In several states, Apple’s digital ID initiative enables iPhones and Apple Watch to hold a digital copy of the user’s driver’s license, in the same way these devices store credit cards and airline tickets.

The day when an iPhone can completely take the place of an old-fashioned wallet is still years away, but it’s a goal Apple is working toward. Apple Pay is making progress on replacing credit cards, you can put airline tickets in the Wallet app, and the same goes for loyalty cards.

But no wallet is complete unless it can hold a driver’s license. And that’s where Apple’s digital ID initiative comes in.

Here’s what you need to know to add your driver’s license and ID to your Apple Wallet.

How to add your ID to Apple Wallet on iPhone and Apple Watch

The first step in adding your driver’s license to your iPhone is to check what state you live in, because they don’t all support the feature. It’s a decision up to individual states, and so far, only a fraction of them offer the service.

At the time of this writing, those who live in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Puerto Rico or West Virginia can put their official ID in the Wallet app. Still, the list is likely to grow: Connecticut, Illinois and Kentucky also pledged their support for Apple’s digital ID program, though they do not yet offer it.

Also, don’t toss your current license in a drawer. If you get pulled over by the police while driving, you need a physical copy of your license to hand over.

But that doesn’t mean the digital version is useless. The Transportation Security Administration does accept them, so a digital ID can speed up the process of moving through security checkpoints at airports. And it never hurts to have a backup at any time.

Table of contents: How to add your ID to Apple Wallet

1. Add an ID card to the Wallet app
2. Scan your driver’s license
3. Scan your face
4. Watch a how-to video
5. Relax, your driver’s license is secure in Apple Wallet

Add an ID card to the Wallet app

The process for putting your driver’s license or state ID in Apple Wallet isn’t complex. Just follow these steps.

Start by opening the Wallet app on your iPhone, then tapping the + button at the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Select Driver’s License or State ID. On the resulting page, tap on your state name.

Scan your ID or driver’s license

Now get out your physical ID, because you’ll need to take pictures of both sides of it.

The Wallet app walks you through the process of using the iPhone camera to snap images of the front and back of your license. It’s similar to electronically depositing a check, if you’ve done that.

Put your license on a dark background somewhere with lots of light. And be patient — it takes the Wallet app a second or so to get the image lined up.

Scan your face

Next, the app will use the camera to scan your face from different angles to confirm that the person requesting a digital license is who they are supposed to be. You’ll also need to take a still image. It’ll guide you through the process. You also may need to record short video clips for additional verification.

However, registering a digital ID doesn’t all happen on the iPhone. The pictures and videos you take will be submitted to your state’s Department of Transportation or a similar agency for verification.

But once the approval comes through, your license will be added to the Wallet app on your iPhone.

Watch a how-to video

The Colorado Depart. of Revenue released a video walking through the process. It’s the same process for other states, too.

Relax, your ID is secure in Apple Wallet

Because this is an Apple feature, your digital ID is protected by all the same security measures built into iPhone and Apple Watch for any of your other data. That means someone has to have your passcode or get through Face ID or Touch ID to even see it.

Even better, nobody can see any card added to the Wallet app — not even Apple — unless you show it to them.

This article on how to add your ID to Apple Wallet was originally published on May 22, 2023. We updated it with the latest information on September 19, 2024, August 19, 2025, September 30, 2025 and October 23, 2025.

watchOS 26 is a more modest update with one headlining new feature, Workout Buddy — on top of 15 other new tweaks. You might overlook the Apple Watch after the excitement of Liquid Glass on your iPhone and Mac, but your tiniest screen still has some stuff worth checking out. 

There are loads of smart new features for those with the latest and greatest. A new wrist flick gesture silences timers and calls. Your volume automatically lowers in quiet rooms. And everyone can appreciate that the Notes app finally makes its way to the watch. 

The update is out now; here’s what to expect. 

Everything new in watchOS 26

The Apple Watch has Apple’s smallest-looking screens — but not even its 1.5-inch displays are immune from the Liquid Glass redesign. While it takes a lighter touch on the watch, you can still be wowed by its live lighting and lensing effects. And if you have a newer model, there are tons of excellent new additions to your little wrist computer.

This year’s update is compatible with the Apple Watch Series 6 and newer, Apple Watch SE 2 and both models of Apple Watch Ultra. You also may have noticed that Apple skipped from watchOS version 11 to 26 — that’s so that all the annual releases use the same number, of the upcoming year.

Table of contents: watchOS 26 new features

1. Liquid Glass
2. Workout Buddy
3. New Watch faces
4. More smart new features
5. Tweaks and changes in apps
6. Other major updates

1. Liquid Glass

watchOS 10 modernized Apple Watch apps with big, bold colors and new UI layouts. The Liquid Glass design doesn’t change how your watch works, but it does give them a glossy new dressing and appearance. 

Everything from the passcode screen to Notification Center to Control Center to the buttons in all your apps have a shiny glass sheen. 

On the Photos watch face, you can choose a new Glass style for the Time Color. The time might not have as much contrast with the background, but you’ll see the cool effect every time you raise your wrist. 

2. Workout Buddy

Workout Buddy will give you personalized encouragement during your workout, like an imaginary coach. It’ll let you know when you hit a milestone, like achieving a week-long workout streak, or literal mile markers during a run. It draws on your own fitness data to be precise. 

When the Workout Buddy chimes in, it automatically pauses and resumes the music or podcasts you’re listening to. 

New Watch faces

watchOS 26 features a handful of new watch faces:

3. Flow has lava lamp-style colorful patterns behind Liquid Glass numerals. You can choose bubbly, abstract shapes or easier-to-read numbers.
4. Exactograph has separate dials for hours, seconds and minutes. They can either be concentric (with four corner complications) or a series of big, moving dials that orbit the center like a solar system.
5. Exclusive to the Apple Watch Ultra, Waypoint builds a compass into the watch face, showing nearby points of interest and saved locations.
6. Exclusive to Hermès models, Faubourg Party shows a series of 8-bit style pixelated animations of cartoon horses.
7. More watch faces now support always-on second hands when the watch is idle on the Series 10, Series 11 and Ultra 3.

More smart new features

A few features are exclusive to the Series 9, Series 10, Series 11, Ultra 2 and Ultra 3:

7. Hypertension alerts analyze how blood vessels respond to heartbeats over a 30-day period and let you know if you’re at risk of high blood pressure. While Apple clarified that it can’t detect all cases, the company expects this feature to identify over 1 million undiagnosed cases.
8. You can flick your wrist away to dismiss a notification, mute a call, stop a timer and more.
9. Volume automatically adjusts to the ambient sound level of the room, so dings and pings don’t rudely interrupt a meeting.
10. Sleep score tracks sleep duration, bedtime consistency, how often you wake up and how much time is spent in each sleep stage. It gives you a grade out of 100. This is available on the Series 6, SE 2 and later.

More smart watchOS 26 features coming to all models:

11. Your watch will recommend apps to open at the bottom of the watch face when it thinks it may be helpful, like the Camera Remote app while you’re using the camera on your iPhone. Some recommendations are based on your daily routine and usage.
12. Similarly, Messages will recommend suggestions based on the conversation — like sharing your location when someone asks where you are. 
13. Call Screening is an intelligent feature that blocks unimportant calls from unknown numbers. People who call you will be asked by a robot to give the reason for their call, and if your phone thinks it sounds important, then it’ll ring you — and show what they said.
14. Hold Assist lets you hang up the phone when you’re put on hold. Your nearby phone will detect the music, wait for a human to pick up, and ring you again. However, Hold Assist can be fooled by systems that interrupt the music with an automated voice.
15. Messages are automatically translated if they’re sent in a different language (supported by the system). This feature is only available on Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2, and requires a paired iPhone running Apple Intelligence. 
16. If you have an Apple Music subscription, you can have music automatically chosen for you based on your taste and the type of workout you’re doing.

Tweaks and changes in apps

12. The Notes app is now available on the Apple Watch. It’s great for quickly checking a recipe, shopping list and jotting down a quick thought before you forget it. A few features, like tables and math notes, are (understandably) limited. 
13. Stopwatch and Timer support always-on animations when the watch is idle on Series 10, Series 11 and Ultra 3.
14. The Photos face can rotate through featured photos of People, Pets, Nature and Cities — just like the photos Lock Screen on the iPhone. 
15. See the custom background image for group chats when someone sets one on an iPhone, iPad or Mac. Apple has a few built-in options, or you can generate one with Image Playground or choose from your own photos.
16. You can see Live Listen transcriptions on your watch when the feature is active on your iPhone. 
17. The Workout app has a new design that uses the new corner-button layout, giving you easier access to common features. 
18. The Watch face gallery has been simplified, with faces grouped into collections. It is far easier to navigate.
19. The Fire, Water, Gradient, Liquid Metal, Vapor and Toy Story watch faces have been removed. 

Other major updates

Check out the other major updates Apple released today:

• Everything new in iOS 26
• Best new features in iPadOS 26
• Everything new in watchOS 26
• Everything new in macOS 26 Tahoe
• Everything new in visionOS 26

In a pinch, you can charge your AirPods with your iPhone. This feature is very convenient if you know how to use it.  You can also use your iPhone to charge your Apple Watch, or even another iPhone.

Here’s how to take advantage of this capability.

iPhone can be an emergency battery

If there are no electrical sockets nearby and your AirPods or Apple Watch are running low on power, you can use your iPhone to give them a boost. All you need for most of these devices is a compatible cable.

It’s a capability of the newer iPhones with a USB-C port. (Sorry, don’t try this with an earlier model that uses Lightning.)

Charge AirPods with iPhone

Let’s say your AirPods are almost out of juice and you can’t take an afternoon without music. No problem. As our tests prove, you can simply connect the earbuds’ case to your iPhone. Power starts flowing immediately, and your iPhone will charge your AirPods using its battery.

You do need the right cable for this trick, though. Rolling Square inCharge X ($29) is a great option. It’s very, very portable, and works whether your AirPods case uses USB-C or Lightning.

Or recharge an Apple Watch

Alternatively, if you forget to recharge your Apple Watch, you can use your iPhone to do the job. This becomes a bit more complicated because Apple’s wearable requires a proprietary wireless charger, not just a USB-C cable.

We did our testing with a Satechi USB-C Magnetic Charging Dock for Apple Watch ($39.99), which is small enough to go anywhere. Or you can just use the Apple Watch’s regular USB-C charging cable.

How to charge an iPhone with an iPhone

Now let’s consider another scenario. Suppose your iPhone has a 100% charge, but one belonging to your friend/spouse/child is down to 3%. You can be generous and transfer some of the power from your device to theirs.

Again, to get power from one iPhone to another, you will need an appropriate cable (another reason you might want to carry a Rolling Square inCharge X). As with using the iPhone to charge AirPods or Apple Watch, this isn’t an example of reverse wireless charging.

One end of the cable must be USB-C to plug into the iPhone 15 or iPhone 16. The other end also should be USB-C if you’re charging another recent iPhone. For any other model, you need a USB-C-to-Lightning cable.

To start charging another iPhone with your iPhone, simply connect the two handsets with the appropriate cable. If you’re using two iPhone 15 models, the one with more power will immediately begin recharging the one with less power. That’s your only option — you can’t send power to a handset with a higher battery level.

The situation is slightly different if you’re using an iPhone 15 or iPhone 16 to charge an earlier version of the iPhone. Power will always flow from the iPhone 15 or 16 to the older model, no matter what their respective battery levels are.

In Cult of Mac’s testing, an iPhone 15 sends an iPhone 14 about 4W of power. That doesn’t prove particularly quick, but it’s perhaps enough to be useful in a critical situation.

Use with caution

Note that the power transfer isn’t 100% efficient, so dropping one iPhone’s battery level 10% won’t raise another by the same amount. Power is always wasted when charging any battery.

In our tests, an hour of charging brought an iPhone 14’s battery level up by 19% while lowering the iPhone 15’s battery level by 24%.

Bonus trick: Pass-through charging

There’s another way to use this capability that can be very convenient under the right circumstances. And it means you don’t need to drain your iPhone to charge your AirPods, Apple Watch or iPhone.

This method takes advantage of wireless charging. Simply place the iPhone on a wireless charger. Then connect the appropriate charging cable from your iPhone to your AirPods, Apple Watch or another iPhone. Both devices will receive power. If you only have access to a wireless charger and a cable, you can still charge multiple devices simultaneously using this method.

We originally published this post on how to charge AirPods with iPhone on October 12, 2023. We updated the information.

You can download the watchOS 26 public beta right now. With it, you can try out the great new Liquid Glass design coming to the Apple Watch before Apple ships the update to everyone. And you can check out Workout Buddy, the AI-powered coach that gives you encouragement during your workouts.

Of course, there are a few things you should look out for. Beta software is buggy and can lead to data loss or apps that don’t work. This particular beta is a rough one, with lots of broken animations and features. A lot of apps you use probably won’t work correctly. I strongly recommend that you at least wait for the public beta — it’ll be available starting in July.

If you’re still sure you want to try it out, you’ll need to install iOS 26 on your iPhone first. I’ll show you how.

How to download the watchOS 26 public beta

Table of contents: How to download the watchOS 26 public beta

1. Install the iOS 26 public beta
2. Switch to allow beta software updates
3. Install the update

1. Install the iOS 26 public beta

Before you download the watchOS beta, you need to install the iOS beta on the same iPhone that’s tied to your Apple Watch. You can find that article here — remember to double-check that you have a recent iCloud backup and that your Photos library is synced first.

2. Switch to allow beta software updates

On your iPhone, open the Apple Watch app and tap General > Software Update. After it checks for updates, you’ll see the option appear for Beta Updates. Tap that and you’ll see the options currently available: Off, watchOS 26 Public Beta, watchOS 26 Developer Beta, watchOS 11 Public Beta and watchOS 11 Developer Beta.

• The watchOS 26 Public Beta is a safer way to enjoy the prerelease software. Updates will go out at the same pace of every two to three weeks, but released about a day later to make sure there are no critical bugs in the software.
• The watchOS 26 Developer Beta is the fast track, intended for app developers to test functionality and implement new features. These betas are released a little early, but have a higher risk of bugs.

Tap watchOS 26 Public Beta to get the flashy new update with all the latest fitness features.

3. Download the watchOS 26 beta update

Swipe back and you’ll see the watchOS 26 update available. Tap Download and Install to, well, download and install the update. Going up a major release version may take longer than the usual software update.

At the end, you’ll reboot into the shiny new watchOS 26 beta! You can expect to get a new software update every few weeks until September.

We originally published this article on how to download the watchOS beta on June 11, 2024. We updated it with the latest information on June 10, 2025 and June 25, 2025.

Out of the many dozens of options, which is the coolest Apple Watch face? Every time I see someone wearing an Apple Watch, I try to scope out which watch face they use. Nine times out of 10, they use either the Modular face or the Photo face (with a Sport band).

This is despite the Apple Watch offering dozens of watch faces, allowing for all kinds of customizability.

If you want to spice up and individualize your Apple Watch, here are the best and coolest faces. And in our video, I rank every watch face on a tier list.

Coolest Apple Watch faces

The ability to swap out Apple Watch faces lets you tailor your smartwatch’s look and functionality for any situation. You might choose a classy, minimal style for a formal event or opt for an information-rich watch face for travel. Maybe you want to focus on relaxation, fitness or fun.

No matter the occasion, Apple Watch makes it super-simple to switch out all these cool watch faces, so you can easily change things up on the fly.

 

How to add an Apple Watch face

First, let’s go over how to add a new Apple Watch face. If you’ve never done it before, it’s easy. Just tap and hold on your Apple Watch screen. Scroll all the way to the end of your list of currently installed watch faces, then tap the big + icon on the New screen. Scroll through the gallery and tap Add when you find a new Apple Watch face you want to add.

To customize the watch face, tap and hold on it, then tap Edit. On most watch faces, you can scroll with the watch’s Digital Crown to change styles or colors. Swipe left to edit the complications; tap on a complication to replace it with something else.

Best Apple Watch face for fitness: Activity

The best Apple Watch face for fitness is the Activity watch face. It comes in three versions — two analog and one digital — all of which put your Move, Exercise and Stand rings front and center, with room for three complications. By default, they complications come set to Weather Conditions, Workout and Heart Rate. You also can customize the color of the clock.

With your rings so prominent on your wrist all day, you’ll be less likely to forget to close them.

Best Apple Watch face for hiking: Wayfinder

The best Apple Watch face for hiking is Wayfinder. Exclusive to Apple Watch Ultra, the Wayfinder watch face has eight complications, which can be edited to provide a host of information great for hiking, from weather conditions to Compass Waypoints. If you’re looking for more options, check out the best Apple Watch Ultra faces here.

Tap the outer edge of the Wayfinder watch face and it switches to a compass, which also shows the current latitude and longitude. This can be edited to show Elevation/Incline instead. Wayfinder also has a great-looking Night Mode to preserve night vision.

Pro tip: Create multiple versions of the Wayfinder face for different activities — hiking, swimming, running — and swipe between them based on activity.

Best Apple Watch face for relaxation: Breathe

The best Apple Watch face for relaxation is Breathe: A simple analog clock with a choice of four beautiful animations. Every time you look at your wrist, you’re reminded to take it easy.

It’s practical, too, with space for three complications around the edge. By default, they launch the Mindfulness app and show your weather conditions and heart rate.

Best Apple Watch face for nurses: Modular Duo

The Best Apple Watch face for nurses and other busy people is Modular Duo. The Modular Duo watch face pushes the clock up to the top, leaving space for two of the bigger complications. You can have two big Calendar and Activity complications, for keeping an eye on your tight schedule. And with Mindfulness in the upper corner, you have a quick shortcut to take a breather.

Best Apple Watch face for two time zones: GMT

The best Apple Watch face for two time zones is the GMT watch face. It shows one time zone with the watch hands and a different time zone of your choosing in 24-hour time around the edge. Tap the screen to pick a time zone from one from the preset list or from a city you have set in the Clock app.

You will find four complications around the edge. Personally, I would swap out UV Index for Messages or Weather Conditions.

Best Apple Watch face for sleeping: Numerals Duo

The best Apple Watch face for sleeping is Numerals Duo. The Apple Watch has a built-in sleep feature, but some people find it annoying in use. The Apple Watch locks down, so if you want to check notifications or turn on its flashlight, you first have to hold the Digital Crown in.

If you want to wear your Apple Watch to bed without the sleep feature, you can still prepare yourself a nighttime watch face. Numerals Duo is a good choice for that — the big obvious numbers make it easy to read if you’re up in the middle of the night and bleary-eyed.

I recommend setting the color to red, which is easiest on the eyes in a dark room.

Apple Watch face with most complications: Infograph

The Apple Watch face with the most complications is Infograph. This watch face packs in an incredible eight complications. It’s no wonder Infograph is the watch face of choice for Apple CEO Tim Cook himself. Infograph gives you four corner complications and four more in the center, all cleverly arranged to still be legible.

I recommend the Your Schedule complication in the sub-dial top position, as it puts both the current date and your upcoming calendar appointment on the edge of the clock. Most of the preset complications are pretty good as is, but I would swap a few of them out for Messages, Now Playing and Maps.

Best Apple Watch face for Dexcom: X-Large

The best Apple Watch face for Dexcom, a continuous glucose monitoring device for diabetics, is the X-Large watch face.

Although the Dexcom complication can be added to multiple Apple Watch faces, the X-Large face displays it, well, extra-large. There’s no squinting at a tiny, hard-to-read complication with this face: it’s literally front-and-center.

Best minimal Apple Watch face: Nike Digital

The best minimal Apple Watch face is Nike Digital. The time is giant and easy to read from a distance. It gives you room for three small complications — two icons and a line of text on the bottom, useful for Calendar or Now Playing.

Unfortunately, you can’t replace the Nike logo with a fourth complication, but I was pleasantly surprised with this one.

Coolest Apple Watch face: Chronograph Pro

The coolest Apple Watch face is Chronograph Pro, which resembles Paul Newman’s iconic Rolex Daytona watch — and what’s cooler than Paul Newman? Newman was an auto-racing fanatic, and his Rolex Chronograph was perfect for timing laps.

Tap the outer edge of the dial and it transforms into a chronograph. The tachymeter timescale can be used to measure speed based on time travel over a fixed distance.

Best Apple Watch face for pilots: World Time

The World Time watch face puts the biggest city from every time zone onto one watch face. In addition to your local time, you can see the time around the entire globe in a 24-hour clock around the edge.

And there’s still plenty of room for complications — for a pilot or flight attendant, I would recommend Calendar, Weather, Messages and Flighty.

My personal favorite: Numerals

My personal favorite Apple Watch face is was Numerals. The giant digital number made it easy to read the hour, and the minute hand gave you a vague idea of the time. That’s all you really needed on a lazy Saturday. There’s room for one complication, but I used it without.

Unfortunately, Apple removed the Numerals watch face. I miss it dearly. In the mean time I’ve been using Numerals Duo, which is almost as good, but much louder. I hope they bring it back one day — or at least create a new one in its spirit. 

More Apple Watch tips

To get more out of your Apple Watch, check out these tips:

• 3 tricks every Apple Watch owner should know
• What do the Apple Watch buttons do?
• How to edit Apple Watch widgets
• How to use Water Lock on Apple Watch
• How to find your lost iPhone with Apple Watch

We originally published this article on the coolest Apple Watch Faces on March 16, 2024. We updated the information on July 3, 2025.

Connect Apple Watch to a treadmill at Planet Fitness, and other exercise equipment, for more accurate health data inside the Fitness and Health apps on your iPhone. After all, if you’re working out, you want to make sure your Apple Watch gives you credit for it.

Here’s how.

Connect Apple Watch to Planet Fitness treadmill, stationary bike, elliptical, rowing machine and other gym equipment

Table of Contents:

1. Turn on ‘Detect Gym Equipment’ in Settings
2. Hold your Apple Watch next to the equipment
3. Press Start on your gym equipment
4. Sync the Planet Fitness Workout app with Apple Health

1. Turn on ‘Detect Gym Equipment’ in Settings

On your Apple Watch, open Settings > Workout (at the very bottom) and turn on Detect Gym Equipment (halfway down the screen).

You can find these same settings in the Watch app on your iPhone, too.

2. Hold your Apple Watch next to the treadmill

These days, a you can pair your Apple Watch to a lot of gym exercise machines, including:

• Treadmills
• Stationary bikes
• Ellipticals / Cross trainers
• Rowing machines
• Stairmasters

All of these exercise machines can be paired with Apple Watch. With the screen facing the gym equipment, hold your Apple Watch next to the contactless reader. It should be marked with an icon or “Connects to Apple Watch.”

If you hear a tap and a beep, the equipment has paired to your watch.

3. Press Start on your gym equipment

Press Start on your gym equipment and your Apple Watch will automatically start a workout.

Data will sync to the Fitness app on your iPhone and the Activity app on your Apple Watch. After all, what’s the point of going to the gym if it isn’t helping you close your rings!

4. Sync the Planet Fitness Workout app with Apple Health

Alternatively, you can use the Planet Fitness Workout app to track your activity on their gym equipment. This works even if you don’t have an Apple Watch.

Next, download the app and you’ll be prompted to share data with Apple Health. If you enable this, after your workout, the data will appear in both places automatically.

If you already have the Planet Fitness Workout app and this doesn’t work, make sure it’s enabled. Open the Apple Health app, tap on the profile icon in the top right and tap Privacy > Apps and Services. Tap on an app and make sure its data is shared.

From here, you can delete app data, too.

Click here to read more about how to add hospital records, like vaccinations, to the Apple Health app too.

We originally published this post on how to use an Apple Watch with a treadmill on December 7, 2023. We updated the information on June 12, 2025.

The Apple Watch Translate app can help you quickly speak in a different language while you’re abroad, right from your wrist. Translate between 20 different languages by speaking out loud, play translations out of your Apple Watch speaker and build a list of favorite phrases you can play instantly.

Apple Translate doesn’t support as many languages as the more popular Google Translate — but Google doesn’t have an app for the Apple Watch. The fastest and most convenient way to speak another language from your wrist is with Apple’s app.

Keep reading or watch our video here.

How to use the Apple Watch Translate app

The Translate app is Apple’s own equivalent to Google Translate, the widely popular free online service. Apple Translate is available as a standalone app on iPhone, iPad and Mac. And now, you can also access Translate on Apple Watch, courtesy of watchOS 11.

Table of Contents: Apple Watch Translate app

1. Open the Translate app
2. Pick two languages
3. Tap the microphone icon and speak
4. Play the translation out loud
5. Tap the keyboard icon and type
6. Mark a favorite phrase
7. Adjust settings
8. Delete a phrase from your history
9. Available languages
10. More Apple Watch features

Open the Apple Watch Translate app

Click the Digital Crown (dial) on your Apple Watch and open the Translate app (with the icon of two speech bubbles, one white and one blue). It’s easier to find in List View — scroll down to the bottom of your app list, then tap List View.

If you don’t see the Translate app, you may need to update to watchOS 11. Make sure your iPhone is running iOS 18. Then, open the Watch app, and tap General > Software Update.

Pick two languages

When you open the Translate app, you’ll see a tile on the screen where you can pick two languages. One should match the language you have set on your watch. Tap on either one to scroll through the list of available languages.

The Swap Languages button will switch which language you’re speaking and which one you’re translating.

Tap the microphone icon and speak

Tap the Dictation button at the bottom and start speaking. You’ll see a live transcription of what you’re saying. It’ll automatically end if you pause at the end of a sentence — otherwise, you can tap the Stop button manually.

Play the translation out loud

Tap the Play button next to a translation to play it out loud from your Apple Watch’s speaker. You can spin the Digital Crown while it’s playing to adjust volume.

Tap the keyboard icon and type

If you prefer to type your translations, you can try that as well. Tap the Options (⋯) button in the upper right. Scroll down and tap Preferred Input and select Text.

Now, you’ll see a Keyboard button at the bottom instead. On an Apple Watch Series 7 or later, you’ll see a full QWERTY keyboard. You can type letter-by-letter or swipe with your finger to enter a full word at a time.

On an older model with a smaller screen, you can draw one letter at a time. (To switch to this system from a newer watch, tap the Change Input Method icon in the bottom right and tap the Scribble icon.)

Mark a favorite Translate phrase from your Apple Watch

You can mark a particular phrase as a favorite, for easy access at any point in the future. Swipe right on a phrase and tap Favorite to mark it as a favorite.

Find your favorite phrases by tapping Favorites (the star icon) in the upper left. From this list, you can swipe left on a phrase and tap Unfavorite to remove it.

Favorite phrases sync between Translate on your Apple Watch and your iPhone.

Adjust settings

Tap the Options (⋯) button in the upper right for more settings.

• You can adjust the speed of the dictation by tapping on the left or the right.
• Enable Auto-Play Translations to have translations play out of the speaker as soon as they come in, rather than manually tapping Play.
• Preferred Input lets you switch from Voice to Text, if you’d rather type than speak out loud.

Delete a phrase from your history

The Translate app on your Apple Watch doesn’t keep a full history of everything you’ve translated; it clears it out every time you quit the app for more than few minutes.

However, if you want to delete something from the list, just swipe left on it and tap Delete.

Available languages in Translate on Apple Watch

Here are all the available languages (as of May 2025):

• Arabic
• Chinese (Mandarin, Simplified)
• Chinese (Mandarin, Traditional)
• Dutch
• English (UK)
• English (US)
• French
• German
• Indonesian
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Polish
• Portuguese (Brazil)
• Russian
• Spanish (Spain)
• Thai
• Turkish
• Ukrainian
• Vietnamese

More Apple Watch features

After you learn how to use the Translate app for Apple Watch, check out other top features:

• 6 things you can do with an old Apple Watch
• How to track your Apple Watch Activity rings and pause your streak
• How to connect Apple Watch to a Planet Fitness treadmill
• How to use Apple Watch blood oxygen sensor, and what it’s good for

You can manually add a workout to Apple Fitness+ if you need to log some exercise while you weren’t wearing your Apple Watch. Maybe your watch ran out of battery at the start of your run, or maybe you simply forgot to turn it on. By adding a missing workout, you can give yourself credit for the exercise you did.

This power could be used for evil as well as good. You could, hypothetically, say you ran a three-hour marathon every day last week. But you would only be fooling yourself.

To find out how to add a workout to Apple Fitness+, watch our short video or keep reading below.

How to add a workout to Apple Fitness+

Ever since its launch in 2015, the Apple Watch has gamified fitness with daily rewards for staying active, monthly challenges and streaks. That’s why it’s so frustrating when you miss a workout or, worse yet, lose a streak — especially if you actually did work out, but without your watch knowing.

By adding a workout to your health data manually, you can give yourself the credit you deserve.

Table of contents: How to add a workout to Apple Fitness+

1. Open the Workouts section in Apple Health
2. Add your workout
3. Restore a streak
4. More health and fitness features

Open the Workouts section in Apple Health

To add a workout to Apple Fitness+, you actually need to open the Health app on your iPhone. Next, tap on the Browse tab at the bottom. Then tap the Activity category and scroll down until you find the Workouts section — tap on that.

Add your workout

Tap Add Data in the upper right corner. You can then add the details of your missing workout to Apple Fitness+:

• Activity Type lets you choose from all the available workouts, like core training, cycling, gymnastics, pilates, running, swimming and yoga.
• Calories (optional) lets you enter the amount of energy burned. This will contribute to your Move and Exercise rings, as well as your Active Energy stats. (Don’t know the difference between Move and Exercise rings? Read our explainer on the subject.)
• Distance (optional) lets you enter how far you traveled during the workout that didn’t show up in Apple Fitness+. This will add to your Walking + Running Distance stats. Certain workouts, like elliptical and tai chi, don’t have distance available.
• Starts and Ends let you enter the date, time and length of your workout. This will add to your Exercise Minutes and Workouts stats.

Restore a lost streak

While it might take a few minutes for the data to update throughout the Health app, adding a missed workout can restore a Fitness streak. Perhaps you forgot to strap on your watch, or its battery died while you were working out — no need to panic over a broken streak. After you manually add the workout to Apple Fitness+, your streak will be repaired.

You could use this feature to lie about your activity, but I don’t recommend that. Logging calories in the Health app does not burn calories in real life. (Maybe Apple will add that in the next software update.)

More health and fitness features

• How to track your Apple Watch Activity rings and pause your streak
• How to connect Apple Watch to a Planet Fitness treadmill
• How to use Apple Watch blood oxygen sensor, and what it’s good for

There are a few useful things you can do with an old Apple Watch after you upgrade to a new one. You might think of the Apple Watch as being a disposable product — because who would wear two watches? But there are actually quite a few surprising use cases for having a daily Apple Watch and a secondary watch.

Keep reading or watch our latest video.

Things you can do with an old Apple Watch

1. Dedicated night watch for sleep tracking

The Apple Watch is great for tracking sleep — even the different stages of your sleep through the night. And if you use your Apple Watch as an alarm, it’ll wake you up by silently buzzing on your wrist, so your partner won’t be awoken by your alarm if they wake up a little later.

But if you wear you watch during the day and you wear it to bed, when do you charge it? Personally, I hate the idea of charging my watch during the day because if I get up and move around while it’s juicing up, I won’t get credit for my Move or Stand rings.

This is a prime use-case for an old Apple Watch: A dedicated sleep tracker and alarm. You keep your old one on the charger during the day and wear your new one out and about; you swap them when it’s time for bed and after you wake up. You never have to worry about topping the battery up in the evening before you go to sleep or in the morning rush.

Another benefit is that if your daily watch band is for fashion and less comfortable, like a Milanese Loop or Twist-o-Flex band, you don’t have to switch it out with a Sport Band every morning and every night. You can pick the best band for each watch.

2. Risky activity tracking

The Apple Watch is surprisingly hardy and water resistant, but sometimes there are those occasional day excursions that make you a bit nervous. Instead of risking your expensive new Apple Watch when you go rock climbing, sky diving or swimming in the ocean, you can put on your old watch. After all, an old hand-me-down Apple Watch is much cheaper than buying a new Apple Watch Ultra.

Some people choose to protect their watch in a case, like this option from Elago. Personally, I find these a little unsightly, and they can be a pain to put on and take off. But you can keep your secondary Apple Watch permanently encased, so you don’t have to fiddle with every day.

3. Wearing a watch on your arm or leg

Although it’s designed for it, you don’t actually have to wear your Apple Watch on your wrist. There are a few exercise use cases for wearing your Apple Watch higher up on your arm or around your ankle.

If you play sports where precision is key, like tennis or basketball, the weight on your wrist might affect how you train and play.  The TwelveSouth ActionSleeve keeps your watch on your arm, where you can still use it for tracking your activity, but keep it out of the way. If you use your secondary Apple Watch for this, then you don’t have to worry about swapping out your regular band for a complicated accessory and case before and after every time.

On the other hand, you might want to wear an Apple Watch on your ankle. If you work at a treadmill desk, for example, you won’t get any credit for all that walking because your arms will be just as stationary as if you were at a regular desk. Wearing a second Apple Watch around your ankle, you can still work towards your Move, Stand and Exercise rings — and you’ll still have your main watch on your wrist for notifications and telling time.

4. Hand it down to a child

If your kid is old enough to spend the night at a friend’s house but too young for an iPhone (Like what, 17? I don’t know, I don’t have kids) you can give them an Apple Watch instead. You’ll be able to track their location using GPS and Find My, an easy way to send texts, and if it’s a cellular model, call them wherever they may be. Setting up an Apple Watch on behalf of your child is really easy — after wiping it and setting it up from scratch, just tap Set Up for a Family Member.

Because it’s only a watch and not a smartphone, you can rest assured they won’t get sucked into TikTok or Roblox or Wikipedia or whatever it is that parents are afraid of kids doing. (Again, I wouldn’t know.)

5. Beta software

If you want to check out the new features of what’s coming next in watchOS, you can install the watchOS beta. This year, the top features of watchOS 11 include a new Vitals app that gives you a broader picture of your health and various life factors, pauses to your streak for illness or injury, a workout Training Load that can detect how much effort is going into your exercise, a redesigned Photos face and much more.

But running a watchOS beta is kind of a pain in the ass. For one, you have to install the iOS beta on your phone in order to install the watchOS beta, and you may not want to put your most important device at risk. Unlike on the iPhone, you can’t undo a watchOS update. Once you’re on watchOS 11, you can’t go back to watchOS 10. And most of all, once you switch to the beta track, you get new software updates every two to three weeks — and installing updates on the Apple Watch is, notoriously, incredibly irritating.

If you really want to try out the new features early but you don’t want to put your primary watch on the line, you can install the watchOS beta on a second watch, provided it’s new enough. This year, watchOS 11 requires a Series 6 model, second-generation SE model or newer.

6. Turn it into a small phone

It’s easy to overlook how the Apple Watch is actually a pretty powerful and capable computer — and cellphone — all by itself. With the TinyPod, your Apple Watch slides into an iPod-shaped case that makes it a tiny standalone cellphone. It even has a click wheel that spins the Apple Watch’s Digital Crown for scrolling like it’s 2004.

A bunch of companies have tried and failed to reinvent the minimal cellphone, but the problem with abandoning your iPhone is that you get a new phone number that isn’t compatible with iMessage. If you use an old cellular Apple Watch instead, you can keep compatibility your Apple Account — switching is as simple as keeping your iPhone on your night stand and putting your TinyPod in your pocket instead.

TinyPod comes in sizes that fit all three sizes of Apple Watch, from the Series 4 / SE and newer: 40/41 mm, 44/45 mm and 49 mm.

Or, get a little trade-in money when you buy a new one

Personally, when I upgraded from my Series 3 model to my … (wait, which one do I have?) Series 7, my old watch felt so slow and broken that I simply traded it in. It was too old to be useful for basically anything else. If you want a bit of a discount when you buy a watch, you can use our trade-in program. (Or, you can use the savings to justify buying another watch band!)

More Apple Watch how-tos and articles

• Edit Apple Watch widgets in the Smart Stack
• What do the Apple Watch buttons do?
• How to put your Apple Watch on silent, Do Not Disturb and Theater Mode
• How to tell the time without looking at your Apple Watch
• The best Apple Watch faces

We originally published this article on what to do with an old Apple Watch on July 20, 2024. We republished it on April 25, 2025.

Apple Watch does so much that it’s possible for some of its handy tricks to get lost. You can’t call these three Apple Watch tips  marquee features. But they can make life just a bit more convenient.

Here’s how to turn on the flashlight, find your iPhone and silence alarms on your iPhone from an Apple Watch.

Apple Watch tips: Make your smartwatch more useful

Most Apple Watch users quickly master the features they bought the wearable for. They figure out the ins and outs of activity tracking and get themselves in shape. Or maybe they learn to send and receive texts from Apple Watch.

But the Apple Watch can do so much that it’s easy to overlook some of its capabilities. Even ones that might be considered basic.

This trio of Apple Watch tips includes things all Apple Watch owners should know.

Use your Apple Watch as a flashlight

Surely, every iPhone user knows there’s a flashlight built into their handset. But it might come as a surprise to some that Apple Watch has one, too. Activating it is as simple as swiping up from the bottom of the wearable’s watch face to open Control Center, then tapping the flashlight button.

This makes the watch’s display light up bright white. The result isn’t as intense as an iPhone LED, but it’s always with you whenever you need it.

Read the full Cult of Mac guide to the Apple Watch flashlight for more details.

Find iPhone with Apple Watch

If you’re wearing an Apple watch, you really can’t misplace your iPhone. That’s because you can always set off an audible alarm on the handset with the wearable. And it’s quicker and easier than using Find My.

As with the flashlight, start by opening your Apple Watch’s Control Center by swiping up from the bottom of the watch face. Then press the button that looks like an iPhone playing a sound.

The sound is loud enough to be heard from across a house. If that’s not enough, you can even make your iPhone’s camera flash on and off. To do so, simply tap and hold that same icon. That will add a blinking light to the pinging sound, which proves especially useful in dark places. If you’re still having difficulties locating your handset, switch to Find My.

For all the details, check Cult of Mac’s guide on how to find an iPhone with Apple Watch.

Cancel timers and alarms on iPhone

The iPhone makes a convenient kitchen timer. It’s 100% accurate, so you don’t have to worry about burning the biscuits. And the iPhone is the only alarm clock you ever need. But if a timer or alarm goes off when your iPhone isn’t right next to you, you can silence it from your Apple Watch with this tip. Or start it again.

This one is easy because you don’t have to do anything to set it up. When a timer starts going off on the iPhone, it’ll also appear on your Apple Watch. Tap on the stop button or the reset button on the wearable to control the timer on the handset.

Alarms work the same way. You can stop or snooze an iPhone alarm right from the wearable.

There’s a good chance you know about these two because the Apple Watch vibrates to get your attention when an iPhone timer or alarm goes off. Still, it doesn’t hurt to be sure everyone knows about such a useful feature.

Go all through the Apple Watch Control Center

Two out of the three Apple Watch tips described here are in the Apple Watch’s Control Center. If either of them were new to you, it’s worth your time to check all the buttons in the Control Center to be sure you know what they all do.

Like, do you know what the button with the comedy and tragedy masks does? If not, you should find out — you might find theater mode very useful next time you go to La Scala. And everyone can use the remote camera shutter. It’s brilliant.

We originally published this post on three basic Apple Watch tips on June 29, 2023. We updated the information.

It’s time to break the habit of doing everything on your iPhone while overlooking what’s often a better alternative. Consider the Apple Watch pros: It’s a very capable little computer, and it’s right there on your wrist. Odds are you aren‘t taking advantage of half of what it can do for you.

Here are the simple tasks I used to do on my iPhone that are now easier because I do them on my Apple Watch. And all without needing any third-party software. The only apps required come preinstalled on every Apple Watch.

Apple Watch pros: When a smartwatch beats an iPhone

You probably got an Apple Watch to get more active. Me too, and it worked out great. But then I looked for ways to use the smartwatch for more than just fitness. I paid quite a bit for the gadget — I wanted to get my money’s worth.

It’s important not to look at your wearable’s small screen as a con. Extreme portability is the biggest Apple Watch pro. And it likely goes with you everywhere. Find jobs that it’s good at, and you’ll make your life easier.

An iPhone is portable too, obviously, but it’s comparatively cumbersome. Dragging my iPhone out of my pocket just to read a reminder or a one-sentence text message, then shoving it back in my pocket, is a waste of effort when the same information is available on my wrist where I can simply glance at it.

I started looking for non-health-tracking ways to make my Apple Watch more useful by asking myself one simple question — you should try it. Here are the simple things I now use the smartwatch for. If you’re still doing these on your iPhone, think about switching. And none of these require adding third-party Apple Watch apps.

Payments, flashlight and music

Apple Pay: I love using Apple Pay to wirelessly pay for purchases without needing to pull out a credit card. And I love it even more now that I realize I can pay from my Apple Watch instead of my iPhone. Using the smartwatch for payments is even more convenient than a handset.

Flashlight: Whenever I need a bit more light, I use the flashlight on my Apple Watch. It’s perfect for searching for something in the back of a cabinet or reading a menu in a dim restaurant. And it doesn’t require me to have a hand free to hold the light. If I’m going into the woods at night, I’ll bring out the much brighter iPhone flashlight, but that’s about the only time.

Music and podcasts: When I’m enjoying music or a podcast on my iPhone, the multimedia controls are also available on my Apple Watch. Adjusting the volume is as simple as spinning the Digital Crown — which I count as one of the major Apple Watch pros. And I can skip songs or ads embedded into podcasts right from my wrist. This is all very convenient, because I frequently listen to podcasts streaming to speakers over AirPlay while my iPhone is charging way off in another room. My smartwatch is always with me, though.

Texts (and sometimes email)

Texts: It took a while, but I broke myself of the habit of always pulling out my iPhone to read texts. A 7-inch screen isn’t needed to read a one-line message — a 2-inch display is fine. A quick glance is all it takes to read a text on an Apple Watch.

When I reply, I often pick one of the basic responses that can be sent just by touching a button, like “Thanks!” Alternatively, I use Dictation to turn my voice into written words. No iPhone needed.

I occasionally even read an email on my Apple Watch. You can assign VIP status to people in Apple Mail. I did that, and my Apple Watch alerts me when I receive an email from one of them. I generally at least glance at it on my watch, though I usually switch to the iPhone for long messages.

Timers, Siri and navigation

Timers: I time everything in the kitchen with my Apple Watch. It’s far easier to set them up, check on them, and cancel them on my wrist than on my phone. Super-convenient timers sit at the top of my list of Apple Watch pros.

As for alarms, I still set them up on my phone, but watchOS lets me cancel or snooze them on the Watch anyway because it’s just that clever.

Siri: Pulling out an iPhone simply to ask Siri a question makes little sense. Once it sank in that the voice assistant is available on my wrist by holding down the Digital Crown, that became my go-to method. Admittedly, Siri isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. But Apple’s AI assistant can prove useful within its narrow limits. I utilize Siri for a range of functions, from controlling my smart home to getting sports scores … all from my wrist.

To combine two suggestions: setting up a 5-minute timer with Siri just requires telling it “5 minutes.”

Walking directions: Don’t overlook the fact that Apple Maps prove just as useful on sidewalks as on streets. I use the app on my Apple Watch to get around unfamiliar areas. I find it easier than frequently pulling out my iPhone for walking directions.

It also works great when driving, bicycling or taking public transit. The Apple Watch’s haptics, which can discreetly alert you about upcoming turns, work wonders.

Apple Watch pros help you get more out of your wearable

You probably bought your Apple Watch to use it as a health and fitness tracker. But it’s easy to overlook that the smartwatch can do much more. Going above and beyond health-oriented features is among the biggest Apple Watch pros.

Now you know what else I use my smartwatch for. I hope you’ll be inspired by these suggestions to make better use of your own.

Closing your three Apple Watch Activity rings can become such an obsession that it’s easy to forget why you’re doing it. But what does it really mean to close an Apple Watch ring? The Stand ring seems obvious. We all know we shouldn’t sit around on our asses all day. But how about the Move and Exercise rings, which sound so similar?

Actually, no. The Apple Watch’s Move and Exercise rings are very different, and understanding that difference is massively important if you want to achieve your fitness goals.

Apple Watch Activity rings explained

The Apple Watch‘s Activity rings give wearers an easy way to check their progress on daily fitness goals. Present at the original Apple Watch’s launch in 2015, they played a key role in the smartwatch’s evolution from geeky fashion item to must-have health and fitness wearable. And yet it’s still not that simple to understand the differences in the Move ring versus the Exercise ring.

What’s the difference between movement and exercise? Heart rate.

For many of us, the thought of “exercise” conjures up images of squeezing into tight Lycra and cavorting around at the gym for an hour or so. It’s a hobby for some and a nightmare for others. Moving, though, is something that everyone does every day, even if it is just walking down your driveway to get into your car.

But the way Apple defines movement and exercise is rather different. In fact, from your Apple Watch’s point of view, the time you spend at the gym is not necessarily exercise. But that walk to the car just might be.

That’s because any movement of your wrist contributes to your pink Move ring, whereas your Apple Watch only adds minutes to your green Exercise ring when your heart rate goes above a certain threshold. Exactly what that threshold is varies from one user to another. (It depends on things like your age and your resting heart rate.)

Apple Watch does not treat all workouts as exercise

That’s why when you log a workout, it doesn’t always contribute the same number of minutes to the Exercise ring.

For example, if you use the Workout app to log a 30-minute walk, it might not be enough to close your Exercise ring, even though the goal for that ring is 30 minutes. The problem is that a leisurely stroll does not raise your heart rate much, so it might not be sufficient to contribute any minutes to your Exercise ring.

Similarly, if you are lifting weights at the gym, you might be working your muscles very hard. However, if you sit down and rest between sets, your heart rate may never become sufficiently elevated for your Apple Watch to consider what you are doing exercise.

As such, the Exercise ring tends to be a little harder to close than the Move ring. That’s because it is concerned with the quality of your activity, not just the quantity.

You can force your Apple Watch to credit you with all the minutes of your workout by using the “Other workout” option, since this assumes you are working out at the level of a brisk walk or better, regardless of your heart rate. But that’s kinda cheating.

How 1 became 3: A brief history of Apple Watch Activity rings

To understand why we have separate Move and Exercise rings, let’s pause for a brief history lesson. The forefather of today’s Activity rings was NikeFuel, which was introduced back in 2012 together with the Nike+ FuelBand. At the time, Jay Blahnik was a key expert and consultant at Nike. Today, he’s the director of fitness for health technologies at Apple.

So it’s no surprise that there’s a strong family resemblance between the NikeFuel ring and Apple’s Activity rings.

Like the Move ring on Apple Watch, the NikeFuel ring was a measurement of your movement throughout the day, gauged by the motion of your wrist. It was pretty basic. But it was all that was possible with the hardware in the Nike+ FuelBand at the time.

The trouble is that fitness is a multifaceted concept. There is far more to it than just movement alone. Thanks to advances in hardware like the built-in heart rate sensor and a powerful processor, Cupertino could take things further with Apple Watch by adding two more rings — Stand and Exercise.

Some aspects of fitness, such as strength, flexibility and coordination, are still not covered by Apple’s three-ring model. But it is still a big step forward from the single ring of its predecessor.

Why is the Move ring the only customizable one?

One big difference between the Move and Exercise rings is that only the Move goal is customizable. The Exercise goal is the same for everyone.

Like the NikeFuel ring before it, the Move ring lets you choose the number of calories you aim to burn in a day. (Nike called its units “Fuel” instead of calories, but it was basically the same thing.) This flexibility means the Move ring is great for pretty much everyone. Whether you are a couch potato or an Olympic athlete, you can set a Move goal that’s realistic for you.

Another neat thing about personalized Move goals is that they level the playing field for Apple Watch Activity sharing. A bit like a golf handicap, you can compete with friends and family to close your Move ring, even if you all have very different fitness levels.

So why didn’t Apple go the same route with the Exercise ring? Why do we all get the same fixed 30-minute goal?

The Exercise ring goal might be 30 minutes for everyone, but that doesn’t mean it’s the same

It might seem unfair that everyone gets the same Exercise goal, regardless of their fitness level. And it would be, if that were true. But in reality, it is not that simple. The duration may be 30 minutes for all, but the intensity varies for everyone. That’s because our bodies adapt to exercise when we do it frequently.

As you get fitter, your heart becomes stronger and more efficient. It does not need to beat as fast in order to supply the oxygen your muscles need during exercise. The fitter you become, the less your heart rate will increase when you do the same amount of work.

Since Apple Watch uses elevated heart rate to judge when you are doing exercise, a very fit person must work a lot harder to elevate their heart rate sufficiently for it to contribute to their Exercise ring.

In other words, a brisk walk might count as exercise if you are unfit. But as you get in shape, it might not, because it would not elevate your heart rate much. Then you might need to jog or run to raise your heart rate sufficiently for it to count.

But why is it 30 minutes exactly?

Apple never explained exactly how it arrived at 30 minutes for the Exercise goal, but it is probably based on the World Health Organization’s recommended levels of physical activity for adults.

The WHO recommends that adults do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity each week, which works out to about 21 minutes a day. For additional health benefits, WHO recommends aiming for 300 minutes a week, or 42 minutes a day. Apple set its 30-minute goal right in the middle of the WHO guidelines.

To become the lord of the Activity rings, you must know your ultimate goal

Apple’s Activity goals are really just a means to an end. Moving a certain amount every day, and doing 30 minutes of exercise, are not things most of us do just for the fun of it. We do them to maintain or improve our health.

To make sure that you are getting that health benefit, and to keep yourself motivated in the long term, it’s essential to know exactly what your own personal goal is. Ask yourself, “Why is it important that I close these rings?”

If your answer is that you want to lose weight, then the Move ring is very important. That’s because this ring is measured in calories. As everyone knows, counting calories is important when you want to shed pounds.

If you just want to live a long and healthy life, then the Exercise ring is important. According to the WHO guidelines, the Exercise goal reduces the risk of diseases such as coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, colon and breast cancer, and depression. It also reduces the risk of hip or vertebral fractures.

Move ring vs. Exercise ring: Pink and green are more different than they seem

The pink and green Activity rings on Apple Watch may appear similar. However, as we’ve seen, in reality they are very different.

Put simply, when you are exercising, you are also moving. But when you are moving, you are not necessarily exercising. For your movement to count as exercise, it must be a moderate-intensity activity that raises your heart rate.

If you want to maintain a healthy body weight and reduce your risk of premature death, you need to make sure you’re doing a bit of both. Thanks to Apple Watch, that’s easier than ever.

We originally published this post on Apple Watch’s Activity rings on July 12, 2018. We updated the information.

Find My iPhone, a feature available in Apple’s Find My app, will help you locate your lost phone. You can find it using any other Apple device you own or by borrowing a friend’s device. You can even ping your iPhone from your Apple Watch.

From Find My, you can also remotely lock down your lost iPhone, put the device into a special Lost Mode, or even wipe its contents. You should take a peek at this incredibly useful app before you have to.

Keep reading or watch our video.

Find My iPhone: How to find your lost phone

The first step you should take to find your iPhone is to use your Apple Watch (if you own one). Click the side button on the watch to open Control Center. Tap the icon of an iPhone with sound waves coming out of it to ping your iPhone. Your phone will make a pinging noise for about 10 seconds — even if you left it on silent mode or Do Not Disturb.

If you need a little extra help, try tapping and holding the icon instead. Not only will it make the loud pinging alarm, your iPhone’s camera flash will blink on and off. This can make it easier to find in the dark or outside — provided the flashlight isn’t facing down.

If this doesn’t work, it’s possible your lost iPhone is outside the range of your Apple Watch. Then, it’s time to crack open the Find My app to get your iPhone back.

Table of contents: Find My iPhone: How to find your lost phone

1. Sign in to the Find My app
   1. From another device
   2. From a friend’s iPhone
   3. On the web
2. Find your iPhone on the map
3. Set your iPhone in Lost Mode from Find My
4. Turn on notifications if you leave home without it
5. Erase or remove your iPhone from Find My

Sign in to the Find My app from another device

If you own another Apple device, like an iPad or Mac, you can use the Find My app on it to find your iPhone. Or, if you have Family Sharing set up, anyone in your family can use any of their devices.

To find your lost iPhone, open Find My on your iPad, Mac or any family member’s iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple Watch.

Sign in to the Find My app on a friend’s iPhone

If your lost iPhone is your only Apple device, and you don’t have Family Sharing set up, you can borrow someone else’s iPhone. Open Find My, tap the Me tab and tap Help a Friend. You can sign into your own Apple Account.

Sign in to Find My on the web

You also can use Find My on the web from any modern browser on any kind of device — a Windows laptop, an Android phone, a Chromebook, whatever you have access to. Go to icloud.com and click Sign In. Click the Apps icon in the upper right and click Find My to launch it. You’ll need to enter your password a second time.

Find your iPhone on the map

To see your lost iPhone on a map, select the Find My app’s Devices tab and find your phone on the list. You’ll see its location on Apple Maps. Tap Directions and you can start navigation to its current location.

If your phone’s nearby, great! Try playing a sound to help locate it.

Play a sound out of its speakers

If you left your phone on silent — even if it’s in Do Not Disturb mode — you can force it to play a loud sound out of its speakers to help find it when it’s nearby. Tap Play Sound and it’ll ring continuously — much longer than when pinging it from an Apple Watch.

Playing a sound also sends you an email alerting you that a sound was played … for some reason.

Set your iPhone in Lost Mode from Find My

After you locate your phone in the Find My app, tap Lost Mode if you want to protect your iPhone until it’s found. In Lost Mode, your phone can’t be used normally. Only you can turn it off, using the device’s passcode. (If it doesn’t have a passcode set, you’ll need to create one.)

Lost Mode also prevents someone from removing or signing out of your Apple Account, so that the device can’t be reset and sold. Any cards added to your Apple Wallet for Apple Pay are disabled, so it’s not possible for someone to go on a shopping spree (or a public transportation spree) with your phone.

You also can leave a message on your phone with a number people can use to get in touch if they find it. To do so, tap Continue, type in the number of a trusted friend, any directions you may want to include, and tap Activate.

Lost Mode can only be deactivated you, either by using the Find My app or on the device itself by entering the passcode.

Erase or remove your iPhone from Find My

Click Erase This Device if you want to remotely give it a factory reset. If you accidentally sell or trade in your iPhone without resetting it first, this will unlock it for its new owners as if it’s brand-new. This makes sure no one else can access the data on your phone. However, bear in mind that after erasing it, you won’t be able to find it from Find My anymore.

Click Remove This Device if you see an old phone that you don’t use or own anymore. If the device ever comes back online (for instance, if you find it in a dusty drawer and power it on), it’ll show back up in the list, but otherwise, it’ll keep the list of devices tidy and uncluttered

Turn on notifications if you leave home without your iPhone

If losing your iPhone is a frequent habit, tap Notify When Left Behind in the Find My app if you don’t want to risk leaving home without it on you. This will ping your Apple Watch or other devices if they detect you leaving your phone behind. You can add exceptions to the list if you have a trusted location, like work or a close friend’s house. Click + on any of the suggestions or click New Location to enter one manually.

Notifications can’t be enabled from the web app, as you’re only signed into it temporarily.

More iPhone basics

• How to make a good-looking custom Home Screen
• How to customize your Lock Screen
• How to use Focus Modes
• 10 best ways to actually save iPhone battery life
• How to use the new Photos app

You can use your iPhone (or even your Apple Watch!) as a remote for your Apple TV. It’s a convenient feature when you’ve lost the remote in the couch cushions. (You can use your iPhone to help find it as well.)

Even if your remote’s not gone missing, sometimes it’s sitting on the table way over there and you don’t want to interrupt a show by asking for someone to pass it to you. Or maybe, someone is intentionally hogging the remote and you want to pause the video yourself. Either way, it’s really easy to do from an iPhone or an Apple Watch.

Control the Apple TV without the remote

First, you need to make sure your iPhone is on the same network as your Apple TV. If these are both your own personal devices set up in your own home, this is almost certainly already the case. If you’re at a friend’s house, be sure to get their Wi-Fi password before you angrily fumble around the Remote app and curse Tim Cook.

Control Apple TV from iPhone

If you’ve set up an Apple TV before, you should automatically have a Remote icon added to your iPhone’s Control Center.

On a newer iPhone (iPhone X, XS, XR, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16) you can pull down from the top right to open Control Center and tap the Remote icon. If you don’t see it, tap and hold on the screen, tap Add a Control at the bottom, then add Remote to Control Center.

How does the remote work?

On the iPhone’s virtual remote, you will see all the same controls as on the Siri Remote.

• You can swipe on the upper half to move around. Tapping anywhere will select.
• The Play/Pause button will start or stop whatever show, movie or music is playing.
• The giant back button goes back a screen or closes whatever menu you have open. If you tap it enough times, it’ll close the app, go back to the Home Screen, and play the screensaver.
• The TV button will open the Apple TV app by default, but you can change that to go to the Home Screen instead. (On your Apple TV, open Settings > Remotes and Devices > TV Button > Home Screen.)
• What about Siri? When the Remote app is open, your iPhone’s side button will activate Siri on the Apple TV instead of your phone.
• If you have AirPlay-compatible speakers connected, like a stereo pair of HomePods, then your iPhone’s volume buttons will control your Apple TV audio, too.
• If you have several Apple TVs in your household, you can switch which one you’re controlling by selecting the menu at the top.
• The channel button in the bottom right and the menu button on top might control your TV if you have it set up correctly.

Use your iPhone instead of the Siri Remote for text input

Trying to type in anything using the Apple TV’s Siri Remote is just plain painful. While I find that holding down the Siri button to use dictation on the physical remote is extremely fast and reliable (why can’t Siri be so accurate everywhere?), you might not want to shout your password out loud in a room of guests.

Anywhere you need to enter text on the Apple TV, open the remote on your phone and use the keyboard instead. If it doesn’t pop up, you can tap the keyboard button in the bottom left — it replaces the play/pause button.

Using the iPhone to input text on Apple TV proves especially handy if you need to type in a long, complex password for a streaming service or to verify your Apple ID.

Even better, rather than typing out a ridiculous (but secure!) string of random numbers and symbols, you can utilize the iPhone’s copy-paste functionality. Simply copy your password from your password manager, then paste it into the Remote app. Problem solved!

Control Apple TV from Apple Watch

Leave your phone sitting on the coffee table? Well, you can use your Apple Watch as an Apple TV remote, too. To do so, just click the Digital Crown once to bring up the app list and tap Remote. You don’t have all the same controls here — but you can still swipe around to move the cursor, tap in the middle to play/pause, or tap the buttons to go back or go home.

Add an Apple TV remote shortcut to your iPhone Home Screen

If you like this feature, or frequently lose your Apple TV remote, you might want faster access to the Remote app on your iPhone. But unfortunately, you can’t add it to your Home Screen directly. There’s a workaround, though: You can put a Shortcut on your Home Screen that opens the Remote.

Click this link right here and tap Get Shortcut to download it. Tap Add Shortcut when it opens the Shortcuts app. Next, tap on the ⋯ next to Remote to edit the shortcut.

Tap Apple TV, then tap the name of the Apple TV you want this shortcut to open. If you have several Apple TVs in your life, you can pick Ask Each Time.

Next, tap the Share button and tap Add to Home Screen. Now, you can open the Remote directly without bringing up Control Center first.

We originally published this article on how to use an iPhone as an Apple TV remote on February 22, 2023. We updated it with new information.

How do you set up a new Apple Watch? Whether you got the Series 10 with its thin design and advanced sensors or leapt for the rugged Apple Watch Ultra 2, you might be wondering how to get started. After all, the Watch is unlike any other Apple device, both in its dependence on an iPhone and in the way it works.

The good thing is, Apple has made it really, really easy to get things up and running. Let’s take a look.

Set up Apple Watch

This guide will help you set up a new Apple Watch. Things are easy if you’re moving from an Apple Watch. Apple makes it easy to copy over all your settings and apps. But it’s also pretty straightforward to start from scratch — you’ll just have to go through a few extra steps. 

The first step is to put on your new Apple Watch and turn it on by pressing and holding the side button.

Just like setting up a new Apple Pencil or a pair of AirPods, the iPhone will detect your new Watch, and present a pop-up on the screen automatically. If you have any problems, make sure that Bluetooth is turned on and you are connected to Wi-Fi. Tap Continue.

You’ll see a cloud of static on your Watch. Hold your Watch behind your iPhone as if you’re taking a picture of it. Tap Set Up Apple Watch to continue.

Set up Apple Watch without iPhone

Unfortunately, you can’t set up an Apple Watch without an iPhone. However, you can set up an Apple Watch for someone who doesn’t have an iPhone — and it can be that person’s one and only device. If your kid is too young for a phone, you can give them an Apple Watch to call them, text them and track where they are. Do you have an elderly family member who can’t figure out a smartphone on their own? You can give them an Apple Watch to keep tabs on them.

If this is the route you’re going, select Set Up for a Family Member. Otherwise, tap Set Up for Myself. (If you’re gifting this Watch to someone, make sure you’re doing this part with their iPhone.)

You can’t set up Apple Watch without an iPhone, but you can set up Apple Watch for someone who doesn’t have an iPhone.

 

Set up or Restore Apple Watch

The next step depends on whether or not this is your first Apple Watch. If so, then you will Set Up as New Apple Watch.

Otherwise, you can choose Make This Your New Apple Watch. You can check how you had your old Watch set up by tapping Apps & Data and Settings.

If your phone isn’t running iOS 17, you may be asked to update before you continue. You can check what version of iOS you’re running by tapping Settings > General > Software Update.

This is also the part where you sign into iCloud using your Apple ID.

Add a passcode

A passcode keeps your Apple Watch safe. You don’t have to have one, but if you want to use your Apple Watch for Apple Pay or use your Watch to unlock your Mac (which I highly recommend), then you do. It’s good practice considering how much of your health data your Watch will hold.

You don’t have to type it in all the time; you can enable a setting to have your iPhone unlock your Watch after you put it on. I’ll show you how to do that after you get it set up.

Settings on your Apple Watch

Now, you can configure your settings. Some settings are shared with your iPhone. “If you turned on Find my iPhone, Location Services, Wi-Fi Calling, and Diagnostics for your iPhone,” says Apple, “these settings automatically turn on for your Apple Watch.”

And if you use Siri, you’ll have to have it enabled on your iPhone, too.

Set up Apple Watch apps and sync

We’re almost there. The final part is to choose which apps you want to install on your Apple Watch. This is taken care of, like most Apple Watch setup, from the comfort of the Watch app on the iPhone. You can choose to send all apps, or just pick the ones you want to install.

Carefully choose what apps to install on your Apple Watch: Fewer apps make the Home Screen more manageable.

Either way, those apps will be sent to the Watch, and then the iPhone and the Watch will sync, making sure that the Watch has all the latest data.

How Apple Watch controls work

What do the buttons on the side do? Because of its small screen, the buttons control a lot of features on the Apple Watch. Click this article for more detailed information on what the Apple Watch buttons do, or save the photo below:

Apple Watch settings to change immediately

I always tell people to change these things when they first set up their Apple Watch.

Make it easy to find apps

At first glance, the honeycomb app grid looks great, but finding the specific app you’re looking for is nigh impossible, especially if you have a bunch of apps installed. Rather than organizing them in a grid, your Apple Watch can instead list all your apps in alphabetical order. You can switch the view on iPhone or Apple Watch.

Use List View for viewing apps: It doesn’t look as cool, but it’s a lot easier to use.

Tap the Digital Crown and go to the Apple Watch’s Settings app. Tap App View > List View. Now, when you hit the Digital Crown, you’ll get an alphabetical list of apps. This is much easier to navigate than the complicated honeycomb of tiny icons.

To change to List View on your iPhone, open the Watch app, go to App View and switch to List View.

Change your exercise goals and close your rings

Your Apple Watch is great for tracking your daily activity: how much you Move, how often you Stand, and how many minutes of Exercise you get. These three metrics are commonly known as the Apple Watch “rings.” The red outer ring is for Move; the inner green ring is for Exercise and the blue ring is for Stand.

The goal is to close your rings every day, but the defaults (30 minutes of exercise a day, standing every hour for 12 cumulative hours) may not fit your daily routine. Maybe you want to exercise more than 30 minutes a day, or burn more calories.

To adjust the defaults, open the Activity app on your Apple Watch, scroll to the metric you want to change and tap the little −+ icon in the bottom right corner. Keep scrolling to adjust Calories to burn, Minutes to exercise, and Hours spent standing.

Keep a close eye on your rings. If you find it easy to close your rings every day — or not — go back to the Activity app and adjust them again.

Customize Apple Watch widgets

New in WatchOS 10 are widgets: little modules of information that show things like the weather or the amount of time left on a timer.

Widgets make it super easy to see stuff at a glance — just swipe up from the bottom of your watch face. Your widgets are presented in a scrollable stack.

To customize your widgets, swipe up from your clock face to bring up the stack, then press and hold.

This will enter edit mode. At the top you’ll see an empty widget with a plus sign. Tap on it to get a selection of widgets to choose from. First are Featured widgets, then a list of all the apps on your Apple Watch that offer widgets. Almost all of Apple’s apps do. Any widget you add will be added to your stack.

Edit your widget stack to keep it manageable. We recommend Weather, Calendar, Now Playing, Noise and Training Today (a third-party app).

To adjust the order,  grab a widget by the little pin icon at top right and drag it where you want it to go. It’s a bit fiddly.

You can also delete widgets you don’t want: tap the red minus sign next to an existing widget and it’ll be removed.

Personally, in my widget stack I have the Weather, Calendar, Now Playing, Noise and Training Today (a third-party app).

Adjust Wake Duration for Apple Watch’s screen

By default, your Apple Watch’s screen will stay awake for 15 seconds. But I prefer the screen to keep bright for longer; it can be extended to 70 seconds. On your watch, open Settings, scroll to Display & Brightness at the bottom, and tap Wake Duration. You can select Wake for 15 Seconds or Wake for 70 Seconds.

Increase Apple Watch font size

If you’re already squinting at text or numbers on your Apple Watch, you can easily increase the font size to make it easier to read.

On your watch, open Settings, scroll to Display & Brightness and then scroll to Text Size. You can either tap the Aᴀ letters on either side of the adjustment meter, or rotate the Digital Crown on your watch. Apple Watches with bigger displays — Series 7, 8, 9, Apple Watch Ultra and Ultra 2, have more size options thanks to their bigger displays.

Unlock your Apple Watch with your iPhone

Instead of tapping out your Apple Watch passcode, you can have your iPhone unlock your Apple Watch after you put it on. Your iPhone will automatically unlock the Apple Watch when your iPhone is unlocked.

We highly recommend using Unlock with iPhone. Head over to Settings > Passcode to turn it on.

Again, tap the Digital Crown and go to Apple Watch’s Settings. Scroll down to Passcode, and enable Unlock with iPhone. Now whenever you unlock your Apple watch with your iPhone, you’ll see a popup warning.

Unlock your iPhone with your Apple Watch

You can also do the opposite — set up your Apple Watch to unlock your iPhone. This feature uses the secure connection between the devices to unlock your iPhone when an obstruction prevents Face ID from recognizing you. For it to work, your Apple watch must be protected by a password, be unlocked and strapped to your wrist.

To enable it, go to Settings on your iPhone, scroll down to Face ID & Passcode, enter your passcode, and enable Unlock With Apple Watch by selecting your device.

Stop irritating reminders to breathe

By default, the Apple Watch will bug you every hour to stand up, yell at you if you don’t meet your activity goals, and occasionally remind you to breathe. Lots of people buy an Apple Watch to stay active. I find it irritating.

On your iPhone, go to Watch > Activity and turn off the notifications you don’t want. Turn off Breathe notifications by going back to Watch > Mindfulness and tap Notifications Off. (Note, on watchOS 8 and earlier, Mindfulness appears as Breathe.)

Enable Walkie-Talkie

Does everyone in your house have an Apple Watch? You don’t have to shout to get someone’s attention. Press the Side Button to bring up the Control Center and turn on the yellow Walkie-Talkie button.

Now add Walkie-Talkie to your Apple Watch face as a Complication, or open the Walkie-Talkie app to quickly get the attention of your partner or children.

Set up sleep stage tracking

One more tip: set up Apple Watch sleep stage tracking. If you wear your Watch overnight and charge it in the morning, you can get great details into how you’re sleeping overnight. On top of that, your Watch will wake you up, silently vibrating on your wrist — useful if you and your partner wake up at different times.

Get out and use it!

What are you waiting for? The whole point of the Apple Watch is that it’s with you, all the time. Go for a walk and make a start on closing those rings. Or go swimming. Or, if you don’t dig on that whole exercise thing, you can read our guide to customizing your Apple Watch, from the comfort of your favorite armchair.

Note: D. Griffin Jones and Leander Kahney contributed to this article. We originally published this article on how to set up an Apple Watch September 18, 2019. This post was updated on December 24, 2023. 

If your Apple Watch feels like it’s not responding to your taps, it could be in Water Lock mode. It’s easy to forget to turn off Water Lock Mode after you go for a swim or a shower.

There’s also a bit of confusion about how Apple Watch’s Water Lock feature works. Read on to see how to (and how not to) use it.

Lock your Apple Watch when it’s in the water

Every Apple Watch since Series 2 is water resistant. They are highly resilient to being submerged in water, even with Water Lock off. You don’t need to worry much about ruining the electronics inside.

Still, there’s a good reason to turn on Water Lock. It disables the Apple Watch’s touchscreen so the device doesn’t glitch out when you’re in the shower, having a bath or going for a swim.

“When Water Lock is on, your Apple Watch doesn’t respond to touch on its display. This prevents accidental input while you’re in water,” Apple Support says.

To turn on Water Lock, just click the side button on your Apple Watch to bring up Control Center. Then scroll down and tap the water drop icon.

With Water Lock on, you can still see your Apple Watch notifications as they come in and scroll with the Digital Crown. However, you can’t type out a response. You’ll need to use Siri if you want to send a text or give someone a call with Water Lock on.

What to do if your Apple Watch is unresponsive

If your Apple Watch won’t respond to your touch, you probably left Water Lock on. It’s easy to forget. To check, look at the top of your Apple Watch screen. If you see a tiny blue water-drop icon, Water Lock is activated.

To unlock the screen, press and hold the Digital Crown for a few seconds. You’ll hear a little bloop bloop noise — your Apple Watch is playing a special frequency that ejects water out of its speakers.

If I’ve been in the pool a while, I usually find a few small droplets spew out the side. Don’t worry. It’s designed to work that way. That’s why the feature’s there!

What you can and can’t do with your Apple Watch in water: No saunas!

Apple designed its smartwatch to remain resilient in all kinds of situations. However, all electronics have their limits. Apple published a list of situations you shouldn’t subject your Apple Watch to:

• Soapy water
• Perfume, detergent, acidic food, bug spray, lotions, sunscreen, hair dye
• High-velocity water (waterskiing, high diving)
• Steam rooms and saunas

The extra-rugged Apple Watch Ultra will fare better in these situations. On the other hand, older models like Apple Watch Series 1 shouldn’t be fully submerged underwater at all.

“If your Apple Watch comes in contact accidentally with soaps, shampoos, conditioners, lotions, perfumes, solvents, detergent, acids or acidic foods, insect repellent, sunscreen, oil, hair dye, or any substance other than water, it should be cleaned with fresh warm water and dried with a lint-free cloth,” according to Apple Support. “Chemicals found in these items could negatively affect water seals and acoustic membranes.”

I should note that I’ve had an Apple Watch since the Series 3 model from 2017 and had no problems with getting it a little soapy or hitting it with aerosol sunscreen. But I can’t say I’m a regular cliff diver, so I can’t be the judge of that.

Water Lock with Apple Watch workouts

Apple Watch is great for tracking your swimming. (Read Cult of Mac’s guides: How to start swimming with Apple Watch and How to optimize your swimming stroke with Apple Watch.)

If you’re at a pool to do some laps, open the Workout app and scroll down to start a Pool Swim activity. Water Lock will automatically enable when you start the workout.

On that note, Apple Watch Ultra can take things a step further. It works as a replacement dive computer when you go on scuba diving outings. The Ultra’s oversize Ocean Band fits over a wetsuit, and the device is water resistant up to (or, more accurately, down to) 130 feet.

Apple Watch Series 10 also offers improved water resistance, though not as good as the Ultra. Apple says it’s good for snorkeling, and the depth gauge can measure down to 6 meters (nearly 20 feet).

We originally published this article on Apple Watch Water Lock mode on January 6, 2023. We updated the information.

Everyone misplaces their iPhone.* You’re walking around, you set down your iPhone, you do some chores, you get ready to go. Where is it? If you own an Apple Watch, it really is the fastest way to find your lost iPhone.

It’s totally easy to ping your iPhone from your Apple Watch. At the push of a button, you can make your iPhone ring, even if it’s on silent. And, while you might know about the basic feature that lets you ping your iPhone, the Apple Watch also offers advanced options for tracking down your missing device.

Bonus: Even if you don’t own an Apple Watch, anyone in your Family Sharing group can ring your iPhone even louder with the Find My app. And if you don’t have a family, you can use any other device signed into your Apple account.

Find your iPhone with Apple Watch

If your Apple Watch is on your wrist, it’s always the easiest way to find your iPhone. It’s even faster and more reliable than asking Siri on a HomePod to do the job. It can even make your iPhone light up so it’s easier to locate.

Use Apple Watch Control Center to find iPhone

To quickly and easily find your iPhone with your Apple Watch, click the watch’s side button to bring up Control Center. Tap the icon of an iPhone with sound waves coming out of it to ping your iPhone. Your phone will make a pinging noise for about 10 seconds.

Make your lost iPhone flash a light

If you want some visual help locating your list iPhone, tap and hold that same icon in the Apple Watch’s Control Center. Then, in addition to making the pinging sound, your iPhone camera’s flash will blink on and off. This can make it easier to find your lost iPhone, especially in the dark.

Find your iPhone location on a map with Apple Watch

What do you do if you don’t hear a noise or see a light? Maybe you left your phone in the car, at work or at a friend’s house. In that case, open the Find Devices app on your Apple Watch to see all your devices listed. Scroll until you spot your iPhone on the list to see its location on the map. Tap Play Sound to ping it again or tap Directions to make a route in Apple Maps**.

If your phone can’t be found, tap Notify When Found to receive a notification when it’s back online with a location. You can also tap Notify When Left Behind to get a reminder the next time your watch and phone are separated — like when you leave the house without your phone.

Use Find My from another device to find iPhone and more

If you don’t own an Apple Watch, don’t worry. There are other ways to find your lost iPhone. You can ping your iPhone from other devices using Apple’s Find My app. You can use any device you own (Apple Watch, iPad, Mac or a PC signed into icloud.com). If you have Family Sharing set up, anyone in your family can do this for you, too.

To find your iPhone (or other Apple device), open the Find My app on iPad, Mac or iPhone. Or use iCloud Find My iPhone on the web. (You will need to enter your Apple Account information.)

You can even use a friend’s device to find your lost iPhone

If you’re borrowing a friend’s iPhone to find your lost device, tap Me > Help a Friend to sign into your own account.

Then, select your iPhone from the list. Tap Play Sound to ring the phone. This will play a loud ringing noise if the phone still has power. If you’re locating an iPhone 11 or newer, you will be able to track its location even if the device is turned off and after it runs out of power (for a little while).

As you can see, you have the same controls here. You can mark a device as lost, get notified when you leave the house without it, and get directions to it.**

* Note 1: When I say “everyone,” I don’t include myself. I always keep it in my front left pocket, my left hand or on my desk. I mostly mean my wife. She loses her iPhone several times a day.

**Note 2: If you suspect your phone or any of your devices have been stolen, please contact the police. Neither Cult of Mac nor Apple endorse using the Find My feature to carry out your own detective work.

We originally published this article on how to find your iPhone with Apple Watch on June 20, 2022. We updated the information.

Apple Watch sleep stage tracking might help you get to the bottom of what’s going on with your sleep. Ever since watchOS 9, it can track what sleep stage you’re in. That means you can see if you’re not getting enough deep sleep or REM sleep, or if you’re waking up too often in the middle of the night. If you have insomnia or sleep apnea, this information could be very useful.

Read on to see how to use the advanced sleep stage tracking on Apple Watch.

How to track sleep stages with Apple Watch

Table of Contents:

1. Enable Sleep Tracking
2. Go to sleep
3. Find your sleep tracking data

How to enable Sleep Tracking

To enable sleep tracking, you first need to set up a sleep schedule.

On your iPhone, open Clock and tap Change to make sure your sleep schedule is set correctly. If you haven’t set this up before, tap Turn On. Tap Edit Sleep Schedule in Health to go to the next step.

From here, you can turn on Use Schedule for Sleep Focus. This will automatically silence incoming phone calls and messages while you should be sleeping.

Turn on Track Time in Bed with iPhone so that it can track if you’re asleep or awake in the middle of the night if you’re using your phone. If you go a night without wearing your watch, it’s good to have this enabled as a backup.

Sleep Reminders will alert you if it’s getting late and you aren’t asleep yet. I turned this feature off after a while because I have a pretty consistent schedule. If you’re a student and/or you often lose track of time late at night, you might find it helpful.

Sleep Results will send you a notification in the morning letting you know if you’re meeting or missing your goal.

Tap Manage Sleep in the Apple Watch App or open the Watch app and tap Sleep.

Tap Use this Watch for Sleep to enable it. Make sure Track Sleep with Apple Watch is enabled.

Enable Charging Reminders to get an alert if your bedtime is approaching and your Apple Watch is low on charge. I’ve found that a night of sleep tracking takes about 20% of my watch’s battery.

Sleep

The most important step in Apple Watch sleep tracking: Get a good night of sleep.

Make sure you’re wearing a comfortable band overnight. My wife has prohibited my beloved Speidel Twist-O-Flex band because it’s pinchy. A Sport band (or one of the Nyloon bands in the Cult of Mac Store) would do just great. I haven’t worn the Milanese Loop overnight and I don’t intend to.

Where to find your Apple Watch sleep stage tracking data

At the crack of dawn (or, according to my screenshots, the crack of early afternoon), you can feast upon your sleep data.

Open the Health app and tap Sleep > Show More Sleep Data to see your full sleep stage breakdown.

Tap D, W, M, 6M to see how your sleep changes over time. Then, explore the tabs for more info:

• The Stages tab shows how much time you spend in each stage, in minutes or percentages (if you scroll down).
• The Amounts tab compares how much time you spend in bed and how much time you spend asleep.
• The Comparisons tab compares your sleep time to your respiratory rate — important information if you experience sleep apnea.

Tap Done to go back to Sleep — the Sleep section of the Health app, not the state of consciousness.

Scroll down to see your highlights and trends; tap Show All to see more. The Health app will give you a summary of how long you slept last night, your heart rate, your respiratory rate and your time spent asleep over the last week.

If you scroll down even further, you’ll find articles written by Apple’s Health team to learn more:

“Understanding Sleep Stages” outlines the four sleep stages. You may be surprised to find out how often you wake up during the night, even if you aren’t aware of it. Apple says “it’s normal for people to wake up on occasion,” and that it’s possible you forget waking up at all.

“Why Sleep Is So Important” explains the many health benefits to getting your full night of sleep. How do you know if you’re getting enough? If you wake up groggy and tired, you need more. It’s that simple.

“Getting a Good Night’s Sleep” serves up some tips that will help you get better sleep:

• Get outside and get some sun.
• Avoid napping within six hours of sleeping.
• Dim the lights as you approach your bedtime.
• Most importantly, stick to a consistent schedule.

If you’re looking for further reading, check out this Washington Post article that explains which metrics you should focus on. Take its hardware recommendations with a grain of salt, as the piece was written before the new Apple Watch sleep stage tracking feature was unveiled.

The Apple Watch doesn’t just take your step count — it has three activity rings that track different levels of energy you burn throughout the day.

New to watchOS 11, you have additional options for customization and for taking a break when you need it. You can have different goals for each ring for different days of the week, so it can fit your workout schedule. When you want a rest day or if you fall ill, you can take up to a month-long break without losing your streak.

If you’re all-in on the fitness tracking, you can add widgets that show your rings on your Apple Watch face and widgets on your iPhone. Or, on the other hand, if you find it a bit annoying, you can turn off all the notifications so they won’t bother you anymore.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Apple Watch activity rings.

Apple Watch rings

Table of Contents:

1. Meaning of the Apple Watch rings
2. Adjust your ring goals
3. Pause your rings and streak
4. Add a widget or complication
5. Turn off or change notifications

Meaning of the Apple Watch rings

There are three Apple Watch rings that represent different tiers of activity:

• Stand measures how many hours of the day you stand up for at least a minute.
• Move measures your active calories burned in the day.
• Exercise measures the number of minutes you spend being active.

You don’t have to work out every day; anything can contribute to your daily activity from jogging up a flight of stairs to running around with a dog outside. Apple defines your activity as anything “at or above a brisk walk.”

As you work towards your daily goal, the rings will complete a full circle. If you complete all three, you’ll get a special congratulations.

Adjust your activity ring goals

You can adjust the activity ring goals to match your activity level, whether you want something you can easily and realistically achieve in a day or a tough goal you’ll have to work hard to finish.

From your Apple Watch, click the Digital Crown and open the Activity app. Tap your rings and tap Change Goals. You can tap + or − to adjust the level, or spin the Digital Crown. It’ll let you adjust each goal separately.

If you want to have different goals for different days of the week, tap the Goal Type button in the upper right and tap Schedule. Each ring can have a different goal for each day of the week. This is handy if you work out on specific days of the week, or if want to push yourself to stand more on weekdays at the office. If you don’t see this option, make sure you’ve updated your Apple Watch to watchOS 11.

Pause your activity rings and streak

You can take a break from exercising if you fall ill, suffer an accident or simply want to take it easy for a spell. To pause your streak, just go to the Activity app on your Watch, tap on your rings and tap Pause Rings.

Scroll down and select how long of a break you want to take — today, a week, a whole month or a custom number of days up to a month. You won’t lose your streak, but the numbers won’t increase while it’s paused. Your streak will continue to increment where it left off when the break is over.

This feature also requires watchOS 11.

Add a widget or complication

There are a bunch of ways you can keep an eye on your rings throughout the day. Adding a widget on your iPhone or a complication on your Apple Watch face will put it front and center.

• To add an Activity complication on your Apple Watch, tap and hold on your watch face and tap Edit. Swipe left, over to the Complications tab, and tap on one you’d like to replace. Scroll up to Activity and select Rings.
• Add a widget on your iPhone Lock Screen. Tap and hold on the Lock Screen, tap Customize then tap Lock Screen. Tap the area underneath the clock, then tap Fitness to add your rings. You have the choice of a small widget with the rings icon or a detailed widget that shows all three numbers.
• You can add an even bigger and more obvious widget to your Home Screen. Tap and hold on the Home Screen, then tap Edit > Add Widget. Scroll down to Fitness then add a widget in the size you want.

Turn off or change notifications

Personally, I find the stand notifications and activity reminders more irritating than helpful. You can customize these to suit what works for you best. You can find this on your Apple Watch in Settings > Activity, or in the Watch app on your iPhone.

• Stand Reminders: Receive a reminder to stand if you’ve been sitting for the first 50 minutes of an hour.
• Daily Coaching: Get notifications that help you complete your Activity goals and Monthly Challenges.
• Goal Completions: Receive a notification when you close your Move, Exercise and Stand rings or earn an award.
• Special Challenges: Get notifications about limited edition awards you can earn by completing a challenge.
• Activity Sharing Notifications: Receive a notification when someone who shares Activity with you closes all three rings, finishes a workout or earns an award.

More Apple Watch how-tos

Learn more about your Apple Watch:

• What do Apple Watch buttons do?
• How to silence your Apple Watch, use Do Not Disturb and theater mode
• How to stop Siri from randomly activating all the damn time
• How to use Apple Watch nightstand mode
• More new features in watchOS 11

You can read the time without even looking at your Apple Watch using a little-known feature called Taptic Time. Hold two fingers on the screen and you’ll feel it tap the time out on your wrist.

This is handy if you’re in a meeting and you need to know the time, but you don’t want to look rude checking your watch. Or maybe you’re in the middle of a presidential debate.

Whatever the situation may be, turning this feature on and familiarizing yourself with it may come in handy.

How to use the haptic watch feature

On your Apple Watch, go to Settings and scroll down to Clock. Scroll down past Chimes and Speak Time, and you’ll see another option for Taptic Time. Tap that and turn it on.

You can choose one of three haptic patterns:

• Digits will read out the precise hours and minutes in long and short buzzes. Tens are represented by long buzzes, and ones by short taps. If it’s 12:35, for example, it will be — · · — — — · · · · ·.
• Terse will give a long buzz for every five hours, short buzz for every single hour, and a long buzz for the nearest fifteen minutes. If it’s 6:47, for example, it will be — · — — —.
• Morse code will read out every number in the time using morse code.

Digits is the most intuitive to me, so I stick with that.

Click the Digital Crown (the dial) to go back to your watch face. You can activate it by holding two fingers on your watch while it’s on.

I wish this feature worked while the watch face was off, too. It would be even more discreet. That would enable it for a bunch of other useful situations: watching a movie in a theater or riding an airplane on an overnight flight, where the bright screen might bother people next to me.

I don’t think it would take any extra battery life to enable it. And I can’t imagine there would be many false positives for such a weird gesture that requires you to hold your fingers on the screen.

Summary: How to read the time without looking at your Apple Watch

1. On your Apple Watch, open Settings > Clock > Taptic Time
2. Turn it on
3. Set it to Digits, Terse or Morse code
4. Hold two fingers on your watch face to feel it tapped on your wrist

What do the buttons on the Apple Watch do? The Apple Watch borrows a lot from the iPhone, but the biggest difference between the two devices comes down to the way their buttons work. They do different things whether you click, double-click or hold them down.

In watchOS 10, Apple changed a lot of these features. The software update added a new Widgets view, assigned Control Center to the side button, and changed what double-clicking the Digital Crown does. (For older devices, consult our article about what Apple Watch buttons do in watchOS 9.)

Here’s a guide to the buttons on the Apple Watch.

What do the Apple Watch buttons do?

Last year’s big changes in watchOS 10 marked the first major overhaul of the Apple Watch user interface since the very first model arrived in 2015. If you’re a longtime Apple Watch user, the new actions for the buttons might trip up your muscle memory. Add the Apple Watch Ultra‘s Action button and the Shortcuts app into the mix, and you’ve got more options than ever for getting things done with your smartwatch.

Use the infographics below as a quick guide to what all the Apple Watch buttons do.

For the ‘regular’ models:

Digital Crown, side button and watch face:

Here’s what the buttons on the Apple Watch do.

1. The Digital Crown (the dial on the side):
   • Spin the Digital Crown to scroll up and down.
   • Click the Digital Crown to see the list of apps on your Apple Watch. Clicking it again will take you back to the watch face.
   • Double-click the Digital Crown to see your recently used, open apps.
   • Hold it down to turn on Siri. If you find yourself activating it accidentally with your wrist, you can turn that off from your iPhone in the Watch app > Siri > Press Digital Crown.
2. The side button:
   • Click the side button to bring up Control Center.
   • Double-click the side button to activate Apple Pay.
   • Hold the side button to turn off the watch, show your Medical ID, track your location on a hike or call emergency services.
3. From the watch face:
   • Swipe up to see your widgets. Here you’ll see running timers, Maps directions and music/podcasts you’re playing. You can customize the widgets below so that you can quickly access weather, messages, etc.
   • Swipe down to see notifications.

What do Apple Watch Ultra buttons do?

Digital Crown, side button, Action button and watch face:

Here’s what the buttons on the Apple Watch Ultra do.

1. The Action button:
   • Click the Action button to do one of several things you can set. Turn on the flashlight, start a workout, set a hiking waypoint, start a stopwatch, run a Shortcut and more. Set it from Settings (on your Apple Watch) > Action button > Action.
   • Hold the Action button to play a loud siren noise. If you get lost or injured and you’re too exhausted to yell out for help, this may alert people around you where you are. If you don’t want to set it off accidentally, go to Settings (on your Apple Watch) > Action button > Siren to turn it off.
2. The Digital Crown (the dial on the side):
   • Spin the Digital Crown to scroll up and down.
   • Click the Digital Crown to see the list of apps on your Apple Watch. Clicking it again will take you back to the watch face.
   • Double-click the Digital Crown to see your recently used, open apps.
   • Hold it down to turn on Siri. If you find yourself activating it accidentally with your wrist, you can turn that off from your iPhone in the Watch app > Siri > Press Digital Crown.
3. The side button:
   • Click the side button to bring up Control Center.
   • Double-click the side button to activate Apple Pay.
   • Hold the side button to turn off the watch, show your Medical ID, track your location on a hike or call emergency services.
4. From the watch face:
   • Swipe up to see your widgets. Here you’ll see running timers, Maps directions and music/podcasts you’re playing. You can customize the widgets below so that you can quickly access weather, messages, etc.
   • Swipe down to see notifications.

Silence!

Now that you know what the buttons on your Apple Watch or Apple Watch Ultra do, why not take a moment to figure out how to keep that thing quiet!

How to silence your Apple Watch, use Do Not Disturb and theater mode

We originally published this post explaining what the Apple Watch buttons do on September 18, 2023. We updated the info.

Nothing illustrates the power of Apple’s ecosystem like the Continuity features that help your Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch work seamlessly together. Thanks to Continuity, your iPhone can serve as your Mac’s webcam. You can start an email on one device and instantly pick it up on another. You can use the same keyboard and mouse with a Mac and iPad, copy and paste across devices and more.

These features flex the power of Apple’s hardware and software — and they would never be possible on a PC. Unfortunately, that means a lot of people don’t learn about these features because they don’t expect so much from their computers.

In this post (and the accompanying video), I will show you some of the time-saving, annoyance-busting Continuity features you can enjoy when you go all-in on the Apple ecosystem.

How to use Apple’s 6 best Continuity features

If you own multiple Apple devices and don’t know about these Continuity features, you’re missing out on some truly useful functionality. You can see all of these in action in this video:

Table of contents: How to use Apple’s 6 best Continuity features

• No. 1: Continuity Camera
• No. 2: Handoff
• No. 3: Universal Control
• No. 4: Continuity Clipboard
• No. 5: Import from iPhone
• No. 6: Unlock Mac with Apple Watch
• Bonus: Even more Apple Continuity features

No. 1: Continuity Camera

If you want to up your camera game on your Mac, look no further than the camera you already carry in your pocket. You’re not going to find a better one than that. With Continuity Camera, your iPhone can serve as your webcam for better FaceTime, Teams, Zoom and Webex calls — any video chat on your Mac.

To use Continuity Camera, you need an iPhone introduced in 2018 or later and a Mac running macOS Ventura or later. Lock your iPhone and put it on a tripod or a mount next to your Mac, sitting horizontally. That’s pretty much it. I didn’t even buy a webcam for my desktop Mac when I upgraded earlier this year. I count on Continuity Camera, using my iPhone with this Belkin MagSafe display mount.

No. 2: Handoff

Handoff is the first Continuity feature that Apple introduced — and it’s probably the most overlooked. Whatever you’re doing on your Mac, you can switch to doing on your iPhone or iPad. Just open the App Switcher on your iPhone (the multitasking screen when you swipe up), go to the app you were using, and tap on the bubble at the bottom to pick up right where you were. The other way around works, too. If your iPhone is open, you’ll see an icon in your Dock to move it to your Mac.

This works in Safari, Messages, Mail, Calendar, Reminders, Notes — just about all of Apple’s apps. You can use Handoff with some third-party apps, too. Check to see if any Mac and iPhone apps you use support this handy feature.

No. 3: Universal Control

Anytime I have two Macs sitting next to each other, I inevitably get the keyboards and trackpads confused. I catch myself wiggling the mouse or typing on the keyboard directly in front of me, wondering why nothing is happening, only to realize I’m looking at the wrong computer.

Apple cooked up an elegant solution to this problem: Universal Control. With two Macs, or a Mac and an iPad — up to three such devices sitting next to each other — you just drag your cursor all the way to the edge of the screen, then keep dragging until it pops over to the other device. Mouse and keyboard input will transfer seamlessly.

Obviously, you can’t use this on someone else’s device. Both computers need to be signed into the same Apple ID. An unfortunate downside to that security measure is that Universal Control won’t work if you use a personal Mac and a work Mac, as they likely have separate Apple IDs. (If not, what the hell are you doing with your personal Apple ID on a work computer? Get that off of there!)

No. 4: Continuity Clipboard

Sometimes you have a product serial number or a complicated password on one device, and you need to slowly retype it in by hand on another. Unfortunately, this is the only way and no solution exists.

No, of course there’s a better way. This is one of the greatest features ever.

If you copy something from your iPhone, just try hitting paste (⌘V) on your Mac. It might take a split second, but magically, it appears right there. Need to send a picture to your computer? Have a file you want to look at on your Mac? Continuity Clipboard is the first thing I try simply because of the headache this feature saves.

No. 5: Import from iPhone

Picture this: You’re using your Mac to fill out a web form for insurance, banking, healthcare, a travel website (the four horsemen of the apocolypse bad web design), and suddenly the company wants you to upload a picture of an ID or some document. Suddenly, you wonder if you should have been using your iPhone all along. Worry not — you can use your iPhone to take a picture on your Mac, without any middle steps of AirDropping, emailing or iMessaging yourself.

On your Mac, open the Preview app and go to File > Import from iPhone > Take Photo. Then take out your iPhone and the Camera app should open. After you snap the shot, it’ll appear on your Mac. You can use Preview to export the image in whatever file type is required and to match whatever size constraints you need.

No. 6: Unlock Mac with Apple Watch

Touch ID is a wonderful addition to the Mac. With it, you don’t need to type in your password every single time, you just touch a special key. But maybe when you’re at your desk, your laptop is closed or you want to use a different keyboard — and you can’t use the feature. If you wear an Apple Watch, there’s an easier way to unlock your Mac.

Go to System Settings > Login Password and enable your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac. It’s honestly just as fast as using Touch ID. With this Continuity feature enabled, I typically sit down, hit a key or click the mouse, and I’m greeted by my Mac desktop before my display has even woken up.

After using this feature for a while, it encouraged me to switch to a longer, harder-to-type Mac password. It’ll be harder to guess if my computer is ever physically stolen, and it doesn’t cost me any convenience since I rarely have to type it in.

Bonus: Even more Apple Continuity features

There are even more Continuity features available. You can get text messages and phone calls forwarded to all your devices, create an instant hotspot when you lose your Wi-Fi signal and even sign off on an Apple Pay transaction on your Mac using your Apple Watch.

We originally published this post on how to use Apple’s Continuity features on July 15, 2023. We updated the information.

Customizing the widgets Smart Stack on your Apple Watch is a great way provide easy access to the apps you use most. If you have a Tim Cook-esque Apple Watch face full of complications, you can rely on widgets instead. You just need to edit the widgets in your Apple Watch’s Smart Stack to provide the same quick access to your most-used apps and activities.

Today, I’ll show you how to make the most of your Smart Stack of widgets on Apple Watch.

Apple Watch widgets: How to use and edit them in watchOS 10

Apple introduced a new widgets system and the Smart Stack in 2023 with watchOS 10, which the company called “the biggest update since the introduction of Apple Watch.” The company’s designers set out to surface the information that Apple Watch users needed, right when they wanted it. You can bring up the Smart Stack of widgets quickly by turning the Digital Crown, swiping up from the bottom of the display or using the double tap gesture (on supported Apple Watches).

“The Smart Stack is a set of widgets that uses information such as the time, your location, and your activity to automatically display the most relevant widgets at the appropriate time in your day,” Apple says. “For example, at the beginning of the day, Weather will show the forecast or, when you’re traveling, the Smart Stack will show boarding passes from Wallet.”

However, you don’t need to cede all control over your Smart Stack widgets to Apple. You can easily customize things to make your watch work the way you want.

Table of contents: Apple Watch widgets: How to use and edit them in watchOS 10

1. Access your Apple Watch widgets
2. Add or remove widgets from the Smart Stack
3. Customize app shortcuts
4. Clean up your watch face

Access your Apple Watch widgets

New in watchOS 10, widget Smart Stacks are the scrolling section of controls that you can quickly access by swiping up, turning the Digital Crown or using the double tap gesture when you’re on the watch face. It’s a fast way to get information, see live activities and launch apps.

Don’t confuse widgets with complications, the tappable controls on the watch face itself. (You can edit those by tapping and holding on a watch face, tapping Edit and swiping to the right.)

When you access your widget Smart Stack, you’ll see today’s date and a clock at the top of the screen. Below that, you’ll see any live activities you have going — a running timer, music or podcasts playing. Tapping on any of these is an easy way to pull up the apps running in the background. Just swipe up, or twist your Digital Crown, to scroll through the Smart Stack and see what’s going on rather than finding the app and opening it.

Under the live activities, you’ll see a widget with three set apps. (By default, these are set to Music, Workout and Messages, but you can change them.) At the very bottom of the Smart Stack, you’ll see an All Apps button that takes you to a list of all the apps on your Apple Watch.

Edit Apple Watch widgets: Add or remove widgets from the Smart Stack

By default, you will see the following widgets in your Apple Watch’s Smart Stack:

1. Calendar
2. Activity
3. News
4. Weather
5. Three apps (Music, Workout, Messages)

If you want to add or remove widgets, you have to do it on the Apple Watch. Currently, there’s no way to edit the stack from your iPhone (unless you enable Apple Watch mirroring). To start editing your Smart Stack widgets, swipe up to show them. Then, tap and hold anywhere on the screen to start adding or deleting widgets.

Tap the large + button to add a new widget. You’ll see suggestions at the top; scroll down to see the full list of available widgets. Tap on one to add it. Unlike widgets on your iPhone Home Screen, you can’t drag them to set an order. They’ll shuffle around based on what’s important during the day. You can, however, pin widgets to the top. To do so, tap the yellow pin button on the right of the widget.

To remove widgets from the Apple Watch Smart Stack, tap the red minus button on the left. You can’t have more than eight widgets, so you may need to remove some before you can add new ones you want.

Personally, I pinned Weather to the top. I removed News and Activity; I added Alarm, Podcasts and Music.

Customize Apple Watch app shortcuts in the Smart Stack

At the bottom of the widget Smart Stack you will find the one widget you can’t remove — it gives you quick access to three apps of your choosing. As mentioned, it defaults to Music, Workout and Messages. If you don’t use those often, you can easily customize this widget to provide easy access to three apps you do use regularly.

To customize this section, tap and hold on it. Then tap the − button to delete one (or more) of the default apps. Then tap the + button to add a new one. In the example above, I added Calculator, Camera Remote and Messages.

Keep a cleaner watch face with a customized widget Smart Stack

Editing and customizing the widget Smart Stack on your Apple Watch can free you from using a watch face with lots of complications while still keeping all your favorite apps handy. Spend just a couple of minutes adding and deleting widgets, and you’re set to go. Then, everything you do on your Apple Watch will remain easy to access. All you need to do is go to your Apple Watch face by pushing the Digital Crown. Then you can see your favorite widgets in the Smart Stack anytime you like.

I use the Numerals face in gray without any complications whatsoever. And yet, thanks to my edited Smart Stack of widgets, everything is still there, just a swipe, a scroll or a double tap away.

We originally published this post on how to edit Apple Watch widgets in the Smart Stack on October 16, 2023. We updated the information.

You can ping a lost Apple Watch from your iPhone, thanks to iOS 17 and watchOS 10. The reverse has always been a cool feature of the Apple Watch, helping you find a lost iPhone you left somewhere nearby.

If you take your Apple Watch off at the end of the day, forgetting to throw it on the charger, you might not remember where you left it the following morning. Now, you can find a lost Apple Watch from your iPhone. Here’s how it works.

How to ping a lost Apple Watch using an iPhone

You could always use Apple’s Find My app to locate a lost Apple Watch. But this handy trick is faster and easier. I typically employ the rule that my watch is only ever (a) on its charger or (b) on my wrist, but that just makes it harder for me to find when I happen to leave it elsewhere. This handy method makes it far easier to quickly find a missing Apple Watch.

Note: To use this feature, your iPhone must be running at least iOS 17 and your Apple Watch must be on at least watchOS 10. Not sure if your iPhone is up to date? Go to Settings > General > Software Update to get the latest version. (To check your Apple Watch software, open the Watch app on your iPhone, go to General > Software Update.) The watchOS 10 update is available for all Series 4 models and newer, including SE and Ultra.

Table of contents: How to ping a lost Apple Watch using an iPhone

1. Add “Ping My Watch” button in Settings > Control Center
2. Open Control Center and hit the Apple Watch button

1. Add the button to your iPhone’s Control Center

To quickly find your Apple Watch with your iPhone, first you need to add the Ping My Watch button to your phone’s Control Center. First, open Settings > Control Center. This is where you can customize which “controls” show up. Next, scroll all the way down and tap + Ping My Watch to add the button to your iPhone’s Control Center. Scroll back up and you can reorder all your controls by grabbing and dragging the ☰ on the right. (While you’re at it, remove any controls you don’t use by tapping the −.)

2. Ping your Apple Watch from iPhone’s Control Center

Now you’re ready to ping your Apple Watch from your iPhone for the fastest find possible. To do so, simply swipe down from the top right corner of your iPhone screen to bring up Control Center. Then, tap the Apple Watch button. Your watch will play the same fun, rhythmic chime out of its speakers that you’re used to hearing when using it to find your iPhone. And yes, this works even if you leave your watch in Silent mode — as most people do, and honestly, everyone should.

The Apple Watch doesn’t have quite as loud of a speaker as the iPhone, but the audible alert still should help you find your missing watch in a room. If you can’t hear anything after pinging it for a while, it’s likely too far away for you to hear the alert. In that case, you might want to open Find My, tap the Devices tab, and then tap on your Apple Watch to confirm it’s not truly missing.

Learn more iOS 17 tricks

The 50 best iOS 17 features you should try after you update

We originally published this post on how to ping your Apple Watch from your iPhone on November 8, 2023. We updated the info.

Have you heard of the Apple Watch’s nightstand mode? I knew about it from digging through the settings in the Watch app on my iPhone, but I never tried it out. I wear my watch while sleeping, mostly so I get a nice haptic alarm in the morning instead of an audible iPhone alarm. But if you charge your watch overnight, you should almost certainly be using nightstand mode, formerly known as bedside mode.

How to use Apple Watch nightstand mode

If you don’t use your Apple Watch’s sleep-tracking features to keep tabs on your slumber, you can use nightstand mode to turn the device into a bedside clock. It’s a little like the iPhone’s cool StandBy mode, which turns the smartphone into a bedside smart display.

With nightstand mode, when your Apple Watch is charging on your bedside table with its screen facing you horizontally, as shown in the image below, it will show the current time, full-screen. It also shows the date and an icon depicting the current charge level. If you have an alarm set, it will show the time that will go off, too.

It looks like this:

The Apple Watch display will switch off until you touch the watch or tap the surface it’s sitting on. Mine lights up when I make a move toward it — that’s how sensitive the Apple Watch’s motion detection is.

Snooze your Apple Watch alarms

When the alarm time approaches, the Apple Watch screen will light up, getting brighter as the target time approaches. Then, a calming alarm will sound. You can then choose to snooze or dismiss the alarm, using the Digital Crown or the side button respectively. As these both appear on the top of an Apple Watch in nightstand mode, it’s easy.

If you snooze the Apple Watch alarm, you get a new countdown in amber, below the green time readout, along with a Zzz icon in blue. (You can see this view at the top of this post.)

Nightstand mode alarms only work if you set them using the watch’s own Alarms app. The excellent feature where the watch takes over iPhone alarms, and alerts you with a haptic tap instead of the audio alarm, is only available when you are wearing the watch. This includes the iPhone’s Bedtime feature. In short, if you want to use the Apple Watch’s alarm when it’s in nightstand mode, you must set that alarm on the watch itself. You can of course do this using Siri.

How to enable Apple Watch nightstand mode

Nightstand mode is a great Apple Watch feature, and I might even switch to using it over wearing the watch in bed. To enable nightstand mode, previously known as bedside mode as shown in the screenshot above, just head to the Settings section of either the watch itself or the iPhone Watch app. You’ll find it in the General section. Sweet dreams!

Great Apple Watch chargers that support nightstand mode

To get the most out of nightstand mode, you’ll need an Apple Watch charger that holds the device horizontally. Apple’s standard-issue charging puck won’t cut it. We can recommend several options from third-party manufacturers:

• Belkin makes a 3-in-1 MagSafe fast charger that accommodates nightstand mode and also charges up an iPhone and AirPods wirelessly. A more affordable, minimalist model only charges the Apple Watch.
• Elago makes a wide variety of Apple Watch chargers that support nightstand mode and are available in the Cult of Mac Store. One of our favorites is the W3, which makes your Apple Watch look like a mini Mac. (Elago’s W4 model turns the smartwatch into a tiny Bondi Blue iMac.)

We originally published this how-to on using Apple Watch’s nightstand mode on March 12, 2020. We updated the information.

If you want to know the fastest and easiest way to send someone photos, videos, files and so, so much more, you should know how to AirDrop. There’s no need to send an iMessage — Apple’s slick AirDrop feature will immediately send and open the content on someone else’s iPhone (or other Apple device). There’s no middle step.

AirDrop works iPhone-to-iPhone, iPhone-to-Mac, iPhone-to-iPad, Vision Pro-to-Mac — any combination and permutation of two Apple devices. And if you’re both running iOS 17, there’s a convenient AirDrop superpower you should definitely know about. Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about how to take advantage of AirDrop.

How to AirDrop, the fastest way to share stuff from iPhone to iPhone

Just about anywhere you see the Share icon (left) or the share sheet (right), you have something that can be sent using AirDrop. The most common use is sending pictures and videos, but there’s so much more you can do. There’s no limit on how much stuff you can send over AirDrop.

For instance, say you bring up a restaurant menu on your phone in Safari. You can easily AirDrop it to your iPhone-carrying friends so they can see it, too. If you’re looking at a product on Amazon, looking to share a game on the App Store, or inviting someone to share a Note or Reminders list, AirDrop is the way to go.

AirDrop works using a system called Apple Wireless Direct Link. Even if you’re not on Wi-Fi, both devices create a temporary peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection to each other to carry the file transfer. The benefit is that while you may not have great service or a Wi-Fi 6e network, you’ll still get the fastest possible speeds on AirDrop.

AirDrop has been supported on Apple devices for more than 10 years, so you don’t need to worry about having the latest iPhone to use it. (Note: These instructions are written for modern versions of iOS.)

How to AirDrop on iPhone

To use AirDrop, hit the Share button. If someone in your contacts is standing nearby and their device is active (screen on, unlocked) they should appear at the top of the list of potential recipients. (You’ll also see your own Apple devices here, too, in case you want to send something from your iPhone to your Mac or iPad.)

Then, simply tap the recipient’s contact image to share the desired content with them via AirDrop. The person on the other end will need to tap Accept when they receive the AirDrop prompt. If you’re both on iOS 17.1 or later, you don’t even need to keep standing nearby — you can walk away and the AirDrop will continue remotely over the internet.

How to share with somebody who’s not in your contacts list

If the person isn’t in your contacts, you can still use AirDrop (see the next section below), but there’s actually an even easier way to share files quickly, assuming you’re both running iOS 17 or later. With the share sheet open, simply hold your phones together — top to top — to make the transfer instantly. You also get to see a really cool pulsing animation with a cool haptic effect!

If you do the same gesture normally, without the share sheet open, you can use this feature to instantly exchange contact information. This feature is called NameDrop. It’s much easier than exchanging your phones and typing in your number by hand. (Interestingly, these features don’t work if one of the devices is connected to wireless CarPlay or a Personal Hotspot.)

How to make sure AirDrop is enabled

If the above features don’t work, you can make sure AirDrop is enabled in Control Center. Have the other person open Control Center, tap and hold on the box in the upper left, tap on the AirDrop button and set it to Everyone for 10 minutes. It’ll automatically revert to Contacts Only, so you’ll need to do this every time you share with someone who isn’t in your contacts list.

From your end, you’ll need to tap the AirDrop option in the share sheet. You’ll see the name of the person’s device, which is probably something like “Griffin’s iPhone,” unless they’ve renamed it to something else.

More iPhone basics

• How to edit your iPhone’s Home Screen
• How to use StandBy on iPhone in iOS 17
• How to scan a QR code on iPhone
• How to use Do Not Disturb on iPhone

If your group chat or work messages start blowing up in the middle of a meeting, you’ll want to know how to silence your Apple Watch quickly. You have a few options: Silent mode controls whether a notification makes a sound. Do Not Disturb controls whether you receive notifications. Theater mode turns off the display.

You can also use a quick shortcut to turn on silent mode in a pinch.

How to silence your Apple Watch (4 methods)

The settings listed below (silent mode, Do Not Disturb and theater mode) can all be turned on or turned off separately, depending on what you want.

• Silent mode turns off all the Apple Watch speakers. Your watch will still vibrate on your wrist for haptic notifications, but it won’t make a noise. It’s just like muting your iPhone.
• Do Not Disturb mutes all incoming notifications, sounds and vibrations. Turning it on syncs across all your devices, not just your watch.
• Theater mode turns off the Apple Watch display. It becomes completely black, and only turns on when you tap the screen, not when you raise your wrist. It also turns on your Apple Watch’s silent mode and sets your Walkie-Talkie status (remember that?) to unavailable.

Here’s the nitty gritty on how they all work.

Enable silent mode on your Apple Watch

You can put your Apple Watch on silent from Control Center. To open Control Center, click the watch’s side button. (On older models, you can swipe up from the bottom of the watch face.)

From Control Center, tap on the icon of a bell to set your Apple Watch to silent mode. If it’s gray, you have sound on. If the icon is red with a slash through it, your watch is on silent. Silencing your Apple Watch this way will prevent it from making noise, but you will still get the notifications. It’ll just buzz your wrist, instead.

Pro tip: If you keep your Apple Watch on silent 100% of the time — which I highly, highly recommend — you can remove the icon from Control Center. Scroll down and tap Edit. Then, scroll up and tap the little − above the Silent button.

Turn on Do Not Disturb mode on Apple Watch

If you don’t want to get any notifications — no sound, no buzz — for a temporary period, you can turn on Do Not Disturb on your Apple Watch. This will completely silence your Apple Watch (and your other connected Apple devices as well). To turn on Do Not Disturb, tap your watch’s side button to open Control Center, then tap Focus (the crescent moon icon), then tap Do Not Disturb. You can pick how long it stays on. Here are your options:

• On leaves Do Not Disturb on indefinitely until you turn it off.
• On for 1 hour disables it automatically after an hour.
• On until this evening or until tomorrow morning disables it automatically a few hours later, depending on what time it is when you turn it on.
• On until I leave disables it when you leave whatever location you’re in.
• On until end of event disables Do Not Disturb when at the time specified for an event on your calendar.

Use theater mode to make your watch completely unobtrusive

Theater mode is a setting I strongly recommend you turn on when you go to a movie theater, a play or another type of quiet live show. It turns off the Apple Watch screen until you tap it. If you own an Apple Watch with an always-on screen, turning on theater mode is a great courtesy to other people in the audience. Otherwise, the light from your watch can distract them.

To turn on theater mode, tap your Apple Watch side button to open Control Center. Then tap the icon of the comedy/tragedy masks. When it’s orange, theater mode is on. (I recommend that you also enable Do Not Disturb, so you aren’t tempted to look at your watch during the performance, either.) Then, you just need to remember to turn theater mode off when the show ends.

Cover Apple Watch with your hand to mute it

If you typically leave your Apple Watch with sound on, and only use silent mode when notifications stack up, there’s a hidden trick you can use to quickly silence your Apple Watch in a pinch. After you get a notification, hold your hand and cover your entire Apple Watch screen, like you’re trying to suffocate it. After three seconds, you’ll feel a little buzz. That means your Apple Watch is set to silent mode.

If this doesn’t work, make sure you have the setting enabled. On your Apple Watch, open Settings > Gestures and make sure Cover to Mute is enabled.

Closing thoughts

You really should silence your Apple Watch if you’re going into a meeting, hanging out with friends, dining out — really, in my opinion, you should have silent mode on all the time. You’ll still feel notifications tapping on your wrist, but other people won’t be irritated by the noises.

Turn on Do Not Disturb if you want to hide notifications — like when you want to become fully immersed in what you’re doing. It’s great for studying, attending a meeting you actually care about or watching a movie (combined with theater mode if you’re around others).

More Apple Watch how-tos:

• 3 simple tricks every Apple Watch wearer should know
• How to find an iPhone with Apple Watch
• How to take stunning selfies with the Apple Watch Camera Remote app
• Get the time without even looking at your Apple Watch
• How to use advanced Apple Watch sleep stage tracking

You can change the name of your Apple devices, whether you have an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, AirPods or Apple TV. By default, it’s just “[your name]’s iPhone.” But you can give your iPhone its own unique name, like Kit-Kat or Magic Rectangle.

Also by default, when you set up a new iPhone, the name is transferred. This can get confusing if you keep old phones around because you’ll see “John’s iPhone,” “John’s iPhone (2),” maybe even “John’s iPhone (3)” and more. The same is true for Apple Watch, Mac, iPad and AirPods.

The name of your device shows up among a bunch of Apple features like AirDrop, Find My, Personal Hotspot, AirPlay and more. If you use these features often, giving it a unique name will make it easier to identify.

Here’s how to fix this mess on all your Apple devices. Keep reading or watch our video.

How to change the name of your Apple devices

Skip to section:

1. iPhone and iPad
2. Apple Watch
3. Mac
4. AirPods
5. Apple TV

Change iPhone or iPad name

To change the name of your iPhone or iPad, open Settings > General > About > Name. Type in a different name and hit Done.

If you use your iPhone as a Personal Hotspot, the name of your phone will be set as the name of the Wi-Fi network others connect to.

Change Apple Watch name

To change the name of an Apple Watch, open the Watch app on your iPhone and tap General > About > Name. Type in a different name and hit Done.

If you ever need to find a missing Apple Watch, the name you give it will be the name that appears in your list of devices in Find My.

Change Mac name

On a Mac running macOS 13 Ventura or later, open System Settings. In the sidebar, click General > About. The Name field is editable — click on the name and type in the name you want.

The name you give your Mac is the name that appears in AirDrop — the fastest way to transfer files from iPhone-to-Mac, Mac-to-Mac or iPad-to-Mac.

On a Mac running macOS 12 Monterey or earlier, open System Preferences and click Sharing. You can change name in the Computer Name text box on the top of the panel.

Change AirPods name

First, you need to connect your AirPods to your iPhone. Open Settings and you should see your AirPods right on top. Tap on them, then tap Name. Enter in a more descriptive name if you want.

If you need to differentiate your AirPods with someone else’s, a good way to know they’re yours is with a case or with stickers. I would give the AirPods a matching name — Purple AirPods, Black AirPods, Hello Kitty AirPods, etc.

Change Apple TV name

To change the name of an Apple TV, go to Settings > General > About > Name. You can hold down the Siri button to speak into the remote or pick up your iPhone to type in a name using its keyboard.

The name of your Apple TV comes up if you’re trying to AirPlay content to a bigger screen. If you have multiple Apple TVs in the house, it’s easier to differentiate “Living Room” and “Bedroom” than “Apple TV” and “Apple TV (2).”

More iPhone tips

• How to tweak your iPhone’s Home Screen
• How to customize your Lock Screen
• How to tag people and pets in your photos
• How to make a custom ringtone on your iPhone
• How to scan QR codes on iPhone
• Share passwords with your family on iPhone

Apple is about to launch a cool new watch face for the Apple Watch Ultra called “Modular Ultra.” If you’re looking for more variety, check out the 50 best Apple Watch faces to find the perfect look for your device.
The new face does a lot: It allows up to eight complications, including the customizable bezel that can show water depth, elevation or seconds. I think it looks super-cool. And just wait until you see the night mode.

If you saw the new watch face during the Apple Watch Ultra 2 segment of Apple’s “Wonderlust” event Tuesday and want it right now, you’re in luck: It works with the original Apple Watch Ultra and is already available in the latest watchOS 10 beta.

Here’s how to download, install and customize it.

How to get the Modular Ultra Apple Watch face

Modular Ultra ties the Infograph face for most complications into a single face. Both faces offer eight complications, but in my opinion, Modular Ultra looks much nicer. It’s also digital instead of analog, and is one of the few digital watch faces that shows seconds.

Here are the steps to get it, described in more detail below along with screenshots.

1. Download the latest iOS 17 and watchOS 10 betas.
2. Press and hold the screen of your Apple Watch, then swipe left until the + appears.
3. Hit New Watch Faces, then select Modular Ultra (it should be the first one presented).
4. Hit Add. You can then customize the bezel, style, night mode, color and complications.

1. Install the latest iOS 17 and watchOS 10 betas

Start by going to the Apple Beta Software Program webpage. Click the Sign up button, and log in with your Apple ID. You will also need to click Accept on the Beta Software Program Agreement to continue.

To get watchOS 10, you must first enroll your iPhone and install the iOS 17 beta.

After iOS 17 is installed, go to the Apple Watch app, choose the My Watch tab, then go to General > Software Update > Beta Updates, and choose watchOS 10.

A word of warning: After the beta is installed, you won’t be able to restore your Apple Watch to a previous version of watchOS.

Also: The beta is a Release Candidate, which means this is the final version that Apple plans to release to the public on Monday, September 18.

2. Start by installing a new watch face

To install the Modular Ultra watch face, start by long-pressing the screen of your Apple Watch Ultra. After a couple of seconds, you’ll see an edit screen. Swipe all the way to the left until you see the “+” sign.

Hit the + sign and you’ll see New Watch Faces.

3. Where to find the Modular Ultra watch face

After tapping New Watch Faces, you should see Modular Ultra at the very top. Select it, and you’ll be able to start customizing the new watch face, starting with the bezel.

You have the option to choose None, Seconds, Depth or Elevation. Seeing as I rarely scuba dive or climb mountains, I opted for Seconds.

4. Customize the Modular Ultra watch face

After selecting the bezel complication, you can then customize the style of the numerals, the colors of the Modular Ultra watch face and the Night Mode settings (auto, on and off). Plus, you can add up to seven extra complications to put your favorite apps at your fingertips.

For the top row of complications, I selected Noise (which is great for monitoring the sound level of noisy environments); Training Today (an app that tells you if you are good to exercise, based on health data from your Apple Watch); and the Oticon On complication, which lets me change the settings of my hearing aids from my Apple Watch.

In the middle, I selected Weather, which gives me an overview of conditions for the next few hours.

For the bottom row, I selected Shazam, which I use constantly to identify music on TV or out in public, and a pair of Weather complications: Temperature and UV index (I burn easily!).

Of course, you likely have your own favorite Apple Watch complications. Plus, you can set up multiple versions of the same watch face with different complications for different scenarios. Playing around with them can be a lot of fun; there are hundreds of variations.

The Apple Watch borrows a lot from the iPhone, but the biggest difference between them is down to the extra buttons. They each do different things whether you click, double-click or hold them down. What do the Apple Watch buttons do?

This guide was written before watchOS 10 changed and moved a lot of these features. See our updated guide if you’re confused why your Watch suddenly works differently.

Meaning of the Apple Watch buttons

The digital crown (the dial on the side) does the following:

• Spin the digital crown to scroll up and down.
• Click the digital crown to see the list of apps on your Apple Watch. Clicking it again will take you back to the watch face.
• Double-click the digital crown to open the last app you were using. Double-click again to switch between two apps. (This is handy if you’re switching between Maps and Music.)
• Hold it down to turn on Siri — but you can turn that off if you keep activating it accidentally with your wrist.

It’s not as obvious what the side button does:

• Click the side button to see recently opened apps.
• Double-click the side button to activate Apple Pay.
• Hold the side button to turn off the watch, show your Medical ID, track your location on a hike or call emergency services.

Meaning of Apple Watch Ultra buttons

The Apple Watch Ultra has an additional button on the opposite side called the Action button:

• Click the Action button to do… several different things, like launch a specific workout. On your Apple Watch, go to Settings > Action button > Action to set what you want it to do. You can start a workout of your choosing, start a stopwatch, set a waypoint for a hike, backtrack to where you started hiking, start diving, turn on the flashlight or run a Shortcut.
• Hold the Action button to play a loud siren noise. This will come in handy if you get lost or injured in the wilderness and can’t yell out where you are. If you don’t want to set it off accidentally when you’re at home, go to Settings > Action button > Siren and turn it off.

Today is the day! Apple’s “Far Out” product launch event kicks off in just a few hours. The iPhone 14 series, three new Apple Watch models and more are all expected.

Just like past such events, this year’s will be streaming online, so you’ll be able to watch it in its entirety as it all unfolds. Here’s how.

So many new products expected

CEO Tim Cook and other executives will take the stage Wednesday to unveil seven or eight new products. It’s going to be a busy event.

Undoubtedly, the biggest hoopla will surround the iPhone 14 series.  Tipsters say there’ll be significant changes in the 6.1- and 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Pro versions, including replacing the “notch” camera cutout with a wide hole punch. And they’ll also get an always-on display, an improved A16 processor, and a 48-megapixel wide-angle camera, and other enhancements.

The two standard non-Pro iPhone 14 models supposedly will stick with the screen notch and other iPhone 13 features. But there’ll be no more mini – a 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Plus will supposedly join the 6.1-inch iPhone 14.

Expect Cook and Co. to give plenty of time to the first Apple Watch Pro, its largest wearable yet. Other devices leaks say will be announced today include Apple Watch Series 8 with much in common with the Series 7, and a new version of the affordable Apple Watch SE.

And don’t tune out of the event before Apple has a change to unveil AirPods Pro 2.

For more details of what’s likely on the agenda, check out our rundown of everything Apple is expected to announce at the “Far Out” event.

How to watch the September 7 Apple event live

Apple’s ‘Far Out’ is scheduled for today, September 7, at 10 a.m. PDT, 1 p.m. EDT, or 6 p.m. BST. You can watch it on Apple’s events website, or on YouTube using the live stream below.

Of course, Cult of Mac will be covering all the big news coming out of Apple’s “Far Out” event. We’ll have in-depth reports on everything announced.

One of Apple’s biggest events is right around the corner. This year’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote promises to deliver our first look at the company’s next-generation software updates for iPhone, iPad, Mac and more. And it’s all happening on June 6.

Just like past WWDC keynotes, this year’s will be streaming online, so you’ll be able to watch it in its entirety as it all unfolds. Here’s how.

Update: The WWDC22 keynote is behind us, but if you want to get caught up you can watch the whole presentation on YouTube. Or check Cult of Mac‘s in-depth coverage.

Changes coming to iOS, macOS and more

Expect CEO Tim Cook and other executives to take the wraps off iOS 16, macOS 13, iPadOS 16 and watchOS 9 on the first day of WWDC22. A few details leaked out early. iPhones will supposedly have more functional lock screens, the Mac System Preferences are getting reorganized, Apple Watch will be healthier, and iPad could offer floating app windows.

Shiny new software updates aren’t the only thing we’re expecting from WWDC22. Recent rumors have suggested we could also see some new hardware — Apple might show off its long-rumored AR/VR headset.

We’re also hoping to see a redesigned MacBook Air.

If you’re an Apple fan, this is one event you definitely don’t want to miss. And you don’t have to!

How to watch WWDC22

The next Worldwide Developers Conference keynote kicks off on June 6 at 10 a.m. PDT, 1 p.m. EDT, or 6 p.m. BST. You can watch it on Apple’s Developer website, or on YouTube using the live stream below.

Click the set reminder button in the video above to get a notification when the keynote starts.

There’s more to WWDC

Apple’s keynote is just one part of WWDC. There’s also the company’s State of the Union, which takes place at 2 p.m. PDT on June 6, and over 200 in-depth sessions for app developers that will be available online.

There are also online video Sessions that will be released each day of the conference. Apple promises these will let developers “learn about our latest updates to help you create the most innovative apps and games in the world.”

And there are Digital Lounges hosted by Apple engineers and designers. These offer text-based Q&As, session watch parties with the presenters and more. Be sure to register.

Online Labs offer one-on-one guidance from Apple engineers, designers and other experts. You have to request one, though.

Of course, Cult of Mac will be covering all the big news coming out of WWDC22. Visit us on June 6 to see what’s happening in the next twelve months with iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple TV.

Note: This article was first published in June 2021. It’s been updated for WWDC22 by Ed Hardy.

Everyone knows Apple Watch is an excellent health and fitness companion. But did you know it’s also handy for taking selfies? That’s thanks to Apple Watch’s best kept secret: the Camera Remote app.

This indispensable watch app will raise your selfie game, enabling you to take more flattering shots, with better compositions, more interesting poses and much, much more.

I use it all the time to take photos for Cult of Mac, and I’ve learned a few tricks along the way. So here’s my definitive guide to taking better selfies with Apple Watch.

How to use Apple Watch’s Camera Remote app for better selfies

The trouble with taking selfies

Taking selfies isn’t easy. It’s almost impossible to hold the iPhone far enough away to take a good shot. Your arms are just too short. Holding the camera so close to your face creates a weird perspective that makes your nose look big. It’s also hard to get your whole body in the picture.

And then there’s the front-facing camera. Apple made big improvements to it over the years — and it supposedly will get a major hardware upgrade in iPhone 14 — but it’s still not as good as the rear camera. It’s frustrating to know you could have taken a much better picture if only you could have turned the phone around.

Selfie sticks give you extra distance, but you still end up using the front-facing camera. (Plus, selfie sticks are a pain to carry around.) A better alternative is to use something you already take everywhere with you: your Apple Watch.

Turn your Apple Watch into the camera remote you didn’t know you needed

As its name suggests, the Camera Remote app enables you to control your iPhone camera remotely. You can adjust settings, check the viewfinder and press the shutter button, all from your wrist.

It’s easy to use, but it does have some quirks that take a bit of getting used to.

The Camera Remote app is kinda quirky

When you launch the Camera Remote watch app, there’s a slight delay while it connects to the Camera app on your iPhone. Sometimes this works, but often it doesn’t, stalling on a blank screen.

The most reliable way to avoid this is to do two things before you open the Camera Remote app on your Apple Watch:

1. Unlock your iPhone.
2. Make sure the Camera app is not already running.

The Camera Remote watch app should launch the Camera iPhone app automatically. It’s best to let it do this, rather than opening both apps yourself.

Once the connection is established, you should see the view from your iPhone’s camera, right there on your wrist. Which is pretty neat. If you just see a blank screen, press the Digital Crown to return to the watch face. Check to make sure that your iPhone is unlocked and the Camera app isn’t open, then try again.

How to use the Camera Remote app

The layout of the Camera Remote app is similar to the Camera app on iPhone. Most of the screen is taken up by the viewfinder. There’s a big, white, circular shutter button at the bottom. To the right of the shutter button, there’s a smaller ellipsis (…) button. Tap on this for more options. Here, you can switch between front and rear cameras, and enable Live Photos, Flash and HDR mode. There’s also an option for a Three-Second Timer — more on that later.

Just like the iPhone Camera app, you can tap on areas of the screen to optimize the lighting and focus for that part of the image. You also can use the watch’s Digital Crown to zoom in and out.

There are more controls on your iPhone

The Camera Remote app doesn’t give you access to all the controls. There are more options that are only accessible in the Camera app on your iPhone.

One that’s especially relevant to selfies is the wide angle option on the front-facing camera. Just tap the double-arrows icon at the bottom of the screen to reveal more of the image (on iPhone 11 or later).

Portrait Mode (on iPhone X or later) and video mode also must be enabled on your iPhone if you want to use them. But once you switch to video mode, you can use the Camera Remote app to pause and record video.

Finding the right angle for the perfect selfie

Once you’ve picked all the right settings, you’ll need to get your iPhone into position to take the shot. I’ve tried leaning it against a wall on the sidewalk, propping it up on a bench and even balancing it in the branches of a tree. Whatever you do, make sure you have a good iPhone case to protect it from scratches. And check to make sure there’s no one around who could steal it.

Resting your iPhone on the sidewalk can produce some pretty eye-catching perspectives. But for a more natural-looking shot, you need to raise your iPhone to eye level. For this, I use a Joby GorillaPod stand. This handy accessory features flexible tripod legs that can wrap around almost anything. It also has strong magnets for attaching to metal surfaces. It’s so light and compact, I can easily take it with me on a workout.

(Alternatively, you could try the Pixy, SnapChat’s new drone designed specifically for taking selfies. It literally floats in the air to find the perfect angle. But since it has an integrated camera, you can’t use it with the Apple Watch Camera Remote.)

Now you’re ready to take the shot

When your iPhone is in position, the final step is to actually take the shot.

Use the viewfinder in the Camera Remote app to make sure you’re looking your best. Then fine-tune the framing. If your iPhone’s orientation is portrait, the top and bottom of the viewfinder image will be cropped off on your watch display. In landscape mode, you will see the whole image with black bars at the top and bottom.

Then, enable the Three-Second Timer, so you’re not looking at your watch when you take the shot. Delaying the shot for three seconds gives you just enough time to look up and smile. I don’t use the timer when I’m taking shots to illustrate Cult of Mac articles because I’m supposed be looking at the screen. So, in shots where I appear to be checking my progress on the Workout app, I’m actually taking a selfie with the Camera Remote.

When you use the camera with the timer enabled, the flash on your iPhone will blink every half-second to give you a countdown. Then you’ll feel a haptic rumble from the Watch as the shot is taken. Wait until the rumble finishes before moving.

After that, you can check the photo you just took in the Camera Remote app. Just tap on the small square that appears in the bottom-left corner of the screen. Use the Digital Crown to zoom in for more detail if you like.

Put yourself in the picture with the Apple Watch Camera Remote app

Once you get your head around its quirks, the Apple Watch’s Camera Remote is an indispensable little app. It really is the best way to take selfies with your iPhone. So why not give it a try, get creative, and raise your selfie game!

The blood oxygen sensor featured in Apple Watch Series 6 and 7 is “not intended for medical use,” Apple says. That seems odd, considering that low blood oxygen is a serious medical condition. If the watch’s monitor is not for medical use, then what exactly is it for?

In this post, we’ll look at what blood oxygen is, how Apple Watch measures it, how the device compares to medical-grade alternatives, and what you can actually use it for.

What is Blood Oxygen and why does it matter?

The Blood Oxygen app on Apple Watch Series 6 and 7 checks your oxygen saturation level. This is sometimes informally referred to as “sats.” It’s a measure of how much oxygen your blood is carrying from your lungs to the rest of your body. In combination with the nutrients you eat, oxygen provides the fuel that powers literally everything your body does: from moving your muscles, to growing your toenails, and even reading Cult of Mac.

In healthy adults, blood oxygen saturation is normally between 95% and 100%. If it goes below this level, your body won’t be getting all the oxygen it needs to function correctly. This condition is known as hypoxemia, and it’s usually accompanied by shortness of breath.

How does Apple Watch measure blood oxygen saturation?

Oxygen is transported in your blood using a protein called hemoglobin in red blood cells. When there’s plenty of oxygen, it looks bright red. As the oxygen is used up, it turns purple-blue.

This is why your arteries, which carry freshly oxygenated blood from your lungs, look red. Whereas your veins, which return the blood once the oxygen is used, look blue. It’s also why the Apple Watch Blood Oxygen app displays animated red and blue lines, although these appear to be just for decoration.

Apple Watch uses a method known as pulse oximetry to estimate how much oxygen your blood contains. It does this by checking the color of your blood. To measure this, a red light shines against the skin of your wrist and a sensor detects the light reflected back.

How accurate is Apple Watch Blood Oxygen sensor?

The most accurate way to measure blood oxygen saturation is with a sample of blood from your arteries. This is known as arterial oxygen saturation or SaO₂. (The “a” stands for artery.) But you need a doctor or nurse to take the sample, and a lab to process the results.

Apple Watch, like all pulse oximeters, does not look at your arteries. Instead, it measures something slightly different: SpO₂. The “p” stands for peripheral, because it looks at capillaries — tiny blood vessels at the periphery of your body. This is like monitoring car traffic that comes off an exit ramp to figure out how busy the highway is.

SpO₂ and SaO₂ are similar metrics, but have different medical applications. SaO₂ is used for diagnosing anemic conditions, while SpO₂ is used for continuous monitoring, during surgery and emergency care.

Why isn’t Apple Watch’s Blood Oxygen sensor medical-grade?

While devices that measure SpO₂ have important medical applications, they are normally clipped onto the tip of a finger, not wrapped around your wrist.

Finger-based pulse oximeters shine a light through your finger to a sensor on the other side. This is known as transmissive pulse oximetry. That’s not possible on the wrist, because it’s is too thick and bony for light to pass through. So instead, Apple Watch uses reflectance pulse oximetry. It measures light reflected off the wrist.

Recent research found “no significant differences between the Apple Watch and commercial oximeter devices for … SpO₂.” But research from 2016 found that reflectance pulse oximetry “presents challenges with regard to clinical use.” In particular, the precise position of the sensor is important. And if you move your wrist, it affects the results. This may be why Apple Watch nags you to stay still when you use the Blood Oxygen app, and why Apple warns it’s “not intended for medical use.”

Other factors also can influence the accuracy of pulse oximeters. In 2021, the Food and Drug Administration warned these include: poor circulation, skin pigmentation, skin thickness, skin temperature and current tobacco use.

How to check Blood Oxygen level with Apple Watch

With those caveats in mind, Apple Watches equipped with the  Blood Oxygen app do capture some useful data. The app will periodically check your levels in the background, but you also can manually check your blood oxygen level at any time.

You’ll find the Blood Oxygen app with all the other apps when you push the Digital Crown on your watch. It has a white app icon with red and blue arrows forming a circle. If it’s not there, it will be for one of the following reasons:

1. You haven’t set up Blood Oxygen yet. In the Health app on your iPhone, go to Browse > Respiratory > Blood Oxygen > Enable and follow the instructions.
2. You may have deleted the Blood Oxygen app. To reinstall it, go to the App Store on your watch, search for Blood Oxygen and download it.
3. The feature may not be available in your region. Check this list for details.

To take a Blood Oxygen reading, just open the app, tap the start button and wait for 15 seconds. You need to keep still, so it’s easiest to do it while sitting down, resting your wrist on a table.

When the test is over, the result is presented on screen as a percentage. It’s also saved to the Health app on your iPhone for you to check later and compare with previous results. (To see past results, go to Browse > Respiratory > Blood Oxygen.)

Is my Blood Oxygen reading normal?

Low blood oxygen concentration (below 95%) is a condition known as hypoxemia. It can be caused by a variety of heart and lung diseases, including COVID-19. So if you are getting low readings, you should get checked out by your doctor.

However, since Apple Watch’s blood oxygen sensor is not intended for medical use, if you have a diagnosed condition that requires home blood oxygen monitoring, you still need to use a pulse oximeter that is approved by your doctor.

So, what can you use Apple Watch Blood Oxygen readings for?

At this point, you might be wondering exactly what you can use the blood oxygen feature for. Apple says it’s for “general fitness and wellness purposes,” but what exactly does that mean?

Blood oxygen concentration doesn’t change much during a workout. It might dip slightly, but it should return to normal soon. So for most healthy people, it doesn’t tell you much about your workout or fitness levels. But, there are a few sports where blood oxygen can become interesting, and they all have one thing in common: altitude.

Measure your home field advantage with Apple Watch

The air we breath is comprised of about 21% oxygen. But at higher altitudes, as the air gets thinner, there’s less oxygen for our lungs to breath in.

That’s why the Denver Broncos enjoy a home field advantage playing at Mile High Stadium, near the Rocky Mountains.  The Broncos are accustomed to playing at this altitude — 1 mile above sea level (5,280 feet.)  But for visitors, it can take a few days to acclimatize, during which time their blood oxygen may be lower, adversely affecting their performance on the field.

If you’re normally a sea-level dweller, it’s worth checking your blood oxygen next time you take a trip to Denver, or any high-altitude location, to see how well you’re acclimatizing. In the Health app on your iPhone, go to Browse > Respiratory > Blood Oxygen > Show All Data and tap on a reading. You’ll notice it indicates the barometric pressure and whether the reading was taken at high altitude.

Higher altitudes and lower Blood Oxygen

Mile High Stadium may be pretty high up, but some athletes climb much further. One intrepid Cult of Mac reader and avid skier shared his blood oxygen readings from a recent trip to the French ski resort of Val Thorens. Located in the Alps at 7,500 feet, it’s 2,220 feet higher than Denver. In his readings (below), you’ll see his blood oxygen dipped far below the normal 95% to 100% and High Elevation Environment was indicated.

Some coaches and athletes believe in the benefits of high-altitude training. The idea is that by acclimatizing to a higher altitude, athletes perform beyond their normal potential at lower altitudes. This kind of training was made famous by Kenyan and Ethiopian Olympic athletes. There is some debate about the safety and effectiveness of altitude training. So, unless you’re an elite athlete looking to achieve every last drop of performance, altitude training is probably not for you.

Who is the Apple Watch Blood Oxygen app for?

If the Blood Oxygen app ever gets FDA approval for medical use, it could become indispensable for people living with respiratory diseases, who need to monitor their blood oxygen saturation at home. Until then, it’s really more of a novelty (unless you’re planning on playing against the Denver Broncos next season).

That’s why I’m hoping Apple will hold off on adding more sensors until the technology can get medical approval and be useful to people who really need it, like a non-invasive blood glucose monitor for people with diabetes.

The time when you can preorder the next generation of Apple Watch is drawing close. Apple will start taking people’s money at exactly 5 a.m. PDT this Friday, Oct. 8.

If demand is as heavy (and supply is as light) as expected, the company might quickly run short of Apple Watch Series 7 available on launch day. That means that if you delay your order, you might have to wait extra days or even weeks to get your new device.

If you want in on day one, there’s more you should do to get ready than simply setting an alarm. Here’s how to get completely ready to put in an Apple Watch Series 7 preorder.

Get the Apple Store app

The first step is to download the official Apple Store app. It’s a lot easier to use than Apple’s website, and less likely to crash from huge numbers of people all trying to buy at once.

Supplies of the new Apple Watch could be constrained. Tipster Jon Prosser warned recently, “I’m told that the first round of mass production started just under a month ago, so initial stock will be very limited.” The same sort of thing happened with the 2021 iPad Pro, and those who didn’t quickly get in an order for that tablet found themselves waiting more than two months for delivery.

So open the Apple Store app now and tap on your image in the upper-right corner to open your account info. Scroll down to Primary Payment and check that it shows the right credit card info. Because the middle of placing your order Friday morning is a bad time to realize your credit card deets are out of date.

Also, check that your shipping address is correct. That’s not something you want to be typing in when you’re in a hurry and/or drowsy. You can find it under Primary Shipping.

Choose your exact Apple Watch Series 7 configuration

Now it’s time to decide on the exact Apple Watch you want to preorder. The new model is described on the Apple website, even if you can’t order it yet. Go ahead and decide on the size, type of case and band style you prefer. You don’t want to be trying to make up your mind early in the morning.

Same case materials, but new colors

Pick the color of the device. If you want an aluminum casing, you can choose from midnight, starlight, blue, red and a new green. Stainless steel cases come in silver, graphite or gold. And titanium models come in natural or space black.

New sizes for Apple Watch Series 7

A highlight of Apple Watch Series 7 is a display that’s up to 20% larger than Series 6 and a 50% increase over Series 3. Decide now whether you want the 41mm or 45mm version.

Bands

Don’t forget the matching watch band. And don’t worry Apple Watch Series 7 is compatible with older bands.

At the time this is being written, it’s not possible to use Apple’s website to enter a configuration and save it. You might want to write your decisions down somewhere so you don’t have to think through them again on Friday. (It’s also possible Apple will let you save your configuration prior to preorders opening, so check the site and/or the Apple Store app Thursday.)

Set your alarm

As mentioned, the Apple Watch Series 7 goes on sale Friday, October 8, at 5 a.m. PDT. That’s Pacific Daylight Time. If you’re on the East Coast, it’s 8 a.m. No matter what, go ahead and set your alarm clock now because you don’t want to wake up Friday morning with the nagging feeling you’re forgetting something.

If you’re in the U.K., you have until 2 p.m. Probably no problem about oversleeping, but you should still set an alarm.

Placing your order

On Friday morning, you’ll need to open the Apple Store app and be sure you’re on the Shop tab. (Look at the bottom of the screen to be sure.) Scroll down until you see Apple Watch Series 7 and tap on the Shop button.

That’ll open a screen with a range of options. Choose the one you decided upon and tap on it. From there, you’ll enter your exact configuration. This is where you’ll be happy you already made up your mind because there’ll be a lot of options. Colors, sizes, case materials … you name it. Once you’ve jumped through every hoop, the Add to Bag button will appear.

You’ll be asked to double-check your purchase, then you can check out. And this is where you’ll be happy you already confirmed you’re using the right credit card and delivery address.

Then you wait. If you do all this quickly enough, you can expect your Apple Watch Series 7 to arrive October 15. If you procrastinate, it might be somewhat later. Before the holidays? Maybe.

P.S. Want to sell us your old Apple Watch?

If you need cash to pay for this fancy new Apple Watch you just ordered, you can sell your old gear to us via the Cult of Mac buyback program. We’ll give you a fair price for your used Apple Watch or iPhone — and take away the hassles of selling your old Apple gear.

Unless you just emerged from a cave or a doomsday bunker, you probably know everyone expects Apple to announce new products releases next week — most likely including the Apple Watch 7.

If you’re considering selling, trading, giving away or returning your Apple Watch for that or any reason, we’ll show you how to factory reset it first.

Oh, and speaking of getting rid of your old Apple Watch, you might consider Cult of Mac‘s Buy-Back Program.

Why factory reset?

A factory reset is a good idea because it gets rid of all of your data from the smartwatch. That means nobody else can access it. And a reset lets the watch’s new owner start from scratch, without having to get around your password or anything like that.

And you have little reason to worry about losing the data on the watch you’re setting free. Most of your Apple Watch data, aside from things like credit card numbers, is automatically backed up on your paired iPhone and your iCloud account.

And when you set up your next Apple Watch — maybe that sexy new Series 7 — your iPhone will ask if you want to restore settings and info back up from your old watch.

How to factory-reset your Apple Watch-for-sale

Factory resetting your Apple Watch is a pretty simple process, no matter how you plan to unload the thing. You can do it from the Apple Watch itself or from the iPhone with which it’s paired.

Factory resetting from the Apple Watch itself

1. On your Apple Watch, open the Settings app.
2. Select General > Reset >; Erase All Content and
   Settings.
3. Click on Erase All.

Factory resetting from your iPhone

1. Place your Apple Watch and iPhone next to each other.
2. Open the Watch app on your iPhone.
3. Click on the General tab.
4. Scroll down. Near the bottom, select Reset.
5. Click on Erase All Content and Settings.

Apple introduced new International Collection bands for Apple Watch on Tuesday, priced at $49 each. There are 22 available and each comes with an accompanying Stripes face you can download from Apple’s website.

But you don’t need to buy a band to get your hands on the new faces. We’ll show you how to download them right now to show support for your country at this year’s Summer Olympics.

Here’s the full list of countries supported: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United States

The faces are based on the existing Stripes design already available on your Apple Watch, so you could replicate them yourself if you wanted to. But there’s really no need; you can download them all, premade, from Apple’s website for free.

Get new international Stripes faces for Apple Watch

Simply follow these steps:

1. Visit apple.com/watch in Safari on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down until you see the International Collection, then tap See the countries.
3. Select the country you want, then scroll down and tap the Add Apple Watch Face button.
4. When prompted, tap the Allow button to confirm the download.
5. You’ll be redirected to the Watch app. Tap the Add to My Faces button.
6. Your new face will now appear under My Faces. You can select it to customize it, and tap the Set as current Watch Face to activate it right away.

Get your matching International Collection band

You can order a matching International Collection band to go with your new face exclusively from Apple. They’re available in 40mm and 44mm size options, priced at $49 each, and based on the brilliant Sport Loop.

watchOS 8 isn’t the most significant update Apple Watch has seen over the years, but it’s certainly no snoozefest. Improvements to a number of key apps and a new face will be welcomed by Watch wearers this fall.

And you don’t have to wait until this fall to get yours hands on it. If you have a spare Apple Watch and an Apple Developer account, you can download and install watchOS 8 today. We’ll show you how.

Mindfulness (previously Breathe), Apple Wallet, and Home are just some of the apps getting improvements in watchOS 8 this fall. The update also brings a new Contacts app, Focus mode, and a Portraits watch face.

It probably won’t change the way you use your Apple Watch in a monumental way, but watchOS 8 will make your device even more useful. Want to try it out today? Here’s how.

Before you begin

Before jumping ahead to beta installation guide, there’s something you should know: The watchOS 8 beta is very much a work in progress right now and it should not be installed on your primary Apple Watch.

The release is currently littered with bugs and instabilities that could render the features and apps you rely on every day unusable. If you don’t have a spare Apple Watch for testing, it’s best to avoid it for now.

Another important thing to remember for watchOS 8 is that it’s compatible only with iOS 15 right now. You can’t install the beta without first installing iOS 15 on your iPhone (we have a guide for that, too).

How to install the watchOS 8 beta

If you’re ready to install the watchOS 8 beta and you have an Apple Developer account, as well as an iPhone already running iOS 15, follow these steps:

1. Visit developer.apple.com in Safari on your iPhone.
2. In the top-left corner of the page, tap the two lines to open the navigation menu, then tap Develop.
3. Tap Downloads then sign into your Developer account.
4. Find the watchOS 8 beta, then tap the Install Profile button.
5. Tap Allow to approve the download.
6. You will be redirected to the Watch app to install the beta profile. Tap the Install button, then enter your iPhone’s passcode.
7. Tap Install again after reading the license agreement, then Restart your Apple Watch when prompted.
8. In the Watch app on your iPhone, tap General and then Software Update. You should see the watchOS 8 beta.
9. Tap Download and Install and, then enter your passcode to confirm.
10. Wait for the watchOS 8 to be downloaded and installed on your Apple Watch. Note that your device must be connected to its charger with at least 50% battery life before the update will begin.

Compatibility

watchOS 8 is compatible with Apple Watch Series 3 or later and will be a free upgrade when it rolls out to everyone this fall. We recommend waiting for that if you need a stable version of watchOS for everyday use.

Many Apple Watch Series 3 owners are unable to update to the latest watchOS release because their device doesn’t have enough storage space. But Apple says there is a way to get around this issue.

The solution is to reset your Apple Watch, wiping all data and settings, before updating. We’ll show you how.

The problem has been plaguing owners of Apple Watch 3 GPS models in particular. It’s because the device, unlike its cellular siblings or more recent Watch models, has just 8GB of internal storage instead of 16GB.

When you attempt to install a watchOS 7 update, you’re greeted by an error that tells you don’t have enough storage space — even if you remove all installed apps and everything else that can be deleted.

But there is a workaround, Apple says. In iOS 14.6, you’ll be prompted to reset your Apple Watch Series 3 before attempting to update it.

How to reset Apple Watch Series 3

You first need to reset your Apple Watch Series 3 to remove all data, then install the update. You can then restore from a backup if you wish, or start from scratch. Start by following these steps:

1. Open the Watch app on your iPhone, ensuring your Apple Watch is nearby.
2. Inside the My Watch tab, tap All Watches at the top of the screen.
3. Tap the i button next to your Watch.
4. Tap Unpair Apple Watch, then tap again to confirm. Choose to keep your cellular plan if you have a GPS + Cellular device.

You will need to enter your Apple ID password to disable Activation Lock and complete the unpairing process. Before your data is erased, a fresh backup is created and you can use that to restore Apple Watch later.

Updating Apple Watch Series 3

When Apple Watch has finished unpairing, it will restart and you can set it up again. It’s important that you set it up “as new” the first time — before any data is restored — so that you can then update the device.

To install the latest watchOS update, follow these steps:

1. Open the Watch app on your iPhone.
2. Under the My Watch tab, tap General.
3. Tap Software Update.

Your Apple Watch Series 3 should now update without any errors.

Restoring from backup

If, after the latest watchOS update is installed, you want to restore your Apple Watch data, you’ll need to repeat the steps above for resetting your device to remove all data again. You can then choose to restore from your latest backup, rather than setting up “as new.”

It’s a long-winded process but, sadly, it’s the only watch to update Apple Watch Series 3 for now. Given the complications, we wouldn’t be surprised if Apple’s next-generation watchOS 8 update drops support for Series 3 devices altogether before they are finally discontinued.

We want to help you master Control Center, one of the most powerful and underutilized features on Apple devices. Cult of Mac’s Control Center Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of this useful toolbox on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.

Make your favorite Control Center tools and shortcuts easier to find by reorganizing and cleaning up your Control Center window. It’s easy on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch — and we’ll show you how.

You may have found that there are many Control Center buttons, enabled by default, that you never use. And that the ones you interact with regularly are at the bottom of your Control Center window.

It’s quick and easy to change that inside iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS.

Reorganize and clean up Control Center

These are the steps you need to follow on iPhone and iPad:

1. Open the Settings app and tap Control Center.
2. In the list of Included Controls, tap the red minus button alongside any you don’t use, then tap Remove.
3. Scroll to the More Controls list and tap the green plus button alongside any you want to add to Control Center.
4. You’ll notice there are three lines alongside all the items you’ve chosen to include in your Control Center options. You can tap and hold those three lines and then drag any item up or down the list to change its position in Control Center. Those at the top of the list will appear first, so put the tools you use most often here.

And these are the steps to follow on Apple Watch:

1. Open Control Center by swiping up from the bottom of the screen while at the watch face.
2. Scroll to the bottom and tap the Edit button.
3. Tap and hold any Control Center button, then drag it to where you want to place it before letting go.
4. Use the red minus button to remove any tools you don’t use.
5. When you’re finished, tap the Done button at the bottom of the screen.

We want to help you master Control Center, one of the most powerful and underutilized features on Apple devices. Cult of Mac’s Control Center Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of this useful toolbox on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.

Can’t remember where you left your iPhone? Use Control Center on your Apple Watch to “ping” it so that you can quickly track it down. You can even have your iPhone light up so that it’s easier to find in the dark.

We’ll show you how.

Apple makes it easy to track down lost devices using the Find My app. But what if you know your iPhone is at home — you just don’t know where? Using the ping feature on Apple Watch, you’ll find it in no time.

Pinging your iPhone causes a loud noise to sound so that your device is easier to track down, even if it’s fallen inside the couch. And when it’s dark, you can have your iPhone’s LED flash light up, too.

Ping your iPhone with Control Center on Apple Watch

To start pinging an iPhone from Apple Watch, follow these steps:

1. Open Control Center on your Apple Watch by swiping up from the bottom of the screen while at the watch face.
2. Tap the ping button to make your iPhone play a sound. Tap and hold the ping button to have your iPhone light up as well.

Your iPhone will continue to ping while you look for it. It will stop when you’ve found your device and unlocked it. Sadly, Apple Watch can only ping the iPhone it’s paired to, so the same feature won’t work on iPad.

We want to help you master Control Center, one of the most powerful and underutilized features on Apple devices. Cult of Mac’s Control Center Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of this useful toolbox on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.

Schooltime is a handy new feature, introduced in watchOS 7, that keeps Apple Watch quiet and prevents it from being a distraction in the classroom. It can be added to your Control Center options so that enabling Schooltime at any time takes just a swipe and a tap.

We’ll show you how.

Schooltime is a part of Apple Watch’s new Family controls and it limits device functionality during school hours. When it’s active, it disables complications, silences notifications, and prevents access to apps so that Apple Watch cannot be a distraction in the classroom.

Schooltime can be scheduled by the iPhone used to manage a student’s Apple Watch so that it is enabled and disabled automatically at certain times. But if your Apple Watch isn’t managed by someone else, or you want to control Schooltime manually, you can use Control Center.

How to enable Schooltime in Control Center

First, you’ll need to add the Schooltime button to Control Center on your Apple Watch by following these steps:

1. While on your watch face, swipe up to access Control Center.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and tap the Edit button.
3. Tap the Schooltime button to enable it.

You can now activate Schooltime at any time by tapping its button inside Control Center. To pause or deactivate Schooltime, you’ll need to turn Apple Watch’s Digital Crown until your device unlocks.

Note that when Schooltime is active, emergency calls and notifications will still be received as normal so they cannot be missed.

We want to help you master Control Center, one of the most powerful and underutilized features on Apple devices. Cult of Mac’s Control Center Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of this useful toolbox on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.

Searching for something in a dark room? You can turn your iPhone, iPad and even your Apple Watch into a flashlight with just one tap inside Control Center. We’ll show you how.

The LED flash on the back of your Apple device can do more than just light up your photos. It also doubles as a rather effective flashlight when you’re trying to see in the dark. And activating it couldn’t be easier.

Enable your flashlight inside Control Center

Apple includes the flashlight button inside Control Center by default, so to activate it, you just need to follow these steps on iPhone and iPad:

1. Open Control Center by swiping down from the top-right corner of your screen (or up from the bottom on iPhone models with Touch ID).
2. Tap the flashlight button to turn on your device’s LED flash. Tap it again to turn it off.

Alternatively, tap and hold the flashlight button at step two to reveal a slider that allows you to adjust the flashlight’s brightness. You can also enable the flashlight from the lock screen on iPhone, and that is the easiest option when your device is locked. However, when it’s unlocked, this method is simpler.

Note that there is no flashlight feature on iPad models without an LED flash.

Enable your flashlight on Apple Watch

You also can turn your Apple Watch into a surprisingly effective flashlight. Follow these steps on Apple Watch:

1. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen while on your watch face to open Control Center.
2. Tap the flashlight button.

Apple Watch doesn’t have an LED flash, of course, so instead its display turns white and lights up as bright as possible. It’s not as effective as the LED flash on iPhone and iPad, but it’s certainly useful in a pinch.

You have a couple more options on Apple Watch, too. When the flashlight is enabled, swiping left will activate a strobe effect, and swiping left again will turn the light red.

We want to help you master Control Center, one of the most powerful and underutilized features on Apple devices. Cult of Mac’s Control Center Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of this useful toolbox on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.

Heading into an important meeting and need your iPhone to keep quiet? Don’t worry about turning off your device or messing around inside the Settings app; toggle Do Not Disturb mode with one tap in Control Center.

We’ll show you how on all Apple devices.

It’s a great idea to schedule Do Not Disturb mode for bedtime, but there will likely be times when you need to toggle the feature manually to prevent your device from making a noise when it needs to be quiet.

You can do this at any time from within the Do Not Disturb menu inside the Settings app. But there is a quicker, easier method that works on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac.

Toggle Do Not Disturb mode in Control Center

Using the Do Not Disturb toggle in Control Center you can enable and disable the feature in just a tap. Follow these steps:

1. Open Control Center by swiping down from the top-right corner of the screen on iPhone or iPad, by swiping up on Apple Watch, or by clicking the Control Center icon in the menu bar on Mac.
2. Click or tap the Do Not Disturb button, which features a moon, to activate the feature immediately. Click again to deactivate it.

On Apple Watch and Mac, you’ll be given the option to specify how long you want to enable Do Not Disturb mode for. You can access the same options on iPhone and iPad if you tap and hold the Do Not Disturb icon. It’s also worth noting that enabling Do Not Disturb on Apple Watch also enables the feature on iPhone automatically, and vice-versa.

Toggling Do Not Disturb manually in this way is the simplest method of completely silencing your device when it’s necessary. And it won’t interfere with any existing Do Not Disturb schedule you have set up.

Bear in mind, however, that if you disable Do Not Disturb when it would typically be enabled by your schedule (or vice-versa), it will not be re-enabled automatically until your schedule kicks again in the next day.

iOS 14.5 gives us the ability to unlock iPhone with an Apple Watch for the first time. It’s perfect for those who can’t get Face ID to work when wearing a mask.

We’ll show you how to get it all set up.

Earlier iOS 14 releases made small changes to Face ID that allow it to work better with some face coverings. But it seems that for most us, Face ID simply won’t work when we’re wearing a mask.

Rather than trying to tweak Face ID again, Apple implemented a better solution — at least for Apple Watch owners. iOS 14.5 adds the ability to unlock iPhone with Apple Watch in much the same way you can unlock a Mac.

We’ll show you how the feature is enabled.

How to unlock iPhone with Apple Watch

Before you proceed, you’ll need to ensure your iPhone is running iOS 14.5, and that your Apple Watch is running watchOS 7.4. After everything’s updated, follow these steps to free yourself from the tyranny of the face mask.

1. Open the Settings app on iPhone.
2. Tap Face ID & Passcode, then enter your passcode.
3. Under Unlock with Apple Watch, tap the toggle alongside your wearable(s) to enable the new feature.

Your iPhone will now tell you it is “Unlocked with Apple Watch” when Face ID detects you’re wearing a mask. Plus, your Apple Watch will vibrate to alert you, just in case. The process proves surprisingly quick — almost as fast as Face ID. It’s a fantastic feature that was a long time coming.

Not a complete Face ID replacement

For those worried about security, it’s worth noting this feature only works if your Apple Watch is protected by a passcode, unlocked, on your wrist, and nearby. It’s also not a complete Face ID replacement.

You’ll just have to use Face ID (or a password/passcode) for other things, including Apple Pay and App Store purchases, and protected settings menus, like the Face ID & Passcode menu.

We originally published this story on February 4, 2021. We updated it upon the launch of iOS 14.5 on April 26, 2021.

We want to help you master Control Center, one of the most powerful and underutilized features on Apple devices. Cult of Mac’s Control Center Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of this useful toolbox on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.

Have you noticed your Apple Watch isn’t sounding so good after getting wet? That’s likely because there is liquid lodged inside its speaker. But don’t worry — you can quickly clear it with just one tap in Control Center.

We’ll show you how.

Apple Watch Series 2 and later are water-resistant up to 50 meters. That means you can not only shower with them, but also take them in the pool to track your swims and in the sea while you surf without any problems.

You may find, however, that after getting your Apple Watch wet, its speaker no longer sounds distorted. It’s not broken — it’s just holding water that needs to be cleared. And Apple has a quick fix for that.

How to clear water from Apple Watch’s speaker

To expel water from your Apple Watch speaker, follow these steps:

1. Open Control Center on your device from swiping up from the bottom of the screen while on the watch face.
2. Tap the button that features a water droplet.
3. Turn the Digital Crown to unlock your Apple Watch’s screen and clear water from its speaker. You’ll hear some beeps after this step — that’s just the speaker springing into life to push water out.

Your Apple Watch should now sound normal when it plays a sound. But if the speaker still seems distorted, repeat the steps above until all water has been expelled from your device’s speaker crevice.

We want to help you master Control Center, one of the most powerful and underutilized features on Apple devices. Cult of Mac’s Control Center Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of this useful toolbox on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.

There’s no need to mess around inside System Preferences or the Settings app when you want to change Wi-Fi networks. Open Control Center on your Apple device and make the switch in a snap.

We’ll show you how on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac.

If you work in a spacious office or you have multiple wireless networks around your home, you might find yourself switching connections multiple times every day. There’s a quick and efficient way to do that.

The Wi-Fi button inside Control Center does more than just enable and disable your connection altogether. You just need to know how to use it.

Quickly switch Wi-Fi networks in Control Center

If you’re using iPhone or iPad, follow these steps:

1. Open Control Center by swiping down from the top-right corner of your screen (or up from the bottom on iPhone models with Touch ID).
2. Tap and hold the Wi-Fi button to expand the menu.
3. Tap and hold the Wi-Fi button again to see a list of available wireless connections. Select the one you want to switch to and enter the network password if necessary.

For further options, tap the Wi-Fi Settings… button.

On Apple Watch, the process is almost exactly the same; swipe up from the watch face to open Control Center, tap and hold the Wi-Fi button, then select the Wi-Fi network you wish to switch to.

Switching networks on Mac

If you’re using a Mac, follow these steps:

1. Click the Control Center button in your Mac’s menu bar.
2. Click the name of you Wi-Fi network.
3. Select the network you want to switch to and enter its password if necessary.

For further options, click Network Preferences…

This method of switching Wi-Fi networks on Mac, as quick and simple as it is, might encourage you to remove the network indicator from your Mac’s menu bar for a slightly cleaner look. Here’s how you do that:

1. Open System Preferences and click Network.
2. Uncheck the box alongside Show Wi-Fi status in menu bar.

Most folks refer to Siri as “she,” but that’s not always true. The original British English Siri, for example, was male-only up until iOS 7.1 added a female version. And in the latest iOS 14.5 beta, a female Siri is not the default option.

No matter what, you don’t have to stick with your local version of Apple’s comically bad voice assistant. U.S. English speakers, for example, can currently choose from American, Australian, British, Indian, Irish and South African accents for Siri, and also pick male or female versions — with more voices coming soon.

So, if you’re a U.S. native who views the U.K. Standard English accent as quaint, cute, respectful, sexy or reproachful, it’s easy to set your iPhone or iPad to sound like a Brit or whatever you want. And your choice of Siri accent will follow you on all Apple devices logged into with your Apple ID. (In addition to iPhone and iPad, Siri works with just about everything now: Mac, AirPods, iPod, Apple Watch, CarPlay, HomePod and Apple TV.)

Let’s see how to change Siri’s accent.

How to change Siri’s accent

On your iPhone or iPad, head to Settings > Siri & Search > Siri Voice. Depending on your language and regional settings, you will see various options for Siri’s accent and gender. If your phone is set to English, you’ll most likely see something like this:

Tap the accent of your choice, pick male or female, and then wait for your device to download the new voice from Apple. Then, when you’re done, you can enjoy listening to Siri’s great new accent.

You also can ask Siri to give you a nickname, and always address you using that nickname. So, you might try switching Siri to a male Australian accent and telling him to always call you “Bruce.” That should annoy the hell out of your Aussie friends.

Does Siri’s accent affect Siri’s ability to recognize my voice?

Before you hop on the Siri-accent-switching bandwagon, let’s take a moment to consider one key question. Will changing Siri’s accent affect the AI assistant’s ability to recognize your voice?

For instance, if you set Siri to use that Australian accent, will Siri then expect you to speak with an Australian accent? Some evidence points to “yes,” but it’s not that clear.

As previously noted on an Apple support page, Siri was trained to recognize local accents:

You can use Siri in any country or region, with any of the supported languages. Since Siri is designed to recognize accents and dialects of the supported countries or regions, Siri’s accuracy rate will be highest for native speakers.

However, that information disappeared from Apple’s website after an update. As Apple acquires AI companies in an attempt to catch up to the competition, the company undoubtedly continues to tweak Siri’s capabilities.

Apple apparently depended on your accent choice to fine-tune Siri voice recognition — at least in the past.

On the Apple Stack Exchange, user Redandwhite answered this question with their own experience, way back in Siri’s early days:

In my experience with Siri, the initial language setting of Siri does help a lot to help it discover your accent more quickly, but it’s not the only measure it uses. It will base its understanding of your accent off of its own starting point.

Who knows if that still holds true. But it seems that Siri might use the accent setting to get a leg up in recognizing your voice.

Does this mean you should stick with your locally accented Siri?

In practical terms, Siri is still so bad that it might make very little difference. If you change Siri’s accent, at least you will be entertained when Siri gets everything wrong, instead of simply wanting to throw the iPhone across the room.

Note: We originally published this guide on May 14, 2018. We updated it to include new information about Siri voices.

Which workout type do you fancy today? Running, swimming, cycling, yoga…? There are so many different Apple Watch workouts, it can be hard to choose. The good news is, you don’t have to.

Thanks to a hidden feature in the Workout app, you can log multiple activity types in a single session. Want to log a triathlon? No problem. Like to do a cooldown at the end of an intense HIIT session? It supports that too.

Here’s everything you need to know about how to use this little-known Apple Watch feature — and why you definitely should.

Cross-training: Why you should mix up your workout activities

There are many different dimensions to fitness: cardio, strength, flexibility, endurance, coordination and more. If you focus too much on just one activity type, you risk over-training some areas, while leaving other areas weak. This kind of imbalance increases your risk of injury.

Running is my favorite fitness activity, but I know I need to do more to stay fit and healthy. That’s why I include swimming and strength training in my workout routine. Combining activity types in this way is often referred to as cross-training.

Logging multiple Apple Watch workout activities

To support cross-training, Apple added a feature for logging multiple workout activities in a single session with watchOS 4, way back in 2017. But if you’ve never heard it, you’re not alone. It’s hard to find. You have to know exactly where to look.

To get started, open the Apple Watch’s Workout app and pick your first activity from the list in the normal way. When you’re ready to switch activities, swipe-right on your watch and tap the New button (+). Then pick a second activity and continue without missing a beat.

You can keep adding activity types, so if you fancy a triathalon, your Apple Watch has you covered.

How to view workouts with multiple activity types

Apple Watch provides a neat summary screen at the end of a multi-activity workout, detailing each part individually, together with the total time and calories. You can tap on each activity (in the gray boxes) to drill down for more details.

In the iPhone’s Fitness app, things look a little different, though. Disappointingly, it displays each part as a separate workout, and there’s no overall total for duration or calories burned. The only way you can tell that they were all logged together is by checking their start and end times. (E.g. the first activity finishes at exactly the time the second activity starts).

I’m hoping Apple will add full support for displaying multi-activity workouts in the Fitness app in a future iOS update.

How to add a cooldown session to the end of your workout

One of the smartest and easiest ways to use the multi-activity feature is by adding a cooldown session to the end of your workout. In a recent interview with Men’s Health about Apple Fitness+, Jay Blahnik, Apple’s senior director of health and fitness technologies, said the idea is catching on.

“We discovered there are people who want to do a ten-minute HIIT workout, then a ten-minute core session, and then a ten-minute cooldown,” Blahnik said.

When you complete a workout using Fitness+, the service automatically suggests you add a Mindful Cooldown session. But you don’t need to be an Apple Fitness+ subscriber to do this. Anytime you finish the main part of a workout, just swipe-right on your Apple Watch, tap the New (+) button and select Cooldown from the list.

Cooldown sessions help to slowly bring down your heart rate, prevent blood pooling in your limbs, and provide a great opportunity to do some stretching. It’s also a much more pleasant way to end an intense workout than just stopping suddenly.

You’ll find plenty of ideas for cooldown sessions on YouTube (like this one).

Other multi-activity workout ideas

There are plenty of other ways to chain together multiple workout types, too. I’m lucky enough to live near the sea, so I go for a run along the waterfront every day. In the summer, I often like to go for a swim and then dry off in the sun as I jog back home.

This is another great way to use the multi-activity workout feature. I log the run, then the swim, and then the run back as three parts of a single workout.

When the weather is fine, I often do other exercises when I get to the beach, like push-ups, pull-ups, lunges and crunches. This makes another three-part workout: Outdoor Run > Functional Strength Training > Outdoor Run.

Take your fitness to the next level today

At this point, Apple’s support for multi-activity workouts remains far from perfect — especially in the iPhone Fitness app. Hopefully we’ll see some improvements in the next versions of iOS and watchOS, but that’s no a reason to wait. The benefits of cross-training and cooldown sessions are huge, so tap on that New button today and start mixing up your workouts!

Ready to upgrade some of your old Apple devices? Don’t just let them sit in a drawer collecting dust. Turn your old iPhone, iPad, what to do with old iMac, and more into quick cash that you can put toward a shiny new model. If you’re curious about uses for old iPhones, there are plenty of options.

Your aging Apple gadgets could be worth a small fortune — and Cult of Mac wants to buy them! We typically pay more than other trade-in services, and we won’t leave you waiting forever for your money.

We’ll tell you how it works.

We’ve teamed up with the fine folks at MyPhones Unlimited to ensure our readers get the money they deserve when trading in their old devices. We typically pay more than the likes of Apple, Amazon, Gazelle, and others — and we’re fast!

We won’t fob you off with store credit or gift cards like some services, and we won’t waste your time like some of the buyers you’ll encounter on eBay and Craigslist. We’ll even buy back broken devices in need of repair. And it’s not just iPhone, iPad, and Mac we’ll pay for.

We’ll also offer a fair price for your old Apple Watch, iPod, Apple TV, and even AirPods.

Cult of Mac makes trading-in easy

Here’s how it works when you sell your old devices to Cult of Mac:

• You visit our buyback page and get a quote for your old device.
• We send you a box and return label so that you can ship your device to us for free.
• When your device arrives with us, we’ll issue a check that you’ll receive in around a week.

Not only is it quick and easy to sell your stuff to Cult of Mac, but we promise that nothing goes to landfill. Everything gets recycled or refurbished and resold. So, what are you waiting for?

Get a quote today!

Get a quote for your old devices today by visiting our buyback site. We’ll tell you exactly how much your aging Apple gadgets are really worth, and we’ll give you 14 days to send them into us.

Is your Apple Watch stuck in Power Reserve mode following Apple’s recent watchOS 7.2 and 7.3 updates? You might be able to get it repaired for free. Here’s how to find out if you’re eligible.

Apple says “a very small number of customers” with Apple Watch Series 5 and Apple Watch SE units have experienced an issue with their device not charging after it enters Power Reserve mode. And there is no fix.

“To check if your Apple Watch is affected by this issue, place your watch on the charger that you normally use, then wait at least 30 minutes,” reads the company’s new support document outlining the problem.

If your Watch still won’t charge, and you have the right Apple Watch model, you’re eligible for a free repair. Here’s what you need to do.

Check if your Apple Watch is eligible for a repair

Follow the steps below to identify your Apple Watch model and confirm it is covered by Apple’s new repair program:

1. Open the Watch app on your iPhone.
2. Tap General.
3. Tap About.
4. Note the Model number.

Now confirm your model number appears on one of the lists below:

Apple Watch Series 5

• A2092
• A2093
• A2094
• A2095
• A2156
• A2157

Apple Watch SE

• A2351
• A2352
• A2353
• A2354
• A2355
• A2356

If your Apple Watch model number is on one of these lists, you must contact Apple Support to set up a mail-in repair free of charge. Sadly, there is no other way to eliminate the Power Reserve problem.

The good news is Apple has already rolled out watchOS 7.3.1 to eliminate this issue — hopefully for good. So be sure to update if you haven’t already and you’re using a Series 5 or SE device.