No text tone sounds from Iphone when paired with Apple Watch

I just got an iWatch over the weekend for my birthday. I'm very unhappy with this issue. The sound is not loud enough and the vibrate is not strong enough. My children texted me and I missed that. Looks like i'm going to return the watch this weekend. Both the phone and watch should sound off.

Go into the watch app on your phone and choose settings general and turn off mirror my iPhone for do not disturb. Now when you put your watch on do not disturb, all notifications come through on your phone:) this is what I do when I don't want anything coming through on my watch and just want it all coming through on my phone.

In the Watch app on your phone, go to General > Wrist Detection, turn it OFF.

Caveats: This will also disable the ability to lock your watch with a passcode, which in turn disables the ability to unlock your Mac with the watch. It will also disable the tracking of your standing time and automatic heart rate monitoring.

I run mine with wrist detection off and the watch muted. That means I hear custom tones on my phone and get the vibration on my wrist.

WFMA wrote:

Both the phone and watch should sound off.

And the work around for how to accomplish that has been posted more than once in this thread.

You can also submit feedback to Apple here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback

But be aware, when Apple first released the Apple Watch (not "iWatch", by the way), they made a big point of explaining how notifications worked, and why they thought it was a benefit for them to only sound on the one device. You may not agree with the design philosophy but it appears to have been carefully thought out.

Best of luck.

Take a look at this support document about Apple Watch notifications. Notifications on your Apple Watch - Apple Support

This will explain how they work. You also have the option to turn up the volume on the watch, and adjust the vibration to the stronger settings, including adding Prominent Haptic.

And has been mentioned, there is a work around to receive notifications on both devices, however you need to understand that disables some features designed to work with the security of the watch.

catbert189 wrote:

I think we're into semantics here. One can call it a fix, change, workaround, solution, hack, or any other word. It doesn't change the fact that people would like for it to work differently. There is a way to do that.

Precision is useful in a technical support forum. If it were a bug, we would be hoping that Apple would fix it. It's not. And while there is a workaround, it is not without drawbacks (e.g. inability to use Apple Pay, having to enter a passcode to do much more than check the time).

I suggest that anyone who would like to see different features submit feedback to Apple:

http://www.apple.com/feedback

Complaining here won't help though. This is a user to user support forum, and Apple does not participate here. If you wish to see Apple change or enhance a feature, you need to use the feedback link here, http://www.apple.com/feedback/watch.html This will get it looked at, however as stated on that page, they will not provide individual responses.

It isn't a new setting, it has always been that way and was designed to work this way. This is so you can inconspicuously be notified when you have text messages, etc. If you want to suggest that it be optional go here: Feedback - Apple Watch - Apple

I'll be the one asking you to be quiet when you turn this option on.

deggie wrote:

It isn't a new setting, it has always been that way and was designed to work this way. This is so you can inconspicuously be notified when you have text messages, etc. If you want to suggest that it be optional go here: Feedback - Apple Watch - Apple

I'll be the one asking you to be quiet when you turn this option on.

Thanks for confirming that. All of a sudden, I'm seeing posts claiming that this has changed. I was beginning to doubt myself.

I found this forum because I am also affected by the lack of text alert on my iPhone when wearing the watch. When I'm sleeping the haptic / alert tone on my watch isn't sufficient to alert me whereas the text alert on my phone did.

The workaround provided previously which relies on the repeat notification going via the iPhone isn't working for me and I have followed the instructions closely to set this up.

Given the immense capability that iPhones etc. have in terms of configuration it seems incredulous that it is not possible to have the ability to retain the standard alert on the iPhone when wearing an Apple Watch.

Bazza2010 wrote:

Given the immense capability that iPhones etc. have in terms of configuration it seems incredulous that it is not possible to have the ability to retain the standard alert on the iPhone when wearing an Apple Watch.

If you remember the original Apple Watch announcement, it doesn't seem incredible at all. One of the major benefits Mr. Cook was pitching was the ability to off-load notifications to the Apple Watch. It appears to actually be designed, for the notifications you designate, to be the primary device. I'm not saying you have to like or agree with it. I'm just saying it appears pretty clear to me that this is all as intended.

Also, I suspect the assumption was that you'd put the watch on the charger at night while you're sleeping.

mattohio wrote:

Agreed, this needs to be fixed. Any updates?

As your watch is working the way Apple intended, I doubt they consider it broken. You can submit your feedback to Apple requesting they make a change. Meanwhile, you can read above about disabling Wrist Detection.

This totally works my partner was frustrated about no text sounds especially because she has her own business. I saw this post and tried it and it works like a dream! Thank you very much.

P.s why can't apple post this instead of iPhone users???

Molly6996 wrote:

P.s why can't apple post this instead of iPhone users???

Because this is not Apple support. This is a user to user technical support forum, and Apple does not participate here. If you wish to have Apple respond to you, then you would need to use the Contact Support link at the top of the page. The forum here is for users to share information from the repeated use of the devices, kind of what some places call a knowledge base. Generally, those that use devices tend to know how they work better than those that create them. 🙂

If you have an Apple Watch and you have Wrist Detection enabled, when the phone is locked and the watch is on, you will get the text alerts on your watch, not your phone. If the phone is unlocked and the watch is on, you will get the alerts on your phone. If the watch is off and the phone is on, you'll get the alerts on your phone.