Apple just rolled out watchOS 11.4, and while it’s not packed with flashy new features, there’s one subtle but incredibly useful upgrade you’ll appreciate the next time your alarm goes off.
If you wear your Apple Watch to bed, you probably know the struggle—silent alarms are great for not disturbing a partner, but sometimes, the gentle vibrations just aren’t enough. That’s where the new “Break Through Silent Mode” feature comes in.
For years, Apple Watch users have had to choose between two imperfect options: let their alarms vibrate (and risk sleeping through them) or keep sound on and potentially get woken up by random notifications.
With watchOS 11.4, Apple is finally fixing this problem. Now, you can allow your alarm to break through Silent Mode while keeping all other notifications quiet.
It’s a small but smart tweak that makes a big difference for anyone who relies on their Apple Watch to wake up.
Turning it on is easy. If your Apple Watch is updated to watchOS 11.4, you can enable Break Through Silent Mode in two ways:
- Open the Sleep app, tap the alarm icon, go to Sounds & Haptics, and toggle on Break Through Silent Mode.
- Or, open the Alarms app, select your alarm, tap Change in Sleep, go to Sounds & Haptics, and enable the feature.
This update is rolling out now, so if you haven’t seen it yet, check your Apple Watch settings.
You can manually update by opening the Watch app on your iPhone and heading to General > Software Update.
