Hey,
It’s Pete Matheson with a new issue of Experiments in Progress.
New Apple Watch? Give me two minutes of reading and I'll save you six months of stumbling into settings by accident.
This is the exact order I'd set one up in — the obvious stuff, plus a few settings I think most people never find.
My Day-One Apple Watch Setup Checklist
✅ Do the setup from your phone, not your wrist
Open the Watch app, go to General → Software Update, and get onto the latest WatchOS before anything else.
While you're there, check Apps — a pile of old iPhone apps might be quietly trying to install their Watch counterparts. Pause the ones you don't use; it saves time and keeps your app list clean.
✅ Pick your face properly
Don't just leave whatever loads by default.
Watch app → Face Gallery, sorted into New, Health & Fitness, Photos, Clean and Data Rich.
I go Data Rich — I want the information, not the aesthetic. Give it five minutes; there's something for every kind of person, including the new Siri Modular face if you haven't seen it yet.
✅ Turn on Swipe to Switch Watch Face
By default, changing faces is tap–hold–wait–swipe–tap. With this on (Settings → Clock → Swipe to Switch Watch Faces), you just swipe.
Suddenly three or four faces — one for work, one for the gym, one for evenings — actually becomes useful instead of annoying. (Skip this one if you've got a toddler who likes grabbing your wrist.)
✅ Audit your notifications before they audit your sanity
Out of the box, your watch buzzes for everything your phone buzzes for.
Watch app → Notifications → Mirror iPhone Alerts From, switch it off, then go through the list app by app.
Turning something off here doesn't stop it notifying your phone — it just stops it tapping your wrist. Be ruthless. I've turned off more than half of mine.
✅ Turn on Optimised Battery Charging
It's under Settings → Battery → Battery Health on the watch itself.
It learns when you usually take it off the charger and holds it around 80% until shortly before, instead of sitting at 100% all night. You'll never notice it working — that's the point.
✅ Learn Double Tap and Wrist Flick
Pinch your finger and thumb together twice to scroll your Smart Stack or open a notification — do it again mid-message and it drops you into dictation.
A flick of the wrist mutes a call or clears whatever's on screen without touching it. Once these click, you stop reaching for the watch with your other hand.
The Settings Nobody Talks About
🔍 Flip your crown side
Most people assume orientation is tied to which wrist you wear it on — it isn't.
General → Watch Orientation lets you set your wrist and your Digital Crown side independently.
Worth trying if you keep bumping the crown when you turn your wrist.
🔍 Tap to Show Full Notification
This one's genuinely about privacy.
With it on (Notifications → Tap to Show Full Notification), a message shows you who it's from but not what it says until you tap it.
Handy the moment you're stood next to someone and your watch lights up with something you didn't mean to broadcast.
🔍 Cover to Mute
Palm flat over the screen for a couple of seconds instantly silences a call, alarm or timer — no fumbling.
It's on by default; I just don't think anyone knows it's there until someone shows them.
🔍 Turn off "Listen for Siri"
Settings → Siri → Listen For.
If you're usually near your phone or a HomePod anyway, there's no reason for your watch to be listening for the wake word too — sometimes it takes over a conversation your phone was already handling. You can still summon Siri by holding the Crown.
🔍 Set up Unlock your Mac
If your Mac's docked and closed, or you don't have a Touch ID keyboard, this is the login shortcut you're not using.
On the Mac: System Settings → Touch ID & Password → toggle your watch on. On the Watch app: Passcode → Unlock with iPhone. Wear the watch, unlock it once with Face ID, and every Mac nearby just… unlocks.
🎯 The 30-Second Version
If you only do one thing… | Do this |
|---|---|
Fix your notifications | Turn off Mirror iPhone Alerts, then audit app by app |
Make the battery last years, not months | Optimised Battery Charging |
Feel less clumsy on the wrist | Learn Double Tap + Wrist Flick |
Protect what's on your screen in public | Tap to Show Full Notification |
Stop your watch listening in | Turn off "Listen for Siri" |
Skip typing your Mac password | Set up Unlock your Mac |
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