Make your Apple Watch less distracting with these settings

You can do several things to ensure that you are disturbed less or not at all by your Apple Watch. There are all kinds of settings that make your Apple Watch less distracting. For example, you can set that you want to receive a notification, but without sound or vibration. This can also be done temporarily by, for example, switching on do not disturb. If all the tips in this article are not enough, you can of course always take off the Apple Watch completely. If you want to keep it, read on.

• #1 Turn off sounds
• #2 Breathing and Activity
• #3 Make vibrations less prominent
• #4 Deliver notifications from specific apps silently
• #5 Disable red dot for notifications
• #6 Do not disturb and silent mode

#1 Turn off sounds

Almost everyone we know has the Apple Watch continuously on silent mode (mute). Just like the iPhone, the Apple Watch can give all kinds of beeps. That’s very useful when the Apple Watch is on the charger and you don’t want to miss any notifications, but it can be annoying for other people during yoga class or on the train. All those sounds can also be very distracting. You can prevent this by setting your Apple Watch to vibrate:

1. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to open Control Center.
2. Tap the bell icon so that it has a line through it.
3. You now only feel vibrations and hear no sounds.

Do you still want to hear sounds, but do you want them to be less loud? Then you can do that too: on the connected iPhone, go to the Watch app and browse to Hearing and feeling > Notification volume.

#2 Turn off Breath and Activity notifications

A common frustration among Apple Watch owners is the recurring notifications from two apps: Breathing and Activity. These apps from Apple are designed to keep you physically and mentally fit, but they can also be irritating and guilt-inducing because you’re constantly reminded to take a rest and get up. By default, you will receive notifications from these apps several times a day, but you can also disable them.

You can specifically indicate for the Activity app which notifications you do and do not want to receive. At Breathing you set how often you want to receive a notification per day, where 0 is also possible. Follow these steps on the paired iPhone:

1. Open the Watch app on the paired iPhone.
2. Tap Breathing or Activity, whichever you want to change.
3. Indicate which notifications you want to receive how often, or tap Notifications off.

This makes your Apple Watch a lot less distracting. Have you changed your mind and still want to receive the notifications again? You can turn them back on at any time.

#3 Make vibrations less prominent

Do you feel like an elephant is sitting on your wrist with every incoming notification? Then the vibrations are set too intense and you can make them less prominent. To do this, in the Watch app on the paired iPhone, go to Hear & Feel > Tactile notifications > Default. You can read more about prominent vibrations in our separate tip.

#4 Deliver notifications from specific apps silently

Are you focused on your work and don’t want to be disturbed for everything? Then you can have notifications delivered silently. This applies to apps that are less important: when you play a game with friends, you don’t always have to know immediately that it’s your turn again. With the right settings, you will no longer receive tactile or audible notifications, but you can read the notifications back in the Apple Watch message center.

To silence a specific app’s notification, follow these steps:

1. Open Notification Center on your Apple Watch.
2. Find a notification from the app in question and swipe left on this notification.
3. Tap the three dots and choose Deliver silently.

These settings are transferred to your iPhone, so you will also receive the notifications there without sound. You can also choose to only disable the notifications on the Apple Watch from certain apps:

1. Open the Watch app on the paired iPhone.
2. Tap Notification.
3. Scroll to the app from which you do want to receive notifications on your iPhone, but not on the Apple Watch.
4. Turn off the switch on an app to prevent notifications from it on your Apple Watch. The notification is then still available on your iPhone.

#5 Disable red dot for notifications

A red dot appears on the watch face of your Apple Watch to indicate whether there are new notifications. If you are always tempted to view notifications if you only check the time, you can disable this dot:

1. In the Watch app on iPhone, go to My Watch > Notifications.
2. Turn off the switch next to Message indication.

#6 Do not disturb Apple Watch and use silent mode

A quick way to temporarily stop receiving notifications is the Focus mode, or ‘Do not disturb’. You can turn it on quickly and have it turn off automatically after a while.

There is also a silent mode. You can turn this on just as easily and ensure that notifications no longer make a sound. They are both effective ways to make your Apple Watch less distracting. This is how you use them:

1. Swipe up on the watch face.
2. Tap the moon (focus/do not disturb) or the bell (silent mode).
3. At focus, choose which mode you want to use (Do not disturb, Work, Sleep, etc.) and how long the function should be active.

You can switch the functions on and off in the meantime by opening the control panel of your Apple Watch.

Bonus tip: activate silent mode quickly by placing your palm on your watch for 3 seconds. You will feel a vibration as confirmation.

Another way to get some rest is to keep your notifications clean. You can read how to do that in our separate tip about deleting Apple Watch notifications. Do you have a useful tip to make your Apple Watch less distracting? Let us know via the link below!