Use Control Center
Many of the things you find yourself doing on the watch are quick commands or peeks at information. Control Center collects them into one place. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen when the watch face is visible to reveal it.
The icons range from the merely informational (your battery level) to highly functional (icons for toggling on and off Airplane Mode, Mute, Do Not Disturb, and so on). Icons that represent a state you can toggle change color when you tap them to turn them on.
Connection Info
The top of Control Center displays info about the watch’s connection status:
A red X and “Disconnected” means the watch is disconnected from your iPhone and a trusted Wi-Fi network (or cellular network on compatible models) (Figure 22).
Figure 22: The Control Center shows connection status above a set of icons. The icons are (left to right) Cellular, Wi-Fi, Airplane Mode, Battery Level, Ping iPhone, and Flashlight (Airplane Mode is active here). A blue Wi-Fi
icon indicates that the watch is connected to a trusted Wi-Fi network (the name of which also appears), but not to your phone. This might happen, for example, if you are at home and your iPhone, but not your watch, is in Airplane Mode.A green phone
icon appears when your watch is connected to your iPhone.A blue location
icon indicates that the watch or an app has accessed location data recently.
Cellular
On Apple Watch models equipped with cellular radios, the Cellular button turns white to indicate that cellular is on but not currently in use due to a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection. If the button is dark, tap it and turn on the Cellular option.
When cellular is the only connection, such as when you’re out and the iPhone is at home, the button turns green and displays the current signal strength above it (Figure 23).
Wi-Fi
When the iPhone is out of Bluetooth range, the Apple Watch turns to Wi-Fi to make the connection. The Wi-Fi button appears blue when the watch is connected, and displays the network name (Figure 24). If the button is white and the iPhone is out of range, make sure you Set the Watch’s Default Wi-Fi Network.
The watch can join almost any Wi-Fi network; the exceptions are those that require a separate login portal (such as those found at many coffee shops and restaurants) and 5 GHz-only networks. If the network requires a password or is open, do the following:
On the watch, go to Settings
> Wi-Fi.Under Choose Network, tap the name of the network.
If prompted, enter the password using the Scribble text-entry tool or the keyboard on your iPhone.
Tap Join.
The Auto Hotspot Settings at the bottom of the Wi-Fi screen offer options for automatically connecting to Wi-Fi networks when the iPhone’s connection is lost: Never, Always Ask, and Automatic. However, in my testing, this setting isn’t sticky, and I haven’t ever been asked by the watch to connect to a network. So, for now, assume you should connect manually if needed.
Airplane Mode
When seat backs are up, tray tables are locked, and the plane is preparing to take flight, turn on Airplane mode.
By default, Airplane Mode is not mirrored on the iPhone, so switching to it on the watch automatically doesn’t affect the iPhone or vice versa.
If you’d prefer to turn on Airplane Mode on both devices when you enable it on either one, open the Watch app on the iPhone, tap General, tap Airplane Mode, and then turn on the Mirror iPhone option.
Battery Level
The Battery Level icon in Control Center shows your watch’s current battery level as a percentage. Tapping it reveals the option to put the watch into Power Reserve mode. See Recharge.
Ping iPhone
If you have your watch but can’t find the iPhone you paired it with, tap the iPhone icon (Figure 25). Assuming your iPhone is turned on, it will beep to let you know where it is. Touch and hold the button to make the phone’s screen flash, too.
Flashlight
Putting an LED on a phone was a quiet, epic change: how often do you reach for a traditional flashlight versus activating the light on the back of your iPhone? I use mine all the time.
The Apple Watch doesn’t include an LED, but its screen can help you in dark situations. Tap the Flashlight button to fill the screen with brilliant white light; at first the light is dimmed and shows the time, but after a second the light intensifies and uses the entire screen.
Swipe to access all three Flashlight modes:
Steady white: See better in the dark.
Flashing white: For running at night or to otherwise make yourself more visible, choose this second mode.
Steady red: This mode illuminates a dark space, but doesn’t blow out your night vision.
Swipe down from the top of the screen to turn off the Flashlight mode.
Do Not Disturb
Do Not Disturb prevents notifications and calls from appearing on the iPhone and Apple Watch. In Control Center, tap the Do Not Disturb (crescent moon) 
button and choose a duration (Figure 26).
The setting by default mirrors Do Not Disturb on the iPhone; activating it on the watch does so on the phone, and vice versa.
Take advantage of the fact that on the iPhone, you can set times (such as the middle of the night) when Do Not Disturb comes on automatically. In your iPhone’s Settings app, tap Do Not Disturb, toggle on Scheduled, and then set up times (Figure 27).
If you’d prefer that your watch’s Do Not Disturb settings act independently, in the Watch app on your iPhone, go to General > Do Not Disturb, and toggle off the Mirror iPhone setting.
Silent Mode
Tap the bell icon to mute sounds from your watch. This setting doesn’t affect haptic feedback, only audio. (You can also engage Silent Mode by going to Settings > Sounds & Haptics, and turning Silent Mode on.)
Theater Mode
The problem with having a device that lights up every time you lift or turn your wrist is that it’s awfully distracting in a darkened theater. Before the lights go down, tap the Theater mode button (Figure 28). Now, the screen will wake up only when you tap the face.
Water Lock
Available only on Series 2 and later watches, the Water Lock feature, enabled by tapping the drop icon, prevents the watch from misinterpreting splashes of water as taps. When Water Lock is active, a tiny blue drop icon appears at the top of the screen. You can still tap the screen to wake it, but other taps and swipes are ignored.
To turn off Water Lock, turn the Digital Crown a few times (Figure 29). In addition to disabling Water Lock, this plays a series of tones that pushes any remaining water out of the speaker.
Audio Output
If you’ve paired Bluetooth headphones, speakers, or other audio devices with your watch, tap the audio output icon followed by the name of a device to direct the watch’s audio to that device (Figure 30).
Walkie Talkie
The Walkie Talkie app lets you talk in real time with another Apple Watch owner. Tap the Walkie Talkie button to turn the feature on. See Speak Using Walkie-Talkie.
Rearrange Control Center Icons
With 12 icons, you may find yourself frequently scrolling or swiping to get to the control you want. Tap the Edit button at the bottom of the list; the icons all start to jiggle. Drag the ones you use most often to the top—or arrange them however you like—and then tap Done.