MacFormat UK – June 2019

FEATURE Apple Watch tips

There’s more than meets the eye with Apple Watch, so

we delved into the menus to find these great bonus tips

66 | MACFORMAT | JUNE 2019 macformat.com @macformat

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Bedside mode

Don’t have a bedside clock?

Your Apple Watch can do that

job for you. Go to My Watch >

General and turn on Bedside

Mode. This lets your Watch

display a large clock face while

it’s charging. If you have an

alarm set on your Watch, its

screen will start to brighten

a few minutes before it’s

due to go off.

Manage alarms

When you set an alarm on

your iPhone, it’ll also go off on

your Watch (and vice versa),

but you can change that. To

turn off the alarm on your

Watch, press the side button.

Press the Digital Crown,

however, and you’ll snooze

it for nine minutes. These

controls are useful if your

iPhone is in another room.

Gradual brightness

Waking the screen can be

inappropriate at times (such

as at the cinema). To be subtle

about it, ensure the Watch’s

display is off, then slowly turn

the Digital Crown. This lets

you slowly light up the display

so you can check it without

shining a bright light around

a dark room or having to raise

your wrist.

ou may find yourself
just using your Watch
to check the time and get
the odd notification. If you
do that’s fine, but you’re missing out on
a whole world of extras. Even seasoned
Apple veterans like us still find new
features when we dig through the
Watch’s menus.
For example, the Apple ecosystem
can help if you’ve lost your iPhone.
Swipe up from the bottom of your
Watch’s screen to bring up Control
Centre, then tap the icon showing
a vibrating iPhone. This ‘pings’ your
phone so it’ll emit a brief ringing sound,
helping you locate it.

If you hold the vibrating iPhone

button, your phone’s flash will blink –

useful in the dark or if your phone’s

speaker is covered.

That’s why it’s always worth

exploring the little-known features of

your Apple devices – it could be that

your favourite feature is something you

never knew existed.

Camera control

The Camera app on your Watch is there

so that you can use the wearable as a

remote shutter release and timer when

your iPhone is taking pictures. To use

it, open the Camera app on your

Watch – this will automatically open the

Camera app on your iPhone. Now just

press the shutter icon to instantly take

a picture on your phone, or tap the ‘3s’

button to start a three-second timer.

Tex t size

If you find text is too small to read

on your Watch, head to the Watch app

on your iPhone and tap My Watch >

Brightness & Text Size. From here,

adjust the bottom slider to increase (or

decrease) the size of text displayed on

your Watch. You can also make text

bold to further aid legibility.

Your Watch can help you find your lost iPhone

by getting it to briefly emit a ping sound.

An angled stand like the

Twelve South Forté charger

means the time can easily

be seen from your bed.

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