
Tap the Mindfulness app on your Apple Watch, and you’ll have both Reflect and Breath options.
To start a Reflect or Breathe session, follow the steps below:
- Pick the one you want to do, then tap on the three dots right next to it.
- Tap “Duration”.
- Choose a duration for your session. You can choose a time between one and five minutes.
Simply adjusting the duration to what you want will slow or speed up the animation and timer to change your mindfulness session.
7. Detect Gym Equipment
A lot of modern gym equipment is actually compatible with your Apple Watch, and you can use that to track your fitness routine, add your gym activity to your fitness records, and more.
Check the machine you’re about to use at the gym. Look for a “Connect with Apple Watch” or similar sticker to tell you it’s compatible.
To activate this feature on your watch:
- Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
- Navigate to the “Settings” tab.
- Scroll down and select Workout.
- From there, enable the “Detect Gym Equipment” option.
Your Apple Watch will begin detecting all nearby compatible gym equipment, and you’ll get the option to pair your watch to whichever one you want. It’s just like pairing your Bluetooth headphones with your iPad.
8. Create a Custom Focus
With Focus Mode, you can target time-sensitive notifications and important calls only, keeping distractions to a minimum.
Follow the steps below to create a custom Focus on your Apple Watch.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Tap Focus.
- Select the + icon at the top right.
- Tap Custom to create a custom Focus.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to create your own Focus.
After you save it, your synced Apple Watch will have the same focus settings.
9. See Apple Watch Charging Percentage
Given how much you rely on your watch, you probably want to remove it from the charger and put it back on your wrist the second it’s ready. Here’s how to check the charging percentage.
While in Nightstand Mode, simply tap the crown, and then tap the lightning bolt charging icon. Your percentage will show up.
10. Customize Units of Measurement for Workout on Apple Watch
Want to see how fast you’re going on the treadmill in KPH, or measure your lifts in kilos?
Here’s how to change the units of measure on your Apple Watch.
- Open the Apple Watch App on your paired iPhone.
- From the “My Watch” tab, select “Workout.”
- Scroll down and select “Units of Measure.”
- From there, you can change your units of measurement to anything you want.
11. Change the Apple Watch App from Grid View to List View
The honeycomb app view is more than enough for some people, but you might want to switch to a more traditional list view if you’re used to what’s on most smartphones and computers.
To do this, go to your app screen and press and hold. After a brief wait, the option to change the app view should pop up. Simply choose “List”.
12. Force Restart Your Watch
If your screen becomes frozen, you might want to force a restart.
To do this, hold the digital crown and side button simultaneously for 10 seconds. The Apple logo should appear, and you can release the buttons.
13. Reset Apple Watch Home Screen Layout
If you’ve made a lot of changes to your home screen and just want to return it to its original layout, you can do that.
To reset your Home Screen layout, follow the steps below:
- Open the Apple Watch, and tap “General” under the My Watch tab.
- Scroll all the way to the bottom and tap “Reset.”
- Select “Reset Home Screen Layout“.
- Hit the confirmation box “Reset Home Screen,” and your home screen will be reset.
14. Hide Your Activity From a Friend
One thing about all the cool sharing features is that they take away from your privacy. Sometimes, you want to keep your activity to yourself.
Navigate to the Sharing menu under the Activity tab. Select the friend from whom you want to hide the activity and select the setting “Hide My Activity.”
15. Add and Customize New Unity Lights Watch Face
On your iPhone, go to My Watch, and then go to the Face Gallery. Select Unity Lights from the list of options, and then tap “Add.” From there, you can fully customize your Unity Lights watch face and save your settings.
16. Cover Your Watch to Turn on Silent Mode
From your iPhone’s My Watch app, go to the Sounds & Haptics menu. You can toggle the Cover to Mute option on and off from there.
With this feature on, you simply need to cover your watch’s face to mute all notifications and sounds.
17. Mark Workout Segments
Launch your Training app and start a training regimen. After your first segment, lift your watch and tap it twice.
This will automatically mark the time you’ve spent working out as the first segment, and the rest of the scheduled segment will be set to the second segment. This saves for future workouts.
18. Speak Time
If you navigate to the actual time-telling watch face and press and hold with two fingers, the watch will “speak” the time to you. This is useful if your watch face theme is cluttered.
19. Get Cardio Fitness Alerts
Want a reminder to get up and do some cardio? Navigate to the Watch app on your phone, go to the My Watch tab, and tap Notifications.
From there, click Heart and then Cardio Fitness Notifications. You can customize the alerts or turn off the feature from here.
20. Enable Power Saving Mode
To save your battery for long periods away from your charger, bring up the control center and tap the battery icon. From there, slide the power reserve bar to the left and confirm it.
21. Customize iMessage and Mail Replies
Go to the My Watch portion of your phone’s Watch app and select Messages. Then, tap “Default Replies” and “Add Reply.”
Simply type in your custom reply and click “Done.” From now on, the reply will be available on your Apple Watch.
22. Smartly Manage Photos Storage
Go to the My Watch app and then Photos on your iPhone. From there, you can set a photo limit that will keep you from bloating your storage with photos, and you can set up cloud storage.
23. Set Up Apple Pay Cash
Go to the Watch app on your phone and navigate to Wallet & Apple Pay under the My Watch tab.
From there, you can add your credit and debit cards via the on-screen instructions. After you’ve set up Apple Pay, you can use your watch to pay for purchases anywhere that accepts Apple Pay.
24. Use Theatre Mode
Theatre Mode is a cool feature that keeps your Apple Watch silent and prevents the display from turning on when you raise your wrist.
To activate Theatre Mode on your Apple Watch, bring up the Control Center and scroll to the bottom. You’ll find a Theatre Mode option you can tap and confirm to enter Theatre Mode.
25. Turn on Heart Rate Notifications
Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, go to My Watch, and tap Heart. You can choose a high or low heart rate value for which you want to receive notifications.
26. See the Exact Battery Percentage While Charging
If you want to know exactly what your battery percentage is while charging, simply swipe up to bring up the Control Center, and it’ll be there.
You can also add a battery widget to your iPhone to check it from your phone. You can tap on the lightning bolt, and you’ll see the percentage.
