How to manage all notifications on your Apple Watch Ultra

The Apple Watch Ultra is one of the best devices along with the iPhone to keep you up to date with all your notifications, even more so when the Apple Watch has LTE as is the case. The two devices sync automatically, so The notifications that appear on your phone are identical to those that appear on your wrist thanks to your watch.

The guys at Cupertino even make sure that you don’t receive double notifications from both devices, as that can drive you crazy. Instead, notifications only appear on the device you’re currently using. A small red dot at the top of the watch face indicates the presence of unread notifications on your Apple Watch Ultra, except when “Do Not Disturb” is onin which case a crescent moon icon appears.Receiving notifications for text messages, emails, and appointment reminders on your watch is very useful, but maybe you only want notifications from a few people, or the most important messages you may receive at any given time.

In today’s article, I’ll show you how to control notifications on your watch so you have the latest information on important events and alerts, but don’t feel overwhelmed by many non-urgent notifications.

Remember that if Do Not Disturb is on or your watch is locked, notifications go directly to your iPhone. Additionally, this guide focuses on iOS 16 and WatchOS 9, but most of the advice in this article is similar for previous versions of the operating system.

Set up Apple Watch Ultra notifications on your iPhone

iPhone offers a number of options that let you customize how, when, and from which apps you receive notifications on your wrist. For most applications, you can enable or disable notificationslet an app send notifications directly to the notification center, specify how notifications are grouped, group notifications by specific apps, or let your devices generate notification groups automatically.

For this method, we use the Mail application as an example, although the available options vary greatly depending on the application, it will serve as a guide. Here I show you how to get started:

• Step 1: At first, you will have to start the application Watch on your iPhone.
• Step 2: Now it’s time My watch > Notifications.
• Step 3: Select the apps you want to receive notifications from; in this case, Mail. Choose iPhone Mirroring, which uses the same app notification settings on both your phone and your Apple Watch Ultra.
• Step 4: You can choose Personalized for additional notification options, such as automatically sending them to Notification Center or turning them off completely. You can also choose an audio alert or a silent vibration.

Set up iPhone notifications on your Apple Watch Ultra

You can manage notifications directly on your Apple Watch Ultra. You may see a variety of options, including Mute, Important Notifications, Notification Types, Preview, Allow Notifications…

You will not see all the options at all times because the commands refer to your existing configuration at that time. Here’s how to control notifications from the Watch app.

• Step 1: Swipe down from the Apple Watch face to access your message.
• Step 2: Swipe left and tap the three-dot (plus) button.
• Step 3: There may be a range of options available depending on how you set up notifications on your iPhone. In this case, we only see Mute for an hour and Power off.

Disable the notification indicator on the Apple Watch Ultra

The red dot at the top of your Apple Watch Ultra face alerts you to new or invisible notifications. You can control whether that point is visible or not. It’s on by default, so here’s how to turn it off.

• Step 1: Launch setup from your watch’s home screen.
• Step 2: Tap notifications.
• Step 3: Tap the on/off switch on the notifications indicator to turn it off.

Control Apple Watch notification summaries

If it’s set up for notifications, you’ll receive brief summaries on the screen of your locked or unlocked watch. That’s because the default active screen feature is enabled. A small look at your watch screen that allows you to see only the app name, app icon and notification headline. If you want to disable it, this is how you can do it:

• Step 1: Launch setup from your watch’s home screen.
• Step 2: Tap notifications.
• Step 3: Tap the button Show summary when lockedwith the switch you can activate or deactivate this function.
• Step 4: To see the full notification instead of a summary, turn on the tap to show full notification switch, located a little further down.
• Step 5: We can also activate the “Show notifications with wrist down” mode.

Use Siri to announce notifications from your Apple Watch

Maybe you never want to miss a notification from an app you’ve previously set up. If you have a pair of second-generation, or even newer, AirPods or certain models of Beats wireless headphones, Siri can read notifications aloud to you through your Apple Watch Ultra. Make sure to pair your AirPods or headphones first via Settings > Bluetooth from your iPhone.

Also make sure you have enabled the feature on your iPhone via Settings > Notifications > Announce notifications. To use the feature on your watch, your iPhone must be locked and the screen turned off, dark. Remember that the Siri virtual assistant will not announce notifications if you are using your phone.

• Step 1: Launch the app Setting.
• Step 2: Tap notifications.
• Step 3: Scroll down and tap Announce notifications.
• Step 4: Turn on the notification ads switch.

With an Apple Watch Ultra and a cellular connection similar to the one you have on your iPhone, you can make calls, respond to messages, use Walkie-talkie, stream music and podcasts, receive notifications, even when you don’t have your iPhone or Wi-Fi . You will have to check that your region allows it, and also your operator.