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Apple Watch Ultra comes with a built-in Night Mode that puts a red filter on the display. Keep reading to learn how to use it.

apple-watch-ultra-night-mode.jpg

To optimize for evening conditions, Apple Watch Ultra features a Night Mode that turns the interface red and removes retina-altering blue light from the display to ease strain on your eyes in the dark.

On other Apple Watch models, if you look at your watch or accidentally tilt your wrist in the dark, it can impact your night vision. Night Mode on Apple Watch Ultra protects night vision, which can be crucial for explorers and astronomers.

Also it just looks cool in the dark. Here's how to turn it on.
  1. If it isn't already active, swipe to the new Wayfinder watch face, which is specially made for Apple Watch Ultra.
  2. Turn the Digital Crown to engage Night Mode.
  3. To turn it off, rotate the Digital Crown in the opposite direction.
night-mode-apple-watch-ultra.jpg


Note that Night Mode only works when the Wayfinder watch face is being used – it's an exclusive feature to Wayfinder and cannot be enabled when any other watch face is displayed.

Article Link: Apple Watch Ultra: How to Activate Night Mode
Also, I did basically this with the simple watch face on past AW versions.
 
As an amateur astronomer, I just wish that the other AW models had this option, as I don't want to impact my or other observers' night vision around me at a star party. I use a very dim setting with red for my current AW5, with the AOD display being off
If you just need the time, use the "X-Large" face and "Choose a color" -> Autumn 2021 red. Obviously a very minimal face but it'll just display red so shouldn't alter your vision.
 
Blue light DOES NOT alter anything. There are multiple studies that debunk the myth.
Shame Apple does not do any investigation at all about anything!
 
Apparently yes.
Still to come:
How to change the watch band.
How to turn the digital crown
How to change the watch face
How to expel water after a workout
How to find the settings....

... and so on...

I think Macrumours are going to be dining out on these articles for a few days yet :)
Keep reading to learn how to use it!

Seriously, that line cracked me up.
 
This is pretty cool, but Apple and their stinginess with watch faces is pathetic. Most of the watch faces are average at best and the amount is piddling. With all that money you think they could employ a couple of people to come up with some interesting watch faces and bring more to the table.
They're creating value through artificial scarcity. Since there is no competition for Apple Watch, Apple can call the shots right now and create value in more ways than just the best user experience. Once they face real competition (maybe from google in 2-3 years?) they will open up watch face design to users and/or 3rd party apps. Until then, we just get a few new looks each release cycle.
 
A light sensor would be more elegant than spinning the dial or simply link it to sunrise/sunset times. A setting could be enabled or disabled b/c obviously some people wouldn't like it on every time it's dark out.
 
Examining the binary shows that it also has unadvertised features.
It can cloak you, rendering you invisible, BUT only for 9 seconds. Fortunately, though, the cloak meter CAN be refilled from ammo sources. /j
 
Seriously!!! This is a software feature and frankly it should be EASILY available to every single Apple Watch. It’s literally just a color of Watch face. There is nothing special about this AT ALL.
 
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Seriously!!! This is a software feature and frankly it should be EASILY available to every single Apple Watch. It’s literally just a color of Watch face. There is nothing special about this AT ALL.

It's a crap feature as well if you've done any night navigation. It's either:

1. Too dark to see anything so the red will actually just embed itself in your retina. You should be wearing a head torch.
2. Enough ambient light to see anyway. Just let your eyes adjust for 5 minutes and you can see pretty well in near darkness. Oh no I looked at my watch - embedded in retina for 2 minutes again.
3. Light enough not to need it.

As someone who does a hell of a lot of outdoor activity up and down hills and mountains in daytime to night, the Apple Watch is absolutely conceptually the worst tool for the job. Garmin isn't any better for ref. Compass + map + head torch or a basic GPS is a hell of a lot easier to use and orders of magnitude more reliable.

Edit: Also a mini rant. I tried on the Ultra at the Regents Street store in London earlier today. It's too damn huge and heavy unless you're the stay puft dude. I'm wearing a 7 which is basically a utility device for city living and casual exercise which it excels at, but outdoors it's a chore.
 
Every app I use outside at night when doing astrophotography have a had a night mode forever. What took Apple so long, and why are they acting like it is innovative, and why is it so limited? Meh...
 
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This feature is available on EVERY APPLE DEVICE already.

Go to accessibility and look at colour screen overlay filters. I use the red one when I'm out stargazing all the time. Laughed a lot when this was announced as a feature.
Not on Apple Watches that aren’t Ultra, though. There’s no overlay filter for Apple Watch 8. But, I mean, one can just create a watch face that’s all red which isn’t too different. Put the watch into “theater” mode, turn the dial and slowly increase the brightness just to take a peek and turn it back down.
 
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This feature is available on EVERY APPLE DEVICE already.

Go to accessibility and look at colour screen overlay filters. I use the red one when I'm out stargazing all the time. Laughed a lot when this was announced as a feature.
This is incorrect information: Apple Watches are Apple devices, and this “Color Filters” feature is not available on my Watch series 6.

Would you mind editing your comment to say “every OTHER Apple device” or specify “except for Apple Watches”?
 
Limiting faces to certain models has always been part of the Apple Watch playbook. The series 5 Editions had exclusive colours for the the titanium models (now unlocked for all in OS updates). Nike models had exclusive faces (again now unlocked). The cellular models get Explorer and of course Hermès has an expanding range of faces for which you have to pay to play. It’s watch marketing 101. Everyone brand does it. It’s how they take your money!

Google the words “G-Shock Ltd edition” if you don’t believe me.

Apple now seem to be chasing a more female market with the regular watches (which are still great versatile watches for everyone) and instead of trying to extend profits with sales of upper end luxury models are skewing towards “techier” with more features. And so we arrive at the chunky monkey that is the Ultra!

Still way lighter than a full metal steel G-Shock (and most steel divers) and leaning heavily into a more “brutal” tool like design which like most Apple gear looks better in the flesh, and definitely suits more functional faces and straps over classic or traditional ones - still looks great on the right leather one mind.

I can’t comment on the utility of night mode but aesthetically, coupled with the utilitarian chunkiness of the watch I reckon it’s a winner. I discovered it by accident when I nudged the crown and I was grinning from ear to ear. The red can can get super intense and I think it looks amazing. So much so that I’ll happily use it as a normal face all day. With the white alpine loop or even the silver Milanese - it gives the Ultra a kind of NASA tech vibe, that personally I am loving.
 
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I wish they'd include this as a standard option for iOS as well. But I found a way to simulate it using the "color overlay" feature under Accessibility settings. It works remarkably well for preserving night vision, sleep quality, and not disturbing those around you in the dark. And it looks cool as hell.
I was not aware of this feature, and it's a great tip for those who value night-adapted vision or elimination of blue light at times.

Note that in iOS 16 at least, it's called "Color Filters" rather than "overlay".

It's even possible to automate turning it on and off via Shortcuts. I created shortcuts to turn it on and off along with Do Not Disturb, added them as widgets for manual use, and scheduled them to run automatically at bedtime and sunrise respectively.

Really the only disappointment is that you can't do this to JUST the lock screen, so I can make that blue-light-friendly at the earliest likely bedtime without redwashing the whole interface when I'm still awake.
 
It's a crap feature as well if you've done any night navigation. It's either:

1. Too dark to see anything so the red will actually just embed itself in your retina. You should be wearing a head torch.
2. Enough ambient light to see anyway. Just let your eyes adjust for 5 minutes and you can see pretty well in near darkness. Oh no I looked at my watch - embedded in retina for 2 minutes again.
3. Light enough not to need it.
So what these first two Google results for me when I search for "night vision red light" are not providing correct information?
 
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So what these first two Google results for me when search for "night vision red light" are not providing correct information?
I like how the post you responded to assumes that there’s ALWAYS some ambient light. Which, in a city, probably. But astro photographers are checking a dark sky map (like darksitefinder.com) to find places where ambient light is VERY low to take the best pictures. Eyes can’t adjust to NO photons, just like in a darkroom. :)
 
This feature is available on EVERY APPLE DEVICE already.

Go to accessibility and look at colour screen overlay filters. I use the red one when I'm out stargazing all the time. Laughed a lot when this was announced as a feature.
Uh oh - that might be a bug and be removed in the future :p
 
This feature is available on EVERY APPLE DEVICE already.

Go to accessibility and look at colour screen overlay filters. I use the red one when I'm out stargazing all the time. Laughed a lot when this was announced as a feature.
I know this is a feature for iPhone & Mac, but I don't see it as an option for Apple Watch.
 
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