How to Set Up and Manage Notifications on Apple Watch

MacRumors · May 5, 2015

One of the Apple Watch's most important features is the ability to keep you connected to your notifications without needing to have your iPhone in your hand or even in your pocket all of the time. I often miss important text messages because my iPhone is too far away from me to hear my alerts.

But with Apple Watch, all of your notifications are at your fingertips, as if someone is next to you, tapping you on the wrist whenever you get an alert. We've got a tutorial for you today that will explain how to set up and manage notifications so that you get the alerts you want and aren't distracted by the ones you don't want.

Set Up Notifications

Notifications on Apple Watch are actually mirrored from your iPhone by default, so any app you have notifications enabled for on your iPhone will also appear on your Apple Watch. To make sure you don't miss any notifications, you can turn on a Notification Indicator that will display a red dot on your watch face if you have unread notifications.

Enable compatible apps on your iPhone via Notification Center that you want to receive alerts for. It is likely these apps are already enabled on your iPhone, but it is a good idea to check on them.
Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
Tap the My Watch tab.
Select Notifications from the menu list.
Toggle Notification Indicator to the On position.
You can also set your notifications to private so that it requires you to tap the screen in order to see it.

Click here to read more...

Article Link: How to Set Up and Manage Notifications on Apple Watch

peoplesyak · May 5, 2015

I need DavidTheExpert's review of Lory's latest opus.

DavidTheExpert · May 5, 2015

peoplesyak said:
I need DavidTheExpert's review of Lory's latest opus.

Here I am.

Just pointing out that this is yet another pointless article, mocking MR's regular readers while pandering to empty clicks from search engines, and once again posted under the name "Lory Gil". I would really like to hear from Lory on this matter, if she is a real person, or at least from a MR mod.

currentinterest · May 5, 2015

My wife is finding these articles quite useful. She is learning about her watch bit by bit over time.

DavidTheExpert · May 5, 2015

currentinterest said:
My wife is finding these articles quite useful. She is learning about her watch bit by bit over time.

Really? She couldn't have figured out how to turn on calendar notifications by going to the Watch app and clicking on the big Calendar button on her own?

MR-LIZARD · May 5, 2015

DavidTheExpert said:
Here I am.

Just pointing out that this is yet another pointless article, mocking MR's regular readers while pandering to empty clicks from search engines...

It's hardly mocking; if it's something that is of no interest then it's easy enough to ignore or not get involved in. As a website I'm sure MR wants to grow its visitor numbers and repeat visitors; if it can convert an inexperienced Apple user into a regular visitor by providing them with information that's useful to them then why not? These inexperienced users will then hopefully become the experienced users of the future.

TBH I don't find the guides necessary for myself, the Apple Watch is simple to use, but I can see the benefit for others. However, it's easy to assume you know everything about something but sometimes these sort of guides have a little extra bit that of information that somehow passed you by so even for experienced users they can be useful.

I think as the Apple Watch is also quite scarce at the moment there will be a lot of people waiting on their Watch who will happily devour every bit of information about it and live vicariously through these guides until they can get their watch.

Other people may be sitting on the fence about a purchase What can the Watch do for me? How am I going to use one? These guides may assist in making that decision (whether as a sale or in the reader deciding it's not for them).

lk400 · May 5, 2015

DavidTheExpert said:
Here I am.

Just pointing out that this is yet another pointless article, mocking MR's regular readers while pandering to empty clicks from search engines, and once again posted under the name "Lory Gil". I would really like to hear from Lory on this matter, if she is a real person, or at least from a MR mod.

10/10, would read again.

jclo · May 6, 2015

DavidTheExpert said:
Here I am.

Just pointing out that this is yet another pointless article, mocking MR's regular readers while pandering to empty clicks from search engines, and once again posted under the name "Lory Gil". I would really like to hear from Lory on this matter, if she is a real person, or at least from a MR mod.

I think it's a mistake to assume that every MacRumors reader is at the same skill level. That an Apple Watch feature is obvious to you is not an indication that it's obvious to everyone, and honestly, the Apple Watch has a lot of complicated options and interactions to figure out. We feel that it's useful to meet the needs of users who might require a bit of help learning about all of the features on their devices (and this goes for the Mac, iPhone, and iPad too).

Even when Apple Watch features are obvious, there are often hidden little features that you might not find on your own, which also makes these posts useful for those who are already familiar with their devices.

There are a lot of people who come to MacRumors for help for a wide range of reasons, and while we realize that some of these how to posts are not useful for regular readers who are technically minded and very familiar with Apple products, people do find value in them.

We wish every post on the site would appeal to every reader, but that's just not the case. That's why we provide many different types of content aimed to meet different tastes and content preferences. That said, we appreciate the feedback -- we're always listening to what you guys have to say and we do take it into account when making content decisions.

DavidTheExpert · May 6, 2015

jclo said:
I think it's a mistake to assume that every MacRumors reader is at the same skill level. That an Apple Watch feature is obvious to you is not an indication that it's obvious to everyone, and honestly, the Apple Watch has a lot of complicated options and interactions to figure out. We feel that it's useful to meet the needs of users who might require a bit of help learning about all of the features on their devices (and this goes for the Mac, iPhone, and iPad too).

Even when Apple Watch features are obvious, there are often hidden little features that you might not find on your own, which also makes these posts useful for those who are already familiar with their devices.

There are a lot of people who come to MacRumors for help for a wide range of reasons, and while we realize that some of these how to posts are not useful for regular readers who are technically minded and very familiar with Apple products, people do find value in them.

We wish every post on the site would appeal to every reader, but that's just not the case. That's why we provide many different types of content aimed to meet different tastes and content preferences. That said, we appreciate the feedback -- we're always listening to what you guys have to say and we do take it into account when making content decisions.

Juli, thank you for taking the time to write a response.

I certainly understand that not all of MacRumors' visitors are on the same skill level. But over the years MR has cultivated a certain tone, which we regular readers have come to expect. The sidebar/second page items have always been little tidbits of Apple news, where we could expect to see articles of possible interest which may relate to an obscure Apple subject or contain unverified rumors, either way making them unfit for the front page. But these recent "how to" articles just seem terribly out of place for that sidebar.

In my opinion, this type of information would work great as a forum post instead, ideally in response to anyone's specific inquiry. It would remain just as accessible through search engines to anyone who needs the information. And for the more tech savvy crowd who reads the blog regularly, it wouldn't become a regular nuisance.

Anyway, thanks again for your response. I'm glad to be able to contribute my feedback. It's great to see MR growing so much lately, I just don't want to see it grow the wrong way.

Just one more question though, if I may... Who is Lory Gil??

jclo · May 7, 2015

DavidTheExpert said:
Juli, thank you for taking the time to write a response.

I certainly understand that not all of MacRumors' visitors are on the same skill level. But over the years MR has cultivated a certain tone, which we regular readers have come to expect. The sidebar/second page items have always been little tidbits of Apple news, where we could expect to see articles of possible interest which may relate to an obscure Apple subject or contain unverified rumors, either way making them unfit for the front page. But these recent "how to" articles just seem terribly out of place for that sidebar.

In my opinion, this type of information would work great as a forum post instead, ideally in response to anyone's specific inquiry. It would remain just as accessible through search engines to anyone who needs the information. And for the more tech savvy crowd who reads the blog regularly, it wouldn't become a regular nuisance.

Anyway, thanks again for your response. I'm glad to be able to contribute my feedback. It's great to see MR growing so much lately, I just don't want to see it grow the wrong way.

Just one more question though, if I may... Who is Lory Gil??

I guess I'm not really sure I understand the question asking who she is. Lory is a writer that we brought on to help write how tos. She does a few a week for us.

foliovision · Sep 29, 2022

What's a bit disturbing about this article is that it's mostly simply cribbed from a single Apple support doc: Notifications on your Apple Watch. There's a smidgeon more information but the article could go much deeper. I'm having trouble making BusyCal notifications appear on my watch for instance but Signal overwhelms me at time, even when I'm actively on Signal in Desktop.

What David is asking for is are guides which go beyond basic Apple Support docs.

Search

Search

How to Set Up and Manage Notifications on Apple Watch

MacRumors

macrumors bot

peoplesyak

macrumors newbie

DavidTheExpert

macrumors regular

currentinterest

macrumors 6502a

DavidTheExpert

macrumors regular

MR-LIZARD

macrumors regular

lk400

macrumors 65816

jclo

Managing Editor

DavidTheExpert

macrumors regular

jclo

Managing Editor

foliovision

macrumors regular

Our Staff