Notifications on your Apple Watch

Customise when and how you receive notifications on your Apple Watch, so you can respond straight away or check them at your convenience.

Where notifications appear

Notifications appear on your Apple Watch or iPhone, but not both.

Some apps, such as the Noise app, are only available on your Apple Watch. Notifications for these apps won't appear on your iPhone.

The red notification icon will appear at the top of your watch face when you have unread notifications. If you want to hide the notification icon, open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, tap Notifications, then turn off Notifications Indicator.

When you read or dismiss notifications on your Apple Watch, they'll also be also dismissed from your iPhone.

View and interact with a notification

When a notification appears, you can tap it to see more options. Depending on the app that sent the notification, you can reply to a message, call someone back, archive an email and more.

If your Apple Watch is dim and not active, full-screen notifications will appear. When you're using your Apple Watch, notifications will appear in a banner at the top of the display.

How to see all of your unread Apple Watch notifications

1. Touch and hold the top of the watch face to open Notification Centre. You can do this from any screen.

2. Wait for Notification Centre to appear, then swipe down.

3. Turn the Digital Crown to scroll, or swipe up and down on the watch face.

4. Tap the notification to read it. To read grouped notifications, tap a stack, then tap a notification.

5. To delete a notification, swipe left, then tap the delete button.

How to clear all of your unread Apple Watch notifications

1. Touch and hold the top of the watch face to open Notification Centre.

2. Turn the Digital Crown or swipe down on the watch face until you get to the top.

3. Tap Clear All.

   

How to mute or turn off an app's notifications on your Apple Watch

1. Touch and hold the top of the watch face.

2. Wait for Notification Centre to appear, then swipe down.

3. Swipe left on the notification you want to mute or turn off, then tap the More button.

4. Choose from the options that are available for that app. Depending on the app, you can mute notifications for the rest of the day, mute them for an hour or turn them off completely.

   

You can turn on an app's notifications if you want to see them again:

1. Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, then tap the My Watch tab.

2. Tap Notifications.

3. Scroll down to the list of installed apps, then turn on the app that you want to receive notifications from.

Customise your Apple Watch notification settings

1. Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, then tap the My Watch tab.

2. Tap Notifications.

3. Tap an app to see its options. To use the same notification settings on apps that appear on both your Apple Watch and iPhone, tap Mirror my iPhone. Some apps allow you to customise your notifications. Tap Custom, then choose an option:

   • Allow Notifications: notifications appear in Notification Centre and your Apple Watch will alert you.

   • Send to Notification Centre: notifications are sent directly to Notification Centre without your Apple Watch alerting you.

   • Notifications Off: the app won't send you any notifications.

4. If you customise an app's notifications, you can also group notifications from that app. Tap Notification grouping, then choose an option: Off, Automatically or By App.

Some apps offer further customisation, while others only let you turn off Apple Watch notifications completely. Scroll down to the Mirror iPhone Alerts From section and turn off the setting next to the app.

Find out how to change audio settings for notifications.

Keep notifications private

When a notification appears, you see a quick summary, then full details a few seconds later. To stop the quick summary and full details from appearing in the notification:

1. Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, then tap the My Watch tab.

2. Tap Notifications, then turn on Tap to Show Full Notification.

3. When you receive a notification, tap it to see the full details.

Whether your Apple Watch is locked or unlocked, you can see notification summaries, or short looks, by default. A short look is a single screen that shows the notifying app’s name and icon along with the notification title. You can choose to turn off short looks when Apple Watch is locked:

1. Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, then tap the My Watch tab.

2. Tap Notifications, then turn off Show Summary When Locked.

If you can't see notifications on your Apple Watch

When your devices are disconnected, your notifications will be sent to your iPhone instead of your Apple Watch. To check your connection in Control Centre, press the side button (for watchOS 9 or earlier, touch and hold the bottom of the screen, then swipe up). If your devices are disconnected, you may see the red iPhone icon, the red X icon or the Wi-Fi icon. Try to connect your iPhone and your Apple Watch.

When your Apple Watch is locked or if you've turned on Do Not Disturb, your notifications will be sent to your iPhone:

• When your Apple Watch is locked, the lock icon will appear on the watch face.

• When Do Not Disturb is on, the Do Not Disturb icon will appear on the watch face. To turn this feature off, swipe up on the watch face, then tap the Do Not Disturb icon.

For third-party apps, notifications will only be delivered if your paired iPhone is also connected to a network.