How to turn off notifications on my apple watch

The Apple Watch is able to shoulder the tsunami of notifications you receive on a daily basis, letting you glance at updates without getting sucked into your iPhone.

However, while this is one of the smartwatch's simplest skills, there's plenty to understand. Knowing how to set Apple Watch notifications up, manage them, mute them and clear them are all helpful to understand.

Read this: Apple Watch tips and tricks

By default, your Apple Watch is set up to mirror the stream coming through to your iOS device - below, we'll be explaining how to customize them and take control.

And if your Apple Watch notifications aren't coming through, we'll give you a checklist of potential solutions.

Read the test: Apple Watch Series 5 review

How to view your notifications

If you're new to the Apple Watch, you might be a little confused as to how you access your notifications.

Handily, it's the same as on your iPhone - simply swipe down from the top of the screen.

This can be done from any screen, too, not just the home screen, and you can scroll through the list by touching the screen or twisting the Digital Crown.

Read this: How to set up your Apple Watch

In order to read a notification, just give it a little tap; to read grouped notifications, tap the stack and then go through to the individual notifications.

Wondering why you only get them on either your Watch or iPhone? Well, if your iPhone is unlocked, you'll get notifications there, but if it's locked or asleep, they'll be sent straight to your wrist (unless it's locked via passcode).

Also, be aware that when you dismiss a notification on your Apple Watch, it's also dismissed from your iPhone.

Change how notifications are delivered

If you too often find yourself muting your Apple Watch, or you simply don't want notifications from a specific app sent to your wrist, you do have the option to manage things.

1. Swipe down to open the Apple Watch notification center.

2. Swipe left on a notification, then tap the three dots.

3. If you want to mute the sound or turn off the haptic alerts for that app, tap Deliver Quietly. This will result in the notification appearing in both the phone and watch notification center, but without actually notifying you.

4. If you don't want to get notifications for that app, tap Turn Off on Apple Watch.

5. If you want to turn the sounds or haptics back on, simply reverse the process - tap the three dots and select Deliver Prominently.

Clear all Apple Watch notifications

Let's be honest, if you have a lot of notifications, you don't want to be individually deleting them all from the stream.

To clear Apple Watch notifications at the same time, use Force Touch (push down slightly harder than a tap) on the screen and you should see the screen change and give you the option to 'X' all of the notifications.

Change which apps deliver notifications

You may want notifications from Twitter and Facebook, but not want them from messaging platforms like WhatsApp or iMessage. To toggle which apps you receive alerts from:

1. Go to the Watch app on your iPhone, tap the My Watch tab and head to the notifications section.

2. Different apps let you customize differently. The top section lets you customize an app's alerts individually, though most third-party apps will only let you turn the option to mirror your iPhone notifications on or off.

Mute Apple Watch notifications

In a meeting and want to keep wrist buzzes to a minimum? Bombarded by a group chat while at the movies? Turn your Apple Watch to Do Not Disturb mode and mute some of the updates.

To do so, swipe down to open the control center and then tap the Do Not Disturb icon. This will light up at the top of the home screen to indicate it's on - you'll have to reverse the process to begin receiving notifications again.

Apple Watch notifications not working?

If notifications don't seem to be coming through to your Apple Watch, there's a few things you can do to troubleshoot the issue.

While many apps, like the Activity app, have notification settings for multiple features, other apps may let you either mirror the notification on your iPhone or turn it off completely by selecting Custom.

The Apple Watch is just as convenient as its companion iPhone when it comes to keeping you up to date on notifications. The two devices are automatically synchronized so notifications appearing on your phone are identical to the ones on your wrist. Apple even makes sure you don't receive double the number of notifications from both devices — as that may drive you insane. Instead, notifications appear only on the device you're currently using. A tiny red dot at the top of the watch face indicates the presence of unread notifications on your Apple Watch, except when Do Not Disturb is on, in which case a crescent moon icon appears instead.

Contents

• Set up Apple Watch notifications on your iPhone
• Set up iPhone notifications on your Apple Watch
• Disable the Apple Watch Notifications Indicator
• Control Apple Watch notification summaries
• Use Siri to announce notifications from your Apple Watch

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

5 minutes

What You Need

• Apple Watch 4 or later

• iPhone 8 or later

• iOS 16

• WatchOS 9

Receiving notices of texts, emails, and appointment reminders from your watch is handy, but perhaps you just want the most important messages to come through at any given time. We show you how to control notifications on your watch so that you have the latest information on important events and alerts but are not overwhelmed by non-urgent details.  If Do Not Disturb is on or your watch is locked, notifications then go directly to your iPhone. While this guide focuses on iOS 16 and WatchOS 9, many steps are similar for earlier operating system versions.

Set up Apple Watch notifications on your iPhone

The iPhone offers an array of options that let you customize how, when, and from which apps you receive notifications. For most apps, you can enable or disable notifications, let an app send notifications directly to the notification center, specify how notifications are grouped together, group notifications by specific apps, or let your devices generate notification groups automatically. We use the Mail app for this example, though available options vary widely depending on the app. Here's how to get started.

Step 1: Launch your iPhone's Apple Watch app.

Step 2: Tap My watch > Notifications.

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Step 3: Choose the apps you want to receive notifications from — in this case, Mail. Choose Mirror my iPhone, which employs the same app notification settings on both your phone and your watch.

Step 4: You can choose Custom for additional notification options, like automatically sending them to the Notification Center or turning them off entirely. You can also choose an audio alert or silent vibration.

Set up iPhone notifications on your Apple Watch

You can manage notifications directly on your Apple Watch. You may see a range of choices, including Mute, Add to summary, Turn off time sensitive, Turn off, and Allow notifications. You will not see every choice in each instance because commands reference your existing settings. Here's how to control Apple Watch app notifications.

Step 1: Pull down on the Apple Watch face to access your message.

Step 2: Swipe left and tap of the Three-dot (more) button.

Step 3: A range of choices may be available depending on how you set up notifications on your iPhone. In this case, we see only Mute for an hour and Turn off.

Disable the Apple Watch Notifications Indicator

The red dot at the top of your Apple Watch face alerts you to new or unseen notifications. You can control whether that dot is visible or not. It's on by default, so here's how to toggle it off.

Step 1: Launch Settings from your watch home screen.

Step 2: Tap on Notifications.

Step 3: Tap the Notifications indicator on-off toggle to switch it off.

Control Apple Watch notification summaries

If you're set up for notifications, you will receive short summaries on your locked or unlocked watch screen. That's because Always show short looks is enabled by default. A short look is a watch screen that lets you view only the app name, app icon, and notification headline. Here's how to turn it off.

Step 1: Launch Settings from your watch home screen.

Step 2: Tap on Notifications.

Step 3: Tap the Show summary when locked on-off toggle to switch it off.

Step 4: To see the full notification rather than a summary, toggle on the Tap to show full notification switch.

Use Siri to announce notifications from your Apple Watch

Maybe you never want to miss a notification you've set up. If you own a pair of second-generation or newer AirPods or certain Beats wireless headphones models, Siri can read notifications out loud to you via your Apple Watch. Make sure to first pair your AirPods or your headphones via Settings > Bluetooth from your iPhone. Also make sure you have enabled the feature on your iPhone via Settings > Notifications > Announce notifications. To use the feature on your watch, your iPhone must be locked and its screen dark — Siri will not announce notifications if you're using your phone.

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