I’ve had my Apple Watch for a little while now, and I have really found myself relying heavily on it as a device primarily for notifications.
The one thing that has really bothered me, however, is the somewhat random nature in which notifications are delivered to The Watch. I’m not sure I want all notifications to go to the watch, but I’d certainly like to know why some don’t end up on my watch and others do.
Finally I thought I’d take the time to find out, since I happen to be doing a lot of work lately with push notifications in iOS and I was wondering why certain notifications were delivered on my watch and others weren’t.
Turns out Apple has a little explainer on their support site that addresses that very subject:
In a nutshell the rules go like this:
- If your iPhone is unlocked, you’ll get notifications on your iPhone – not your Apple Watch.
- If your iPhone is locked or asleep, you’ll get notifications on your Apple Watch, unless your Apple Watch is locked (i.e. you haven’t entered your passcode).
As a side note, the support article also mentions the following:
When you dismiss notifications on your Apple Watch, they’re also dismissed from your iPhone. You might get certain notifications on your watch that you need to respond to using your iPhone.
I hope this helps others who may have been a little mystified about how notifications work on Apple Watch!