I’ve been wearing Apple Watch models for years and never took them off silent. I don’t need the wearable to ding with every notification of the few that make it to the Apple Watch. Also, I don’t want it to make any noise while exercising or sleeping. The vibrations are enough to inform me that something needs my attention, another kilometer has gone by, or one of my morning alarms is going off.
The latter can be a great way to have an alarm wake you in the morning without sounds or without bothering others. It’s also a way to miss said alarm in some cases. I know people don’t appreciate this Apple Watch behavior when the iPhone’s alarms break silent mode.
Thankfully, Apple is fixing the problem via the watchOS 11.4 update that’s going to be released soon now that the RC version of the software is out.
Once you update the wearable, your Apple Watch will play a sound even when silent, which will be great news to some iPhone owners.
iPhone alarms passing through the Sleep/Wake Up schedule to the Apple Watch will not ring on the wearable if it’s on silent. They won’t ring on the iPhone either, even though you can set additional alarms that are not tied to the Sleep/Wake Up schedule, and they’ll all play sound.
It’s dumb, really, that you can’t force the Sleep/Wake Up alarm, which is probably your main alarm, to play sound if you’re using an Apple Watch and if the wearable is muted.
Thankfully, all of that is changing come the next Apple Watch update. The watchOS 11.4 Release Candidate mentions the new Apple Watch feature, as spotted by 9to5Mac:
An option to allow Sleep Wake Up alarm to break through Silent Mode
I have multiple alarms in the morning because I can and will sleep through the main one. There will be days when I ignore that Sleep/Wake Up alarm so quickly that I probably could set a record of some sort. I will not even snooze it; that’s how fast I go back to sleep. It’s especially easy because the alarm makes no sound when I wear the Watch. And I always wear it because I want to track my sleep.
That’s where alarm sidekicks from the iPhone come in. They’re the real heroes. They’ll blast through the iPhone speakers, forcing me to acknowledge them. No easy way to ignore those.
The thing is, I don’t want the Sleep/Wake Up alarm to fail me as described above. I want it to ring on the iPhone and/or Apple Watch despite any silent settings. And yes, the iPhone is mute 99% of the time.
I’ve already installed watchOS 11.4 RC, as I’m on the beta program. But the update should be available to most people in the coming days.
