If you have an iPhone, you probably already have an Apple Watch. Appleās distinctive wearable is the top-selling smartwatch in the world, despite the fact that you still need an iPhone to use it and the battery life lasts barely a day. There are many good reasons for that: It integrates seamlessly across other Apple devices, it tracks a robust suite of health and fitness metrics, and it works with all of your important apps. It helps that it comes in a wide array of beautiful colors, too.
Late to the game? No problem. If you just ordered your midrange SE or went for the discounted Series 7 ahead of the Series 8, you might be wondering how best to take advantage of your shiny new wrist accessory. Hereās our guide to get you started. Once youāve customized your watch, donāt forget to pick a few Apple Watch accessories to go with it.
Special offer for Gear readers: Get a 1-Year Subscription to WIRED for $5 ($25 off). This includes unlimited access to WIRED.com and our print magazine (if you'd like). Subscriptions help fund the work we do every day.
Setting Up Your Apple Watch
If you bought a new Apple Watch, you need an iPhone that can run iOS 15 or later. You can check what version youāre on by tapping Settings > General > Software Update. Here, you can also see whether you have an update waiting for you. The iPhone 6S or newer should work with any Apple Watch. Make sure that Bluetooth is toggled on and that youāre connected to Wi-Fi.
Next, turn on your Apple Watch by pressing and holding the flat side button. The Apple logo will appear. Youāll be instructed to use your iPhone to set up your new Apple Watch. From here, you can choose whether youāre setting up the watch for yourself or for a family member. You will also be asked whether youāre setting up a new Apple Watch, or whether you want to restore your settings from an old Apple Watch from a backup.
The watch will ask whether you want to sign in with your Apple ID and whether you want to create a PIN. You can skip either of these for now, but you might need your Apple ID for certain apps and youāll definitely need a PIN to use Apple Pay. If you choose to skip these steps, you can always go into the Watch app to do this at a later time. You can always pick your apps later, too. Wait for your Watch to sync and then youāre ready to go.
How to Use the Apple Watch
Your watch is on. Congratulations! Is there a red dot at the top of your watch? Someone has texted you. Swipe down to check your notifications. Swipe up to see the Control Center, which is where you can check battery life, click on Do Not Disturb, Airplane Mode, and the Water Lock button for when youāre hopping in the pool (though this isnāt necessary).Ā
Press the digital crown (the knob on the right of the watch) to see your apps. Press and hold it to activate Siri, or you can just say āHey Siri.ā Press the side button under the crown to see your recent apps, and hold it to send an Emergency SOS or power off the watch.
Customizing Your Watch Face, Complications, and Straps
Once you figure out how to use the Apple Watch, the first thing you probably want to do is customize your watch face. The easiest way to do this is to touch and hold the default watch face, then swipe left to add a new face to your watch.Ā
Most PopularThe 15 Best Electric Bikes for Every Kind of Ride
GearAdrienne So
The Best Lubes for Every Occasion
GearJaina Grey
The iPhone Is Finally Getting USB-C. Hereās What That Means
GearJulian Chokkattu
11 Great Deals on Sex Toys, Breast Pumps, and Smart Lights
GearJaina Grey
Unlike Android smartwatches, Apple doesnāt let you create third-party watch faces. However, there are plenty to choose from, and you can also now add third-party complications. Faces like Contour maximize the bigger display size by squishing clock numbers up aaaaall the way to the bezel. However, my favorite way to take advantage of the big display on the Series 7 is the Portrait face.
You can edit your watch face right from the watch, but it's easier to choose and edit it in the Watch app on your iPhone. Click the Face Gallery tab at the bottom. Select Portraits, then select your photos. The photos will crop and focus on the people in them. Your complications, like the date and time, will cleverly integrate themselves within the portrait, peeking out from behind the subject's head or around their faces. You can pick which complications you want, like the date or time, or even pick a monochrome color filter. When youāve arranged it to your liking, click Set as Current Watch Face.
If youāre a more practical person, you can set your face to Siri to see your tasks throughout the day. Or if youāre less practical, you can do something that only a serial killer would do, like set your watch face to your Memoji. You can also increase the text size by heading to the Settings app on the watch (the gray gear icon), tapping on Display & Brightness, and then scrolling with the digital crown to increase or decrease the text size.Ā
The bands on your Apple Watch are just as important to customize as the watch face. Unfortunately, Apple has a proprietary system, so you can't just use any strap for the Apple Watch. They're easy to swap out thoughāclick the buttons on the back side of the watch to slide the straps out. Our Best Apple Watch Accessories guide has a few recommendations if you don't know where to start.Ā
How to Toggle on Health Features on the Apple Watch
The main reason to buy an Apple Watch is that itās one of the best fitness trackers. Apple's proprietary activity rings gameāwhere you move, exercise, and stand to close each of three rings on the watchāis addictive and has resulted in many an Apple Watch user marching in circles around their kitchen island late at night. It integrates with Appleās Fitness+ subscription fitness platform, and the latest WatchOS update includes many new features that are specifically running- and triathlon-friendly.
Most PopularThe 15 Best Electric Bikes for Every Kind of Ride
GearAdrienne So
The Best Lubes for Every Occasion
GearJaina Grey
The iPhone Is Finally Getting USB-C. Hereās What That Means
GearJulian Chokkattu
11 Great Deals on Sex Toys, Breast Pumps, and Smart Lights
GearJaina Grey
But if youāre just getting started on your fitness journey, the first thing you need to do is set up your Emergency SOS, Fall Detection, and Irregular Rhythm Notifications. Open the Health app on your iPhone. Click on your profile picture and then Medical ID. Click Edit to add your emergency contact. To use Emergency SOS, hold down your watchās side button until three sliding toggle buttons appear: Power Off, Medical ID, or Emergency SOS. If you pick SOS, Apple alerts nearby emergency services and sends them your current location. Remember, this only works if your watch has cellular services. Otherwise, you need your phone nearby.
To set up fall detection, open the Watch app, tap Emergency SOS and toggle on Fall Detection. You can select if you want the watch to detect your falls all the time, or just during workouts. If the Apple Watch senses youāve fallen hard, it will then ask you if you want to call emergency services. To turn on irregular heart rhythm notifications, or alerts if your heart rate is too slow or too fast, open the Settings app on your watch and then Heart.
The next thing you might want to do is tinker with your activity rings goals. To do that, open the Activity app on your Apple Watch. Scroll down to select Change Goals. You can then tick your Move goal to burn more or fewer calories; your Exercise goal to exercise for more or fewer minutes per day; and your Stand goal to be more or less than the default 12 hours.
Maybe you got the Apple Watch because you want to use Fitness+, since you canāt use the service without an Apple Watch. You can select workouts on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV and youāll be able to see your Activity Rings and heart rate on the screen. If youāre using an Apple TV, select a workout with the remote, then open the Workout app on your iPhone and pair it with the code onscreen.Ā
To start a workout with or without Fitness+, open the Workout app and tap which workout youād like. You can also scroll to the bottom and Add Workout if you donāt see your exercise of choice on the screen. You can also share workouts and accomplishments with your friends in the app.Ā
How to Utilize Apps and Notifications on the Apple Watch
I have to get real with you: I canāt tell you how youāre going to use your Apple Watch. For example, I use mine primarily to set timers for cooking, check my texts, and work out, so Iāve set my apps and notifications to the bare minimum. This isnāt to say that my watch doesnāt work hard, because Iām often getting turn-by-turn directions on Maps while recording an Outdoor Cycle workout, listening to Podcasts, and checking the Messages app simultaneously.Ā
Most PopularThe 15 Best Electric Bikes for Every Kind of Ride
GearAdrienne So
The Best Lubes for Every Occasion
GearJaina Grey
The iPhone Is Finally Getting USB-C. Hereās What That Means
GearJulian Chokkattu
11 Great Deals on Sex Toys, Breast Pumps, and Smart Lights
GearJaina Grey
However, if you use yours to run errands, you might want the Notes for Watch app to check your grocery lists. If you frequently do field work, you might use Voice Memos and the Camera Remote a lot. Some apps also look great on the watch; others, not so much. It will take some experimentation.Ā
To pick and choose which apps to put on your watch, open the Watch app on your phone and pick General. Toggle off Automatic App Install. Go back to My Watch, and scroll through the list of available apps on your phone to pick and choose. Probably the easiest way to delete apps on the Apple Watch is to press the digital crown, tap and hold the screen, and then tap Edit Apps and delete the ones youāre not using. This is also how you can change the app drawer viewāif the app cluster is too confusing, tap List View to see all your apps in an alphabetized list.Ā
To manage your notifications, go to the Watch app and scroll to each individual app. Click on the app to allow notifications, turn them off, or group them. Each app has its own set of notification settingsāfor example, with some you may only have the option to mirror your iPhoneāso you will have to manage them individually (or you could simply delete them all).
As you use your Apple Watch, you will probably discover some serendipitous ways that your iOS devices work together. For example, you can use Face ID to unlock your Apple Watch. My 7-year-old likes using Digital Touch to text drawings to random people in my texts, for some reason. To keep an eye out for new ideas, I suggest regularly checking the Tips app on your watch. There will usually be something new to tryāand maybe something youāll like.
Update, September 7 at 12 am EDT: A previous version of this story stated that you can use the Notes app on the Apple Watch. Notes for Watch is a 3rd party app.Ā