7 Apple Watch settings that you must change immediately

After unpacking your new Apple Watch and connecting it for your Iphone, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with all the options and settings, buried in the Watch app on your phone and the Settings app on the watch itself.

If you have one Apple Watch SE, Apple Watch 6 or even one Series 3they all run WatchOS 7 and have (mostly) the same features and settings. Regardless of whether it is your first watch or an update, there are many settings you should know about. For example, sometimes the camera roll is invaded by wrong images. But do not need be like that.

Also, don’t let the number of apps installed on your watch overwhelm you. And definitely don’t get frustrated because Siri keeps talking to you at random. There are simple solutions to some of these annoyances.

We’ll walk you through the seven configuration changes that will make your Apple Watch experience smoother and more enjoyable.

Adjust all of your activity goals

With the launch of WatchOS 7, Apple added the option to change your goals according to the time you stand and exercise. Previously, you could only change your movement target (or calories).

So, instead of using the standards – 30 minutes of exercise and 12 hours of standing each day – you can change any one to suit your actual daily routine.

This small change will enable you to achieve your own goals when the day really starts, not when Apple tells you to. For example, if you use sleep monitoring during the night and need to charge your watch more often in the morning, you won’t feel like you’ve lost an hour to close the rings.

Open the Activity app on your watch, scroll to the bottom and tap Edit Goals. Make your adjustments to all three metrics and start closing those rings.

See you soon, random screenshots

The screen capture on the Apple Watch is done by pressing the digital crown and the side button at the same time. It’s a simple and convenient method, unless you’re like me and trigger it frequently by accident, filling the photo app with random images from the watch face.

To disable the ability to take screenshots completely, open the settings app on your watch or use the Watch app on your phone and go to General and scroll down until you find Enable screenshots. Turn it off and go back to a camera roll without mess.

Prevent all applications from being installed automatically

Whenever you install an application on your iPhone ($ 599 at Apple), it will automatically install its Apple Watch equivalent, if any. This can clutter the clock’s app grid very quickly, making it difficult to find the apps you want to use on your watch.

Both in the Watch application on your phone and in settings app on the clock tap General and slide the switch next to Automatic application installation to Out position.

Going forward, you can install individual apps on your watch by opening the Watch app on your phone and then scrolling to the bottom, where you’ll find a list of available apps.

Stop those annoying AF reminders to breathe

Every few hours, your Apple Watch will beep and touch your wrist, reminding you to take a breath. The first time it happens is kind of comical, Why do I need a reminder to breathe, crazy clock ?! Then it happens again. And again. Every four hours, by default, for a literally involuntary physiological act.

The Breathe reminder is designed to help you take a few minutes to clear your mind and control your breathing, reducing your heart rate and potentially helping you feel more centered and calm. But if you’re like me and never follow the instruction, take a few seconds to turn it off so that you don’t have to be reminded to breathe.

Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, scroll down and tap the Breathe app option. Next,
select Notifications disabled.

Make it easy to find your apps

The honeycomb app grid looks great on promotional photos and at first glance, but it can be difficult to find the app you want to launch, especially if you have a lot of apps installed on your watch. Instead of using the grid, the watch can display all your apps in an alphabetical list.

Both in the Watch application on your phone and in settings app on your watch and tap Application preview > List view. Now, when you press the digital crown to exit the watch face, you’ll see a list of apps that you can scroll through quickly and find what you’re looking for.

Control when you see Siri

There are three different ways to activate Siri on your Apple Watch. You can raise your wrist towards your mouth and start speaking, hold down the digital crown or use the activation phrase “Hey, Siri”.

I found that I often trigger Siri accidentally when trying to check the time or reading a notification while talking to someone else (but my watch thinks I’m trying to speak to Siri). It’s annoying, but luckily it can be changed.

Both in the Watch application on your phone and in settings watch, select Crab and there you will find three buttons to control when you see Siri. Slide each button to the Out position for any of the options you don’t want to use.

Rearrange Control Center

Just like the Control Center on your iPhone, the Control Center on the Apple Watch is where you can quickly adjust settings like “do not disturb” and airplane mode and activate the flashlight.

However, you may find that the list of default options in the Control Center is not the most suitable for the way you wear your watch. For me, that means moving the Bedtime toggle button from the bottom of the list to the top. That way, when I want to track my sleep over the weekend, when I don’t have any sleep goals set, I can swipe up and touch the icon.

To access the Control Center on your watch, swipe from bottom to top on the watch face or, when in an app, you can hold down at the bottom of the screen until you see the Control Center start to slide up, after which you just need to slide your finger up to access it. The same trick works to view your notifications from anywhere.

Change the order or hide some buttons in the Control Center by tapping the To edit button at the bottom of the list. The icons will start to swing and show a red minus sign to hide an option. Drag and drop the icons in your preferred order or tap the red minus button to remove the option entirely.

When finished, tap Done or press the digital crown on the side of the watch to return to the watch face.

There are many other features of the Apple Watch that are worth checking out. For example, the ECG app can help identify irregularities in the heartbeat, there is a new dance trainingand you can even share your custom watch faces.