9 Tips to Get the Most out of Your Apple Watch

Beyond answering calls, sending texts, and tracking fitness, the Apple Watch has a bunch of other nifty features. You can use it to capture selfies, manage apps, and customize your watch face, among other diversions. Here are some ways to make the most out of an Apple Watch.

Use Your Apple Watch to Find Your iPhone

It's easy to lose track of where you placed your iPhone. You can use your Apple Watch to ping its location, saving you a lot of time. To use the ping function, swipe up from the bottom of the watch display to bring up Control Center. Select the ping icon represented by an iPhone surrounded by vibration patterns. This will cause your iPhone to make a noise, hopefully allowing you to find it.

Silence Your Apple Watch in Meetings 

Also in Control Center is a Do Not Disturb function, represented by a crescent moon. This proves handy when you'd prefer not to have notifications and texts show up while you're talking to someone or enjoying some peace and quiet. Do Not Disturb prevents notifications from appearing for as long as it's activated. Just remember to turn it off when you'd like to continue receiving notifications.

Use Siri as a Timer

Siri is helpful for routine phone operations and hands-free tasks like cooking and exercising. Rather than setting a kitchen timer to tell you when your brownies are done, ask Siri to let you know when ten minutes are up. This can also come in handy when exercising—perhaps you'd like time your fastest mile or how many reps you can do in a minute.

Make Text Bigger

You can customize the text size to suit your eyesight. Select the Settings icon on your Apple Watch, then select Brightness & Text Size. Finally, select Text Size and adjust the size to your preference.

Turn Your Watch Into a Remote Viewfinder

Using the timer for iPhone photos is helpful, but sometimes framing the shot beforehand doesn't deliver the results you want. With the camera app on the Apple Watch, you can use the watch as a viewfinder, allowing you to see what you're camera sees.

Turn a Photo Into a Watch Face

You can make any image stored on your iPhone into a watch face. On your iPhone, navigate to Photos and select the image you'd like to make your watch face. Add it to your favorites by selecting the heart icon at the bottom of the screen. On your Apple Watch, navigate to the watch face menu by pressing and holding on the screen. Scroll through the options until you see your photo and select it.

Get Rid of Apps You Don't Use

You can remove apps from your Apple Watch the same way you remove apps from your iPhone. Press and hold the icon for the unwanted app until it begins to vibrate. Select the X icon and the app will be removed from your Apple Watch.

Write Your Own Text Message Responses

You can compose, save, and send prewritten text responses. These are helpful for when you need to quickly send out a basic text. On your iPhone, navigate to the Apple Watch app. Select Messages, then select Default Replies. From there, you can add whatever preset messages you'd like, then access them on your Watch by selecting Add Reply.

Put a Caller on Hold

If you don't want to answer a call immediately, or if you'd like to put an incoming caller on hold, select Answer on iPhone from the incoming call display. The caller will hear a sound indicating they've been put on hold, giving you time to locate or retrieve your iPhone.