Customizations and Important Settings
When it comes to the Apple Watch, details matter. Some details are large and important, like your watch’s orientation or passcode. Other details are small but make a big impact on your daily experience, like the size and appearance of text. This chapter is all about how to customize your Apple Watch so that it works best for you. (I discussed how to Personalize the Apple Watch Face in an earlier chapter.)
Watch Orientation
Most people wear a watch on the left wrist, with the crown facing the hand. But the Apple Watch is ambidextrous—you can wear it on either wrist, or in a different orientation on the same wrist.
On your Watch, go to Settings 
> General > Orientation (Figure 123). Or, on the iPhone in the Watch app, go to General > Watch Orientation.
Choose to wear the watch on your left or right wrist, and then choose whether the Digital Crown is on the left or right.
Wake Screen Options
When you raise your wrist, the watch face appears; in the case of the Series 5 and later, the always-on face switches to the active version. To change this behavior in the Watch app on the iPhone, go to General > Wake Screen (Figure 124). Or, on the watch itself, go to Settings > General > Wake Screen.
On the Wake Screen, choose from these options:
Wake Screen on Wrist Raise: With this on, your watch wakes whenever you raise your wrist to look at it.
Wake Screen on Crown Up: With this option on, turn the Digital Crown slowly clockwise to wake the display and increase its brightness.
On Tap: Choose how long the screen remains active after you tap to wake it up (15 or 70 seconds).
On Screen Wake Show Last App: Specify whether the last app you used appears (instead of the watch face) always, within eight minutes or one hour of last use, or only within the current session (e.g., a workout).
Return to Last Session App (watch settings only): When any of the listed apps are frontmost, such as Workout, waking the screen returns to that app instead of the watch face. Turn on the apps that are allowed to jump ahead in this way.
Adjust Appearance
As I suggested in Set the Appearance and Feedback, making the watch more readable improves the experience for some people. On the watch, go to Settings > Display & Brightness to change the following aspects of the watch experience:
Brightness offers three levels of illumination; tap the brightness buttons, or turn the Digital Crown, to increase or decrease it (Figure 125).
Figure 125: Adjust the brightness and text appearance. Text Size makes text larger or smaller in apps that support it.
Bold Text increases the weight of text in general (Figure 126); changing this setting requires the watch to restart.
The same settings can be found in the Watch app on the iPhone under Display & Brightness.
Sounds and Haptics
If you’re missing taps or notifications, try making the audio louder or increase the strength of the haptic feedback. On the iPhone, open the Watch app and go to Sounds & Haptics. Or, on the Apple Watch, go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics (Figure 127).
Adjust the following settings to your liking:
Alert Volume: Adjust the level of audible alerts.
Silent Mode: Turn off your watch’s audio completely.
Max Volume: Turn this option on and adjust the volume level to restrict the loudness when Silent Mode is off.
Haptic Alerts: When this option is turned on, the watch taps your wrist for alerts such as notifications or messages. If the default feedback is too soft, turn on the Prominent option, which plays a long, rolling pulse before an alert’s tap.
Crown Haptics: As you rotate the Digital Crown, the watch performs little nudges.
Cover to Mute: Did an alarm or timer go off during a meeting or while watching a movie? With this option on, quickly rest your palm on the screen for 3 seconds to mute alerts and notifications.
Rename Your Watch
Your watch is part of you, so in the Watch app on the iPhone go to General > About > Name and give the watch a name. This name appears when you view your devices in the Settings area of your iCloud.com account.
Nightstand Mode
This clever setting turns your charging watch into a bedside clock and alarm:
On your watch, go to Settings
> General > Nightstand Mode, and turn the option on.With Nightstand mode on, when you place the watch on its side and attach it to the charger, the screen displays the time (Figure 128).
Figure 128: The watch becomes your alarm clock in Nightstand mode. If the screen has gone to sleep, wake it by tapping the screen or one of the buttons.
If you’ve set an alarm, when it goes off, press the side button to cancel it, or press the Digital Crown to snooze for several minutes before the alarm blares again.
Accessibility
The watch has many features for people who can benefit from vision or hearing assistance. In the Watch app on the iPhone, go to General > Accessibility to enable these features. (On the watch, go to Settings > Accessibility to find the same options.)
Here’s a rundown of your options:
VoiceOver: The watch speaks the names of items on the screen (or the time, if you tap the watch face). Tap once to select an item, double-tap to activate it, and swipe with two fingers to scroll. You can adjust speaking rate and VoiceOver volume. For those whose vision makes a screen redundant, turn on the Screen Curtain to use the watch without lighting up the screen (and save a lot of battery power).
Zoom: When turned on, double-tapping two fingers on the screen zooms in, up to 15 times (a maximum amount you choose in the settings).
Bold Text: Increases the weight of text in general; changing this setting requires the watch to restart.
On/Off Labels: Adds symbols for on and off to switches for better readability (Figure 129).
Figure 129: Enabling On/Off Labels adds a mark to each switch to help you discern whether the switch is on (1) or off (0). Grayscale: Removes color from the screen.
Reduce Transparency: This option removes blurred backgrounds in some areas, such as the watch face behind glances.
Reduce Motion: When on, this minimizes animations and makes the Home screen icons all the same size (see Work with Apps).
Chimes: Opt to play sounds on a schedule (every hour, 30 minutes, or 15 minutes), to audibly note the time.
Side Button Click Speed: Choose a slower rate to double-press the side button.
Touch Accommodations: The options here help when someone has trouble using the watch’s touchscreen. For instance, you can specify the amount of time to hold a finger on the screen for it to be represented as a touch.
Tap to Talk: Instead of holding the button when you Speak Using Walkie-Talkie, tap once when you start talking and again when you stop.
RTT: Enable this feature to use RTT (Real-Time Text) from the watch when the iPhone isn’t nearby. RTT displays what the other person is typing as they type it, instead of sending each thought after it has been composed.
Mono Audio: Play audio in just one channel.
Audio volume balance: Drag the slider to favor the left or right sound output.
Complication: If you use a hearing device, choose which option to display in watch face complications: Mic Volume or Program.
Taptic Time Speed: Make taps occur slower or faster.
Accessibility Shortcut: Choose what triple-pressing the Digital Crown activates: VoiceOver, Zoom, Touch Accommodations, or Hearing Devices.
Passcode
If you use Apple Pay or use the watch to Unlock Your Mac or authenticate some apps, you’re required to use a passcode. You can enable or disable this passcode, as well as change it, in the Passcode section of the Watch app on the iPhone or on the watch itself in Settings > Passcode.
The passcode setting I’ve found most helpful is Unlock with iPhone, which is found only in the Watch app on the phone (under Passcode). When it’s enabled, unlocking your phone automatically unlocks your watch, too (as long as it’s on your wrist).
Wrist Detection
In the Watch app on the iPhone or the Settings app on the watch, go to Passcode and find the Wrist Detection toggle, but do not turn it off (Figure 130). If your watch is protected with a passcode, this feature locks the watch whenever you take it off.
Unlock Your Mac
Your Apple Watch can unlock your Mac when it wakes from sleep—no need to type your password—and also provide authentication for some actions. (Your Mac must be a 2013 or later model running at least macOS 10.12 Sierra.) Once enabled, the feature kicks in whenever your Mac is locked and you’re wearing the watch near it. To set up this incredibly handy feature, do the following:
Make sure your Mac and your watch are signed in to the same iCloud account. (On a Mac, check this in System Preferences > Apple ID in Catalina or later, or in System Preferences > iCloud in Mojave or earlier; in the Watch app on your iPhone, go to General > Apple ID.)
Enable two-factor authentication for your Apple ID. (If you’re already using the older two-step verification, you must disable that first.)
If you haven’t already done so, enable a Passcode on your watch and enter an administrator’s password when prompted.
On your Mac, go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General and check “Use your Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac.”
Having done that, as long as your watch is on your wrist and unlocked, having it nearby will unlock your Mac when it wakes from sleep.
In some circumstances, the watch can be used to authenticate actions on your Mac instead of making you type a password. For example, in System Preferences > Security & Privacy, clicking the lock icon to access settings requires an administrator’s password. With the watch set up as just described, it taps to get your attention and then asks you to double-press the side button to unlock the settings (Figure 131).
Use Emergency Features
You can use your watch to phone emergency services (for example, 911 in the United States and Canada) and notify a loved one of the emergency. Your watch can also provide your medical info to someone who needs it. Access emergency features, and make sure your contacts will be notified, by doing the following:
Make an emergency call: Press and hold the side button for 3 seconds. On the screen that appears (Figure 132), slide the Emergency SOS control to the right. Your watch dials the local emergency number and also sends a message to designated contacts informing them of your location and that you’ve requested emergency services.
Figure 132: This screen provides quick access to emergency features (as well as a way to turn off your watch completely). Designate an emergency contact: In the Health app on the iPhone, tap your icon in the top-right corner to view your information, and tap Medical ID. Tap Edit, and then tap Add Emergency Contact. Navigate to the person in your contacts and then tap to add them to your list. Tap Done to finish. The contacts appear in the Watch app under Emergency SOS.
Medical ID: Your watch can display important medical info (such as blood type and drug allergies) to emergency personnel even if your watch is locked and you can’t unlock it. To enter medical info, go to the same screen in the Health app on the iPhone as above.
To display this information on your watch, press and hold the side button for 3 seconds, and then slide the Medical ID control to the right. Someone can also use the emergency contacts buttons listed there to call one of your contacts.
Detect Falls
The Apple Watch Series 4 introduced the ability to detect when you’ve taken a fall based on data from its motion sensors. If you’re 55 or older, the feature is automatically turned on. To enable it manually, open the Watch app on the iPhone, go to Emergency SOS, and turn on Fall Detection.
When the watch believes you’ve taken a fall, it pops up an alert asking if you’re okay. If you don’t respond at all for about a minute, it taps your wrist, emits an alarm, and then calls emergency services.
As you might guess, the more active you are, the more likely the watch is to mistake sudden movement for a fall. The first time it triggered for me was when a soccer ball from one of my daughter’s games hit me when I wasn’t looking.