Gmail has an amazing Google Calendar feature that speeds up the process of setting up appointments, and I plan on using it all the time. But that feature alone won’t get you to a meeting on time. Thankfully, there’s a great Apple Watch trick that will ensure you’ll never be late for your appointments again. The feature is especially useful if you’re always running late.
The trick relies on your ability to lie to yourself and have technology assist with that lie. Specifically, you’ll run your Apple Watch fast. That way, panic will set in more quickly, and you could get going to your next destination earlier than you have to. The result might be that you get there on time. Or that you’re not as late as you usually are.
The Apple Watch trick is something Apple actually supports for this purpose.
Here’s how you set the Apple Watch ahead of the actual time: head to the Settings app on your wearable and tap the Clock menu. You’ll want to tap the +0 min and then use the Digital Crown to adjust the number of minutes. When you’re done, tap the green tick icon.
The Settings app will inform you that you’ll still receive all notifications on time. The alarms will also work correctly, per Apple’s support document. The Apple Watch will know the correct time, as synced with the internet, but it’ll display the last time on the watch face, according to your needs.
This is the way of setting up your Apple Watch fast correctly. As Cult of Mac points out, there’s also a wrong way to do it. You could turn off the automatic date and time feature and set the time of your watch to whatever you like.
Choosing this option means you might set in motion a set of events you might not appreciate. Your Apple Watch will not adjust to time zone changes automatically. And it won’t adjust to daylight saving time changes either.
The obvious problem with setting the Apple Watch to be a few minutes fast is that you now have to believe the lie. A quick look at the iPhone will tell you the correct time. Again, no point in messing with the iPhone’s time by turning off the automatic date and time feature.
Also, you’ll always know that your Apple Watch is set to show you the wrong time, so you avoid the risk of being late. Hopefully, the more time you use your Apple Watch like that, the less you’ll think about it showing the wrong time when you check it.
