Apple Watch not getting notifications

I had the same problem, then I fixed it. Turn off cover to mute located in the apple watch app on the iphone. It's going to be under the Sounds and Haptics selection. Once you turn it off, and you get your notifications on the watch, feel free to turn it back on. Hopefully this helps!

Hi just spent 3 hours with tech support trying to solve this on a brand new series 3 with iPhone 7 Plus. The result was senior level support saying that if I had a passcode on ( for security as is recommended) then email and text notifications would be disabled. If this is true it is a huge design flaw. Security of a passcode should never have to be left off. If you can’t get email notifications while phone is in pocket what is the point? This can’t be right!

If you are not yet doing so, you might wish to use these settings:

On your iPhone, in the Watch app, go to: My Watch (tab) > Passcode:

• Turn Wrist Detection on.
• Turn Passcode on.
• Enable Unlock with iPhone.

After putting it on your wrist, your Apple Watch will then unlock after whatever you do first: either unlocking your watch manually (by entering the passcode) or unlocking your iPhone. It will then remain unlocked (including when the screen is asleep) until you remove it from your wrist. When you remove your watch, it will lock automatically.

How notifications behave depends on the status of your devices and your settings. With Wrist Detection enabled, in order to bring notifications to your attention as soon as possible:

• If your iPhone is unlocked, you will receive notifications on your iPhone instead of on your watch.
• If your iPhone is locked or asleep and your watch is unlocked (regardless of whether the watch screen is asleep or awake) and on your wrist, you will receive notifications on your watch.
• If your watch is locked or has Do Not Disturb enabled, notifications will go to your iPhone.

More information:

Notifications on your Apple Watch - Apple Support

I had the sameness problem with my Apple Watch 3. Fixed it by turning off wrist detection. I had heard a long time ago that there are problems with wrist detection especially if you have any tattoos on your wrist but I had forgotten this info. Now I get all of my notifications on both devices.

I restarted my Apple Watch and the notifications kicked back in.

It was the first time I'd restarted it since I've been using it (3 weeks).

See here how to restart:

Restart your Apple Watch - Apple Support

It doesn't work for me whether it is on Mirror my iPhone or Custom

I had same issue as most here on watch 3. The only thing that fixed it for me was to reset the watch but keeping data plan, hard reset phone and re-pair and set up as new watch. Seems to be something corrupted in the backups the watch and phone made. Hope this helps somebody :-)

Hey Guys, Anyone not getting notifications should try to switch off wrist detection in the general settings tab on the apple watch app on the iPhone. I have not been getting notifications of any sort until I switched that feature off, I am now getting all my notifications. I tried everything all sorts of resets and this is what fixed it for me.

If this fix does work for you then I believe that your infra red sensor which detects your wrist is not working properly.

Wow, this actually seems to have worked around the problem that started for me after upgrading to an iPhone 6S Plus… It'd be nice to know what's going on so I can re-enable the feature. I'd try resetting my Watch but I just went through the verification gauntlet with Apple Pay. 😝

Tip: If upgrading from an iPhone 5S, re-add your cards using the Wallet app, and then use the Watch app to add your cards from the Wallet app to your Watch. Do not re-add cards using only the Watch app because it doesn't work, or at least didn't work for me (even though it seems like a valid use case since Apple allows it).

Thanks!

EExactly right. If my phone is open and on, no notifications. With my phone in my pocket, works like a charm. Like so many people with a new watch, we want to see things happen and we have the phone on. The watch doesn't work. I read a forum and went to the hassle or re pairing my phone. No help. That's because my phone was one. Problem solved.

Had the same problem and turning of wrist detection didn't do the trick for me. What did work is turning on the "Show on lock screen" slider in your notifications settings.

It's the third slider in above screenshot.

Hi

In order to avoid repeating suggestions that others may already have offered, it is best to read threads in full before posting a reply: on the first page of the thread, click on "Read all replies" under the heading "There's more to the conversation".

In this case, your suggestion was originally offered in this thread by Bazxm over a year ago (June 2015):

Bazxm wrote:

Probably obvious, but might help some people out there. If do not disturb is on (little blue half moon on watch) notifications will not come through.

Re: I am not getting notifications on my apple watch

Here is what worked for me.

Hi,

I never had this problem until I moved over to an iPhone 7 and I could not figure out how to get it back. Prior to this, the processed worked exactly like Apple described it. Notifications on your Apple Watch - Apple Support

Since upgrading, my main concern was with apps like Whatsapp and instamessage messages going completely silent on the phone and watch even though everything else would notify me. I tried many apparent 'fixes' and settings change but in the end, after two months of disappointment, I found "my" fix today.... 'force restart' the Apple Watch...!!!

You do this by pressing and holding both the side button and digital crown for at least 10 seconds until the apple logo appears. Restart your Apple Watch - Apple Support

Since doing this, my problem is gone and the notification sound process works as I remembered. Hopefully it last long term and I won't have to force restart every time just to fix this.

(p.s. for a few minutes after the force restart, I was getting sound notifications on both the phone and watch at the same time even though the phone was locked and the watch was unlocked and on my wrist. It did not repeat after a while though)

so i have same problem

here are my observations

note it might be a buggy software from the developer or buggy ios issue that causes problem, i'm unable to tell who the culprit is

I use an app called Lumy- as a photographer i find it helpful to get a nitification 1 hour prior to golden hour.

iphone apple watch app has been told to mirror the app, its on glances and isntalled on watch.

i launch the app on iphone and tell it to notify me, thus notification is setup.

so on day one i get a notification.

but next day notification never comes back

so for some reason the app clears its notification meaning it wont alert me anymore

i have to open the app on iphone each day to set it up yet again

what causes it to reset? i dont know

so if you are having issues with no notifications check the app on iphone to see if ti needs setting up again.

Ok I spent like 3 hours troubleshooting trying to get my GMAIL account emails to go through as notifications on my watch using the default APPLE MAIL app and it WILL NOT WORK. You need download the INBOX app by Google and then configure notifications on your iPhone and Apple watch to get INSTANTLY NOTIFIED WHEN YOU HAVE A NEW EMAIL. I've honestly tried every combination of getting it to work on the default APPLE MAIL app and NOTHING did the trick, seem like either APPLE or GOOGLE is being stubborn in this partnership.