The Apple Watch has a bright, crisp screen that can display images and make text easy to read. But if can also play sounds, such as alerts that indicate the arrival or a new text message or a phone call. This is helpful if you rely on those sounds to notify you of certain things, but they can be distracting if you find that the haptic feedback is enough.
Fortunately you can control many of the sounds that come through the Apple Watch, including an option that will put the watch into Silent Mode. If you don’t want to hear any sounds from your Apple Watch, then continue reading below and see how to activate this setting on the device.
How to Activate Silent Mode on an Apple Watch
The steps in this article are performed directly on the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch being used in this article is an Apple Watch 2 using the WatchOS 3.2.3 version. There are two different ways that you can complete this task directly from the watch. We will show you the quickest one first, then the slower method second.
Method 1
Step 1: Swipe up from the bottom of the watch face.
Step 2: Touch the bell icon to enable Silent Mode on the Apple Watch.
Method 2
Step 1: Press the crown button on the side of the watch to get to the app screen, then touch the gear icon.
Step 2: Select the Sounds & Haptics option.
Step 3: Tap the button to the right of Silent Mode to activate it.
As mentioned below the Silent Mode switch, this will not silence alarms or timers if the watch is charging.
Would you like to make the watch even less distracting when you are in a quiet or dark environment like a movie theater? Learn how to turn on theater mode on the Apple Watch and silence sounds and stop the screen from lighting up.
Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.
After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.
His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.
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