How to silence Apple Watch

From an unexpected activation of Siri, to an alarm you don't remember, you can quickly stop the sounds coming out of your Apple Watch and prevent it from exposing you in public.

Already from the first version of Apple Watch there were alarms and notifications. From the third generation of Apple Watch, the repertoire of sounds and alarms has been added that can talk.

Be that as it may, you can silence Apple Watch right now, or if you're a little farsighted, you can move on so it doesn't make uncomfortable sounds when it's not the case.




Quickly silence Apple Watch

  • Cover the Apple Watch with your hand

Whether it's an alarm, a warning, or Siri saying “Sorry, but I don't think I understand you,” covering the Apple Watch with your hand will silence it. Apple says you need to cover it for three seconds for it to recognize the gesture as voluntary, although three seconds could be an excruciatingly long time when an audible sound comes out of your wrist in the middle of the silence of a concert hall, for example.

Fortunately, the moment you cover the dial, all sounds are muted. You just need to hold your hand on it for three seconds.

However, there is a way to make covering the sphere with your hand not work. But you must have specifically chosen not to, so it's not likely to happen to you without having the slightest idea why it happened.

If your Apple Watch doesn't turn off when you cover it with your hand, you need to change that setting.

On iPhone, go to the Watch app settings


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  1. Open watch
  2. If you have more than one watch, select the one you have on your wrist now
  3. Tap Sounds and vibrations
  4. Check the Cover to Mute setting at the bottom of the menu

The “Cover to Silence” setting is on by default. If you've ever disabled it, you need to turn it back green for it to work.



Silence all in advance

If disabling “Cover to Silence” requires a deliberate act, it's surprisingly easy to activate the “Silence” function and forget about it (we've always deactivated it). 

How to silence Apple Watch

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  1. On Apple Watch, swipe from bottom to top to access Control Center
  2. Tap the button with the bell icon
  3. You can also do this directly on the iPhone, by opening the Watch app
  4. Tap Sounds and vibrations
  5. Touch to select silent mode (although if you are charging it, for example at night while you sleep, the alarms and timers will not be deactivated)

If you do this on the iPhone, but are looking at the Apple Watch, you will immediately see how the button turns red with a diagonal line on the doorbell. If you do this directly on the Apple Watch, you will see a short notification on the screen that says “Mute: On”.


If you want to disable it on the Apple Watch itself, tap the red alert button. If on iPhone, tap to turn off silent mode.

Even if you've turned on Silent mode, you'll still notice vibrations from alarms or directions (if you're following a route in Maps, for example). If you want to cancel the vibrations as well, you have to do something else.

How to turn on Do Not Disturb on Apple Watch

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  1. On your watch, swipe up to activate Control Center Control
  2. Tap Do Not Disturb (the moon icon)

This Do Not Disturb option will stay on until you turn it off (or the time you have set for it passes). You can do it another way, then the watch automatically enters Do Not Disturb mode when you work out. And you can also decide to turn the feature on every time you put your iPhone in Do Not Disturb.



  1. On your iPhone, open the Watch app
  2. Toccata  General
  3. Select Do Not Disturb
  4. Turn on Do Not Disturb While I Workout
  5. Y / I activates Duplicate iPhone (it should be "Duplicate to iPhone", because what it does is that when activated on Apple Watch it also activates on iPhone and vice versa - the Do Not Disturb period you set on the iPhone will activate automatically on your Apple Watch. If you want it to work independently, turn off the "Mirror iPhone" option.

Set notifications on Apple Watch not to disturb

While this all sounds simple, the problem is that there are many different options and they are located in different places. But it can still get worse.


The best way to avoid unexpected alarms is to not set any. But you will continue to receive notifications.

On Apple Watch, you can manage how notifications are received, but only when you've already received one. If a notification appears, you can move it to the left, tap the More button (the three dots horizontally) and choose between two options:


The first is Notify Discreet (you'll see a red dot indicating there is a notification, but it won't make any sound. The second is Disable on Apple Watch, which does just that. Note that this setting is for app notifications only. especially who sent it to you, not for all notifications.

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If you want to make this decision when you have no notifications or when you have deleted them all, you need to do it on iPhone.

  1. Open the Clock app
  2. Tap Notifications
  3. Go application by application, setting a preference for each.

Most apps will only show two options: Mirror iPhone or Custom. If you select Custom, you will have different options depending on the app, but you will always have the options Allow notifications, Send to notification center or Notifications disabled.


Crab

Nothing we've explained so far affects Siri. You can turn silent mode on, you may have selected Do Not Disturb, but if Siri thinks you said "Hey Siri", it will respond. 

The only way to make sure it never gets activated is to completely disable this feature. 

How to disable "Hey Siri" on Apple Watch

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  1. On Apple Watch, open Settings
  2. Toccata  Crab
  3. Turn off Turn on when you hear "Hey Siri"

You can still have Siri listen to you when you need it, by pressing the Digital Crown while you speak or by bringing the watch close to your face.

Conclusion

While there are many ways to limit Apple Watch's unexpected interactions through sounds, notifications, vibrations, and Siri questions, they are all spread across different settings and options, so it's easy to forget something ... or get lost when we decide to get it back and don't remember. more where to look.

Apple Watch adds a lot of comfort to everyday life by avoiding having to constantly take the phone out of your pocket and putting the access in a much more comfortable place: the wrist.

Adapting it to what we need and / or want can take some time to set up, but it's totally worth it.

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