There's An Easy Way To Mute Your Apple Watch When It Won't Stop Going Off

The Apple Watch is an extension of your iPhone, letting you answer calls, reply to messages, and access your favorite apps right from your wrist. As a result, your Apple Watch may frequently send you alerts and notifications, just like your smartphone. These alerts can be useful, letting you quickly glance at your watch instead of looking at your phone. However, they can also be disturbing, particularly when you're out in public.

Apple does let you silence alerts on your Apple Watch, in which case your watch will only vibrate on your wrist for incoming notifications instead of ringing. If you've forgotten to silence alerts or enable Do Not Disturb, though, your Apple Watch might go off when you're in a meeting or at an event. While you can silence notifications on your Apple Watch in the Control Center, there is an easier way to do this. A quick gesture will let you mute your Apple Watch when it makes a sound, but you need to activate the feature in settings before using it.

Apple lets you cover your Apple Watch with your palm to quickly mute sounds. In order to use the feature, first make sure it's enabled in the Watch app on your iPhone. Here's how:

1. Open the Watch app.
2. In the My Watch tab, tap Sounds & Haptics.
3. Swipe up to find the setting and turn on the toggle next to Cover to Mute.

Once the setting is enabled, follow these steps to use the Cover to Mute feature:

1. When you receive an alert, cover your Apple Watch display with your palm.
2. Keep your palm resting on the display for at least three seconds.
3. You'll feel a vibration to confirm that your Apple Watch has been muted.

Your Apple Watch will now stay muted until you unmute it. To enable notification sounds again, open Control Center by swiping up from the bottom of the screen (watchOS 9 or earlier) or by pressing the side button (watchOS 10). Tap the bell icon to unmute your Apple Watch. It's worth noting that if you have an Apple Watch running watchOS 9.4 or later, any wake-up alarms will not be silenced when you use Cover to Mute, given that the gesture can be accidentally activated while you're asleep.