Apple Watch is a great device that lets you stay connected even when your phone is not around. However, there are some cases where notifications may not be getting through to the watch. In this article, we will troubleshoot the problem and show you how to fix it!
Apple Watch is the finest smartwatch in the market when it comes to features and looks. Almost everyone wants one. And the users who already own one have spent plenty of time understanding the features and functions of the premium watch.
Normally, the Apple watch when paired to an iPhone, works smoothly when it comes to notifications regarding calls, texts, and app alerts. However, troubles may arise when your Apple Watch stops getting notifications due to some common errors or technical issues.
We present a complete troubleshooting guide for the same issue in this post and hope it solves your problem effortlessly.
Troubleshooting guide: What should you do if your Apple Watch isn’t receiving notifications, text messages, or e-mails?
“My iPhone is receiving notifications, but my watch isn’t.”
If you are facing this issue with the latest version of iOS and watchOS, then it could be because of these reasons.
Make sure that your smartphone has an active internet connection. If there’s no active internet connection on your phone, then the Apple Watch would also not receive any notifications.
Check Do Not Disturb Mode
While troubleshooting, it is best to start with the easiest and the most basic ones and climb our way to the tricky and complicated hacks. There is a “Do Not Disturb” mode available in the settings of your Apple Watch that is meant to protect you from any distractions and disturbances when you need to focus on something or attend a meeting or an event.
This will stop all the notifications, text messages, and Email incomings to your Apple Watch. So, it is quite possible that you might have turned on the “Do Not Disturb” feature for a particular reason and forgot to turn it off.
Steps to revert the Do Not Disturb Mode setting:
- Go to your Apple Watch.
- Make sure you are on the main watch face on your Apple Watch by pressing the Digital Crown.
- On your Apple Watch, swipe up from the bottom of the watch screen to access the Control Center
- You will see a crescent moon icon among the list of icons. Make sure it is not purple. If it is purple then “Do Not Disturb” mode is enabled and you will have to tap on it to disable it.
If this fixes your problem, then Kudos! If not, then let us move to the next solution.
Disable the Airplane Mode :
If the Apple Watch is in airplane mode, you will not get notifications. Check if airplane mode is not active on the watch. This can be done by swiping up from the bottom of the screen to open Control Center and checking if the airplane mode toggle is turned on. If it is, then turn it off by tapping on the icon. If you are using the watch outside of your country or traveling to another location temporarily, make sure that Airplane Mode is turned off on your device.
Reboot your iPhone and Apple Watch
Rebooting the system often fixes lots of issues. It is one of the easiest ways to fix many issues and in most cases, it works fine. So, this issue of your Apple Watch not getting notifications might also be solved by simply restarting your devices.
Steps to Rebooting your Apple Watch
- Unlock your Apple Watch
- Now, Press and hold down the button on the side of the watch and keep holding like that unless Power Menu Appears
- Now, simply slide the slider on the Apple Watch screen to power off the watch
- Now that the Apple Watch is turned off, you need to start it again.
- Again, Press and hold the same button on the side and keep the hold until Apple Logo Appears on the watch screen. Your Apple Watch reboot is complete.
Steps to Rebooting your iPhone
- Press the power button on the side of your iPhone for a while until the turn-off slider appears on the screen
- Now, slide the slider all the way to the right to turn off the device
- Once the iPhone is turned off, simply press the power button for a few seconds again and the Apple Logo will flash on the screen.
- The iPhone is now rebooted completely.
If the rebooting hacks don’t work, check out the next troubleshooting tricks.
Check the connection between your iPhone and the Apple Watch
Your Apple Watch receives the notifications that originally come to your iPhone first. An iPhone can only send app notifications, texts, and emails to your Apple Watch if both of them are connected via Bluetooth.
If for some reason or by accident, the Bluetooth on your Apple Watch on the iPhone is turned off, there won’t be any connection between them and your Apple Watch won’t get any notifications. So, simply checking the Bluetooth status on either of the devices might do the job for you.
Also, there is a fixed range of distance for which the Bluetooth connection works fine. As the distance increases the connection gets fainter and finally drops down. The Bluetooth strength varies from model to model.
- Apple Watch Series 7, Series 6, Series 5, and Series 4 use Bluetooth 5.0 technology
- Indoors – 300 to 400 m range
- Outdoor – approx. 1000 m range
- Apple Watch Series 3 uses Bluetooth 4.2 technology
- Indoors – 40 to 50 meters range
- Outdoor – approx. 100 meters range
- Apple Watch Series 2 and Series 1 use Bluetooth 4.0 version chip
- Indoors – 30 to 50 meters range
- Outdoor – around 100 meters of range
Check for the App’s Permissions for notifications
There might be a situation when notifications from particular apps are not showing on your Apple Watch. If this is the case where you get notification alerts for most of the apps except one or two, then you might have turned off the app’s permission to show notifications. Once the permission is blocked, the apps cannot send notifications to your Apple Watch.
Steps to enable the blocked notification settings for apps on Apple watch using the iPhone
Here is how you can turn on the blocked notification settings for apps on Apple watch using the iPhone:
- Unlock your iPhone and go to the Apple Watch App on the iPhone
- Tap on the My Watch tab in the app and find the notifications section
- Once you find it, tap on it.
- You can see a list of apps. Now, tap on the app for which you want to enable the notifications
- Now, you will get notifications from these apps that were blocked earlier
- For apps such as Messages, enable the “Mirror my iPhone” option
- If you have decided to use some custom settings, make sure that Allows Notifications, Haptic, and Sound are enabled (depending on your preferences)
- For third-party apps, you will have to enable “Mirror iPhone Alerts from:” for those particular apps.
Check the Orientation of your Apple Watch on your wrist
Apple Watch is a state-of-the-art device that comes with its intricacies and ways of doing things. Your Apple Watch will only get notifications from apps on your iPhone when it is unlocked and you wear it correctly on your wrist.
Orientation of the Apple Watch on your wrist is the key here. Make sure you wear the watch correctly on your wrist by ensuring that the digital crown is towards your fingers. If the orientation is not right, the sensors won’t perform as desired and you won’t receive any notifications.
As silly as it sounds, some users often wear their Apple Watch incorrectly in a hurry. So, it is a common issue after all.
Ensure that your Apple Watch is unlocked
Notifications are not meant to be sent to an Apple Watch that is locked by a passcode. Instead, it will be sent to the paired iPhone. If you see a tiny lock icon on the main watch face of your Apple Watch, that means that your Apple Watch has been locked using a passcode.
You will need to unlock your Apple Watch by entering the correct passcode and you will immediately start receiving the notifications if this was the actual reason.
Also, you need to bear in mind that you will only get notifications on your Apple Watch when the iPhone is locked or in sleep mode. If you are using your iPhone, then the alerts or notifications will appear on your iPhone rather than your Apple Watch.
Update your device software: iOS and watchOS
At times, you might not get notifications and alerts on your Apple Watch due to some bug or glitch in the current WatchOS. It is also vital that both your devices (your iPhone and your Apple Watch) are running on the latest versions of their respective Operating Systems (iOS and WatchOS).
To update WatchOS using your Apple Watch, make sure that your Apple Watch has at least 50 percent battery or higher for the update process. Do not disconnect the charger during the update download and installation. Make sure the WiFi connection is strong and stable.
- Open Settings on your Apple Watch and tap on the General option from the menu.
- Now, tap on the Software Update in the General Menu
- Your Apple Watch will take a while to search and check for any available updates.
- If the update for WatchOS is available, tap on the “Download and Install” option
- After the downloading is complete for the update on your Apple Watch, tap on the Install followed by a tap on the Proceed option
- Wait for the installation to complete and your WatchOS will be updated to the latest version.
Steps to update WatchOS using your iPhone
- Open the Apple Watch App on your iPhone and Tap on General
- Tap on the Software Update option
- Now, tap on Download and Install option. If you see a “Install Now” option then the update has already been downloaded and you can simply tap on it and follow along to complete the update task.
Steps to Update iOS on your iPhone
- Open the Settings on your iPhone.
- From there, Go to General and then Software Update
- Search for an available update for iOS. If an update is available or waiting, simply download and install it.
- Once both your Apple Watch and the iPhone have been upgraded to the latest OS versions, reboot them. You might start getting notifications again.
Disable the “Cover to Mute” option
Just like the “Do Not Disturb” Option, the “Cover to Mute” option too disables or blocks incoming notifications on your Apple Watch. To make sure it is disabled on your Apple Watch:
- Open your iPhone and go to the Apple Watch app.
- Navigate to the My Watch section and tap on the “Sounds and Haptics” option.
- See if the “Cover to Mute” option is disabled or not. If it is enabled, simply toggle it off.
Unpair your Apple Watch and repair it again to your iPhone
This is another tricky method and can be used if none of the simple methods listed above works for you. You can unpair your Apple Watch from your iPhone and pair it again.
Steps to unpairing the Apple Watch using the iPhone
- Go to the Apple Watch app on your iPhone
- Tap on the My Watch tab
- In the top left section, tap on the All Watches option
- Now, tap on the “i” icon next to the watch you want to unpair
- Choose the “Unpair Apple Watch” option
- If you have a cellular version of the Apple Watch, you can choose to keep it (if you want to pair them again) or simply remove the plan.
- Next, Tap on “Unpair Yourname’s Apple Watch” and enter the Apple ID password when prompted. This will remove the activation lock.
- Now, your iPhone will create a backup of your Apple Watch, and might take a while for the process to complete.
- Once the backup is created completely, your Apple Watch and iPhone will be unpaired successfully.
Steps to unpair your Apple Watch without using the iPhone
- This method has an obvious downside. There won’t be any backup created and the activation lock will stay (which can be removed later via the iCloud)
- Press the Digital Crown on your Apple Watch to see all the apps and tap on the Settings.
- From there, tap on General and scroll all the way to the bottom to tap on the Reset option
- Next, tap on Erase All Contents and Settings
- For Cellular versions of the Apple Watch, you get to choose between keeping or removing the cellular plan
- Scroll down and tap on “Erase All” and confirm using your passcode if prompted
- Your Apple Watch will now be unpaired
- Once the unpairing is complete, freshly start the pairing process. This should solve your problem of not getting notifications on your Apple Watch
Try Resetting the Sync Data
If notifications related to your Calendar events or contacts are not appearing on your Apple Watch then, you can try a more drastic measure of resyncing your Apple Watch with your iPhone. With the resyncing process, the data status on both the devices is refreshed and it might just work for you to solve the notification issue.
Steps to reset the sync data using your iPhone
Here is how you can reset the sync data using your iPhone:
- Unlock your iPhone and go to the Apple Watch App
- Tap on the General Section and find Reset Option
- Once you find it, tap on it
- Now find the “Reset Sync Data” option and tap on it
- It will take some time for the resetting to complete
- That’s it. Your devices are not resynced.
Contact Apple Support (As a last resort)
While it is highly unlikely, there is a chance that none of the methods above worked for you. If this is the case, it is time to get more serious and call in the big guns. You will have to contact Apple Support. Their expertise and personalized help may help you tackle your issue once and for all.
I am hopeful that the methods I have listed will get the job done for you. While some of the tricks are quite simple, some users get confused or overwhelmed with the features on their Apple Watch which leads to common errors which may sound silly to others. Nevertheless, you should be able to get notifications on your Apple Watch once again!!
Whatsapp notifications not showing on apple watch:
How do I get WhatsApp notifications on my Apple Watch?
To get WhatsApp notifications on the Apple Watch, go to Settings -> To enable Whatsapp notifications on the Apple Watch, turn off and then re-enable WhatsApp notification settings.
Enable WhatsApp notifications on Apple Watch:
- Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone
- Tap Notifications > WhatsApp, then tap “Custom” at the top of the screen.
- Toggle off Allow Notifications and Sounds, wait a few seconds, then toggle them back on.
- If that doesn’t work, try deleting and reinstalling the app.
Types of apple notifications and What does it contain?
Notification is a message you receive on your Apple Watch to alert you about something. For example, if you get an email to your Gmail account, the Apple Watch will ding and show you a notification of an incoming email.
There are different types of notifications that can come through on your apple watch:
- Text messages (SMS)
- Emails
- Phone calls
- Calendar alerts/appointments or reminders from the Reminders app
- Facebook notifications
- Twitter notifications
- Weather alerts
Frequently Asked Question
How do I reset my Apple Watch?
If restarting your apple watch doesn’t work, try resetting it. This will erase all data and settings from your device.
To reset your Apple Watch:
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone
- Tap General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings
- Enter your passcode, if prompted.
- Tap Erase to confirm.
Why is my Apple Watch not notifying me of Text Messages?
If you’re not receiving any text message notifications on your Apple Watch, there are some things you can try.
Make sure that the “Do Not Disturb” mode is disabled on your Apple Watch.
Also, check if the notification for the Message app is blocked or disabled on the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
Make sure that the “Cover to Mute” option is disabled in the haptics section of the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
As a more advanced step (if none of the three methods work), you can try resyncing option which will resync the data between your iPhone and Apple Watch.
Can I Block Notifications from Certain Apps for Apple Watch?
Yes, with Apple Watch the level of personalization you can achieve is insane. You can use the Apple Watch app on your iPhone to selectively block notifications from certain apps to appear on your Apple Watch while keeping the remaining apps enabled.
Here is how you can block Notifications from Certain Apps for Apple Watch:
- Open your iPhone and open the Apple Watch App
- Tap on the My Watch section then finds the notifications option.
- You can see a list of available apps. Now, tap on the app for which you want to block the notifications on your Apple Watch
- The corresponding setting will be enabled on your Apple Watch too.
What does cover to mute mean?
The cover-to-mute feature is a gesture on the Apple Watch that lets you quickly silence alerts and notifications. When this setting is enabled, any time your wrist is covered with the watch’s screen, it will automatically mute all sounds and vibrations from alerts and notifications.
To disable this feature, open the Settings app on your Apple Watch, then tap Sounds & Haptics and toggle the switch next to Cover to Mute.
Is there a difference between Restarting and Resetting it?
Restarting your Apple Watch will turn off the device, then turn it back on again. This is different from resetting your watch which will erase all data and settings. While restarting your watch can clear up minor problems, you may want to try resetting the device if a restart doesn’t work.
Restarting vs Resetting an Apple Watch: What’s the Difference?
If your Apple Watch isn’t working the way it’s supposed to, you may need to restart or reset it.
Restarting an Apple Watch turns off the device and then turns it back on again. Resetting an Apple Watch erases all data and settings from the watch.
A restart is a good choice if you’re having minor problems with your watch, while a reset should be used if more drastic measures are needed.
