FEATURE Apple Watch tips
64 | MACFORMAT | JUNE 2019 macformat.com @macformatToo many alerts on your
wrist? Filter out the noise
and regain peace of mindhe more we use our
devices, the more we
seem to be bombarded by
notifications. No matter
if you’re on a family outing or at the
cinema, we’ve all had an annoying,
unwelcome buzz interrupt our day.
You might think the Apple Watch
will make this interference even worse;
you’ll now have two devices vibrating
and lighting up instead of just the one.
Here at MacFormat, we know people
who have given up on the Watch
entirely because they couldn’t stand
how many notifications they were
receiving on their wrist.
But it really doesn’t have to be this
way. The notifications settings on the
Watch are eminently customisable,
allowing you to choose who can send
through notifications and from which
app they originate. You can silence
them, switch off the display, even
disable notifications completely.
We’ll demonstrate how you can tailorthese options over these two pages.
By default, notifications will appear
on your iPhone if it is unlocked, but
won’t show up on your Watch. If your
iPhone is locked, however, you’ll get
a buzz on your wrist. So the first thing
you can do to reduce the amount
of notifications you
get on your Watch
is to simply unlock
your iPhone.
However, that isn’t
always convenient;so what can you do if you want to leave
your iPhone locked?
For one thing, you can designate
certain contacts as VIPs; doing this
means their notifications will reach
your Watch, but all others will be
blocked. That’s useful if you’re
expecting some
important news
from a particular
contact, but
otherwise need
to minimise anyWe’ve all had an
unwelcome buzz
interrupt our day1
Reduce the barrage
Having too many notifications can
drain your battery and be a pain to deal
with. In your iPhone’s Watch app, tap
Notifications in the My Watch tab, then
toggle off any app whose notifications
you don’t want to receive on your wrist.2
Clear the backlog
You can view all of your recent
notifications by swiping down from the
top of the Watch screen. If you feel like
you have too many, deep press on one
until Clear All appears. Tap that to
dismiss all unattended notifications.3
Only allow VIP emails
In Mail on iPhone’s mailboxes list,
tap VIP, then Add VIP to choose contacts
for whom you want your Watch to buzz.
In My Watch > Mail, tap Custom, then
Include Mail, untick mailboxes you don’t
want notifications for. Keep VIP ticked.HOW TO Filter notifications
T
If you’re annoyed by your Watch buzzing, set your
notifications to Deliver Quietly instead.If you often miss notifications, you can set them
to stay on your Watch display for longer.