Apple Watch notifications help you stay up to date on the things that matter, even if you don’t have your iPhone nearby.
Depending on your customization options, you can have your Apple Watch send you different types of notifications, including health alerts, news and weather updates, activity reminders, messages, calls, and emergency alerts.
And if you don’t view and respond to an alert instantly, your Apple Watch will store it in its notification center for later access.
This guide covers how notifications work on Apple Watch, how to enable and disable the feature, and how to customize and respond to notifications.
How Does Notification Work on Apple Watch?
Your iPhone and Apple Watch must be in range and connected to each other for notifications to work seamlessly.
And depending your custom settings, you can get wrist notifications from a handful of native and third party apps or every app installed on your iPhone.
Notifications never show on both devices at the same time. You only get push notifications on your watch if you have your iPhone’s screen locked. And you never get any alert on your Apple Watch if you have it locked, unless you’ve enabled notification summary.
Some apps are only available on your Apple Watch. As such, their notifications won’t appear on your iPhone. An example of this is the Noise app.
A red dot indicator will appear at the top center of your watch face if you have an unread notification. However, you can hide this red icon if you don’t want to see it.
Once you read and dismiss an alert on your Apple Watch, your iPhone reads and dismisses it as well.
How to Manage Notifications on Your Apple Watch
Once you enable notifications on your Apple Watch, you can customize them, decide how you would like to see them, and view, respond, or delete them altogether.
Enable Notifications
To turn on notifications:
- Open Watch app on your iPhone.
- Tap notifications under My Watch tab.
- Scroll through the list of apps.
- Toggle each app from which you would like to get notifications.
Customize Notifications
The following are the different ways to customize alerts on your Apple Watch:
Mirror Your iPhone
The first customization option is to use the same notifications settings on your iPhone and Apple Watch. To configure this:
- Open Watch app on your iPhone.
- Select Notifications under My Watch tab.
- Select “Mirror My iPhone”.
Decide How to See Notifications
You can:
- Allow Notifications: This option mirrors alerts from your iPhone to your Apple Watch.
- Send to Notification Center: In this case, your smartwatch directs every notification to the Notification Center. However, your Apple Watch won’t vibrate or sound an alert.
- Set Notifications Off: You won’t get any alert on your Apple Watch if you enable this option.
- Allow Group Notifications: Enable this option to choose apps from which you would like to get collective notifications.
See Notifications on Lock Screen
This option lets you decide how you want notifications to appear on the lock screen of your Apple Watch.
Your options are as follows:
- Show Summary When Locked: You see a short look of the notification. The summary has the app’s name, its icon, and a short headline.
- Tap to Show Full Notification: This option shows you a summary of the notification first and then full details a few seconds later when you tap it.
- Show Notification on Wrist Down: If you enable this option, your Apple Watch will get notifications even when you’re not looking it.
For configuration, open Settings on your Apple Watch, tap Notifications, and choose an option that suits you best.
View, Respond, or Clear Notifications
You will feel a gentle haptic vibration feedback on your wrist when your Apple Watch gets alerts.
Based on your customization, you’ll see a notification indicator at the top of your watch face, full notification, or a summary when locked.
Raise your wrist, press the Digital Crown, or press the side button to wake the screen and then tap a notification to view it.
You can reply to text, respond to someone’s missed call, start a Workout, dismiss an email, and so on depending on the notifications you get.
To see a list of all your unread notifications:
- Touch and hold the top of the watch face to open the Notification Center.
- Swipe up and down to see a list of the notifications you haven’t read yet.
- Tap a notification to read it.
To clear unread notifications:
- Open the Notification Center.
- Swipe down until you get to the top of the screen.
- Tap Clear All.
To delete a notification:
- Select a notification you want to remove from your Apple Watch.
- Swipe left.
- Tap the delete button.
You get full screen notifications only if your Apple Watch is dim and inactive. If there’s an incoming notification when you’re using your Apple Watch, it will appear as a banner at the top of the screen.
Can I Silence Notifications on My Apple Watch?
You can silence your Apple Watch so that it doesn’t interrupt you with notifications. You do this especially if you’re busy at work or just want to stay focused on tasks that are more important than looking at your smartwatch.
To silence the watch, enable silent mode, sleep mode, focus mode, DND mode, theater mode, and cover to mute. You may also want to disable “Listen for Hey Siri” feature for minimal interruption.
Can I Turn Off Notifications on My Apple Watch?
Yes, you can turn off Apple Watch notifications temporarily or permanently. If you no longer want to get push notifications on your wrist from apps, simply toggle them off in the Watch app on your iPhone.
Alternatively, you can swipe left on a notification on your Apple Watch, tap the more button, and select how you want the notification muted. Here you can mute 1 hour or mute for today, add to summary, turn off time sensitive, or turn off alerts completely.
Why is My Apple Watch Not Showing Me Any Notification?
If you’re not getting notifications on your Apple Watch, it may be because you accidentally turned on airplane mode, DND mode is active, Bluetooth is off, or apps don’t have the permission to send notifications to your wrist.
To get notifications back, turn airplane mode off, disable DND, and activate Bluetooth on your smartwatch and iPhone. Additionally, ensure you select the apps from which you would like to get actionable alerts.
