Apple Watch notifications

[circatee]

I am not sure I fully understand how notifications work, or should work on an Apple Watch.

I use an AWU, an iPhone and work from a iMac daily. With that, iMessages on my iMac is always open, but often minimized.
So, based on the above, if an iMessage is received I am notified on the iMac and on my iPhone. Should the AWU not also notify me?

Thanks all, really looking to understand how it is supposed to work.

 

[NoBoMac]

Notifications on your Apple Watch - Apple Support

Customize when and how you get notifications on your Apple Watch.

support.apple.com

Watch and and phone is either or, not both.

 

[circatee]

Notifications on your Apple Watch - Apple Support

Customize when and how you get notifications on your Apple Watch.

support.apple.com

Watch and and phone is either or, not both.

...thanks for sharing. Rather curious, because often my iPhone is in 'sleep' mode (screen on always display) while I am using my iMac or MacBook. Thus, I would then expect all notifications to show on my Apple Watch. Alas, that is often not the case.

In the Apple Watch settings, all notifications are set to mirror my iPhone.

 

[bricktop_at]

Notifications should reach you on the Mac and (if the phone is locked) the AWU. If the phone is unlocked the Notification should pop on the phone.

But: You should check the notification settings in the Watch App on your phone, could be that you simply have disabled them on the watch

 

[circatee]

Notifications should reach you on the Mac and (if the phone is locked) the AWU. If the phone is unlocked the Notification should pop on the phone.

But: You should check the notification settings in the Watch App on your phone, could be that you simply have disabled them on the watch

...thanks for the breakdown. I checked the watch, and all apps (that I want notifications for) are on. Additionally, they are set to 'mirror iPhone'. I will switch a few apps to custom notifications for the AWU, and see how it works out.

Again, thanks!

 

[NoBoMac]

When Always-On display is turned on, you can choose whether to show your wallpaper or notifications on your Lock Screen. In Settings > Display & Brightness > Always On Display, turn Show Wallpaper or Show Notifications on or off.

Keep the iPhone display on longer

On iPhone, you can set the display to stay on longer.

support.apple.com

I don't have an Always On device, so no experience, but reads like with the option above on, Notifications are considered delivered to Phone (eg. same as locked vs unlocked screen/device) so won't go to Watch.

So... check that setting and turn off to see what happens?

 

[wilderkun]

...thanks for sharing. Rather curious, because often my iPhone is in 'sleep' mode (screen on always display) while I am using my iMac or MacBook. Thus, I would then expect all notifications to show on my Apple Watch. Alas, that is often not the case.

In the Apple Watch settings, all notifications are set to mirror my iPhone.

So it depends on what machine you’re using at the moment. If you’re on your Mac, the message notifications will go there, and if you’re on your phone, that’s where you get notifications.
If you’re not on either you will get a notification on your watch. This used to be quite buggy but it’s pretty good now.
Also enable “messages in the cloud” in cloud settings. This makes the syncing more accurate

 

[circatee]

So it depends on what machine you’re using at the moment. If you’re on your Mac, the message notifications will go there, and if you’re on your phone, that’s where you get notifications.
If you’re not on either you will get a notification on your watch. This used to be quite buggy but it’s pretty good now.
Also enable “messages in the cloud” in cloud settings. This makes the syncing more accurate

Honestly, this actually makes sense. Ideally, one would not want multiple notifications on multiple devices, all at once. That would be somewhat frustrating.

Now, since I am often working on a mac (iMac at work, or Mac Mini at home), this would explain why I hardly get notifications on my watch.

Thanks