Apple Watch tips: 3 simple tricks everyone should know

Apple Watch does so much that it’s possible for some of its handy tricks to get lost. You can’t call these three Apple Watch tips  marquee features. But they can make life just a bit more convenient.

Here’s how to turn on the flashlight, find your iPhone and silence alarms on your iPhone from an Apple Watch.

Apple Watch tips: Make your smartwatch more useful

Most Apple Watch users quickly master the features they bought the wearable for. They figure out the ins and outs of activity tracking and get themselves in shape. Or maybe they learn to send and receive texts from Apple Watch.

But the Apple Watch can do so much that it’s easy to overlook some of its capabilities. Even ones that might be considered basic.

This trio of Apple Watch tips includes things all Apple Watch owners should know.

Use your Apple Watch as a flashlight

Surely, every iPhone user knows there’s a flashlight built into their handset. But it might come as a surprise to some that Apple Watch has one, too. Activating it is as simple as swiping up from the bottom of the wearable’s watch face to open Control Center, then tapping the flashlight button.

This makes the watch’s display light up bright white. The result isn’t as intense as an iPhone LED, but it’s always with you whenever you need it.

Read the full Cult of Mac guide to the Apple Watch flashlight for more details.

Find iPhone with Apple Watch

If you’re wearing an Apple watch, you really can’t misplace your iPhone. That’s because you can always set off an audible alarm on the handset with the wearable. And it’s quicker and easier than using Find My.

As with the flashlight, start by opening your Apple Watch’s Control Center by swiping up from the bottom of the watch face. Then press the button that looks like an iPhone playing a sound.

The sound is loud enough to be heard from across a house. If that’s not enough, you can even make your iPhone’s camera flash on and off. To do so, simply tap and hold that same icon. That will add a blinking light to the pinging sound, which proves especially useful in dark places. If you’re still having difficulties locating your handset, switch to Find My.

For all the details, check Cult of Mac’s guide on how to find an iPhone with Apple Watch.

Cancel timers and alarms on iPhone

The iPhone makes a convenient kitchen timer. It’s 100% accurate, so you don’t have to worry about burning the biscuits. And the iPhone is the only alarm clock you ever need. But if a timer or alarm goes off when your iPhone isn’t right next to you, you can silence it from your Apple Watch with this tip. Or start it again.

This one is easy because you don’t have to do anything to set it up. When a timer starts going off on the iPhone, it’ll also appear on your Apple Watch. Tap on the stop button or the reset button on the wearable to control the timer on the handset.

Alarms work the same way. You can stop or snooze an iPhone alarm right from the wearable.

There’s a good chance you know about these two because the Apple Watch vibrates to get your attention when an iPhone timer or alarm goes off. Still, it doesn’t hurt to be sure everyone knows about such a useful feature.

Go all through the Apple Watch Control Center

Two out of the three Apple Watch tips described here are in the Apple Watch’s Control Center. If either of them were new to you, it’s worth your time to check all the buttons in the Control Center to be sure you know what they all do.

Like, do you know what the button with the comedy and tragedy masks does? If not, you should find out — you might find theater mode very useful next time you go to La Scala. And everyone can use the remote camera shutter. It’s brilliant.

We originally published this post on three basic Apple Watch tips on June 29, 2023. We updated the information.