How to silence your Apple Watch in four different ways

By

apple watch silence/muteAbigail Abesamis/Business Insider

  • There are several ways to silence an Apple Watch.
  • Muting your Apple Watch only turns off sounds, Theater Mode keeps the display from turning on when raising your wrist, and Do Not Disturb silences calls and notifications.
  • A Cover to Mute feature also allows you to silence incoming alerts on the device.

 

As someone who can’t remember the last time their phone was on ring (or even vibrate at this point, thanks to Do Not Disturb), figuring out how to silence my Apple Watch was high on the agenda upon first using the device.

It turns out there are a few ways to silence your Apple Watch, which we’ve outlined below:

How to mute your Apple Watch

Muting your Apple Watch will only silence sounds on the device. Here’s how to do it. 

1. Swipe up on the Watch face to reveal the Control Center.

2. Tap the bell icon to activate Silent Mode. Once this feature is turned on, the icon will light up and have a slash through the bell.

IMG_7871Abigail Abesamis/Business Insider

3. You can still receive haptic notifications (taps on your wrist) on Silent Mode, and alarms and timers will still sound while Apple Watch is charging.

4. Turn off Haptic Alerts in the Settings app on Apple Watch or the Watch app on iPhone by tapping Sounds & Haptics and switching Haptic Alerts off.

How to turn on Do Not Disturb

This feature keeps calls and alerts from sounding or lighting up your Watch screen.

1. Swipe up on the Watch face to reveal the Control Center.

2. Tap the crescent moon icon.

IMG_7883Abigail Abesamis/Business Insider

3. Select an option to determine how long this feature will be activated. "On" will keep Do Not Disturb on until you manually turn it off, and options like "On for 1 hour" and "On until this evening" automatically turn off Do Not Disturb after a set period of time.

IMG_7878Abigail Abesamis/Business Insider

4. Once Do Not Disturb is activated, the moon icon will appear in the center of the Watch face.

5. Alarms will still sound on Do Not Disturb mode.

6. Turning on or off Do Not Disturb also activates or deactivates the feature on iPhone, and the same goes for turning the feature on and off on iPhone.

How to turn on Theater Mode

Theater Mode is another option for silencing your Apple Watch. When Theater Mode is on, Silent Mode is also activated and it temporarily disables the Wake Screen on Wrist Raise feature.

1. Swipe up on the Watch face to reveal the Control Center.

2. Tap the icon with the two masks.

apple watch silence/muteAbigail Abesamis/Business Insider

3. When Theater Mode is activated you’ll see the masks icon at the top of the Watch display.

4. You will still receive haptic notifications in Theater Mode.

5. To wake the Watch screen while Theater Mode is activated, tap the display or press the side button or Digital Crown.

How to silence an incoming alert

If you’ve forgotten to mute or otherwise silence notifications beforehand, you can silence an incoming alert or notification thanks to a feature called Cover to Mute.

1. Make sure Cover to Mute is on by going to the Watch iPhone app, tapping the My Watch tab and selecting Sounds & Haptics. Turn on Cover to Mute.

2. To silence an incoming alert or notification, cover the display with your palm until you feel a tap (about three seconds).

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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Abigail Abesamis)

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