How to silence your Apple Watch

Silencing the Apple Watch is pretty simple and necessary in certain situations. You probably don’t want your watch sounding off in a dark, quiet theater or at night while trying to sleep. You may want to disable notifications if you need to concentrate at work or while studying. Thankfully, there’s more than one way to silence an Apple Watch. We detail several settings, controls, and toggles that suit any situation.

How to silence an Apple Watch

As we mentioned, there are several ways to silence or mute an Apple Watch. We’ll cover each of the methods and advantages in more detail below.

How to activate Silent Mode on the Apple Watch

The first method is Silent Mode. This will disable audio alerts on your Apple Watch, but won’t affect haptic feedback alerts. When the Apple Watch is charging while Silent Mode is activated, you’ll still receive alarm and timer beeps, too. Your screen will also switch on if you raise your wrist. It’s best to activate Silent Mode if you still want to receive notifications but don’t want to disturb others.

To activate Silent Mode:

1. Touch and hold the bottom of the watch face, then swipe up to open the control center.
2. Scroll down to find the Sound (bell) icon.
3. Tap on it to enable Silent Mode.

How to activate Do Not Disturb on the Apple Watch

Do Not Disturb further silences the Apple Watch. The setting disables all notifications but will only sound alarms. Do Not Disturb also prevents the display from switching on when a notification is received. Use Do Not Disturb at night or while taking a nap for best results.

To activate Do Not Disturb:

1. Touch and hold the bottom of the watch face, then swipe up to open the control center.
2. Scroll down to find the Do Not Disturb (crescent moon) icon.
3. Tap on it to enable Do Not Disturb.
   • You can also set Do Not Disturb to switch off after a predetermined period.

How to activate Theater Mode on the Apple Watch

Theater Mode disables audio notifications and the raise to wake gesture but keeps haptic notifications on. It’s perfect to use in, well, a theater or other quiet environments.

To activate Theater Mode:

1. Touch and hold the bottom of the screen from your Apple Watch’s clock face, then swipe up to open the control center.
2. Scroll down to find the Theater Mode (two masks of comedy/tragedy) icon.
3. Tap on it to enable Theater Mode.

See also: What is Theater Mode on the Apple Watch?

How to disable haptic feedback on the Apple Watch

Of course, you might not want your Apple Watch to vibrate after every notification either. Thankfully, there’s a quick way to disable the Apple Watch’s haptic feedback. This would also have the added benefit of conserving battery life.

To disable haptic feedback:

1. Head to the Settings app on your Apple Watch.
2. Select Sounds & Haptics.
3. Toggle off Haptic Alerts. You can also toggle off Crown Haptics and System Haptics if you want to disable vibrations on the Apple Watch entirely.
4. Notably, you can also adjust the strength of the haptic feedback on this page. Select Prominent for stronger vibrations or choose Default for less noticeable vibration alerts.

You can also control these settings directly from your iPhone. Head to the Watch app > My Watch > Settings > Sounds & Haptics.

How to control your Apple Watch’s volume

Finally, if you don’t wish to silence your Apple Watch completely, you can simply turn down its volume to a more acceptable level.

To access the Apple Watch’s volume controls:

1. Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch.
2. Head to Sounds & Haptics.
3. Adjust the volume using the Alert Volume slider or digital crown.

See also: Common Apple Watch problems and solutions

FAQs