Q: No text tone sounds from Iphone when paired with Apple Watch

Well it seems that my boyfriend just figured it out. If you turn off wrist detection, it makes a sound on both the watch and the phone at the same time. I'm not sure what I'm losing by turning wrist detection off but I'd rather have the sounds. So for anyone who's looking for this option, hopefully it will work for you too.

You will lose a number of functions, but not sure if they are important to you. See this link to the Apple Watch Support, to check out the user Guide and see what functions are disabled when you disable the wrist detection.

http://www.apple.com/support/watch

APPLE! Please fix this!!! This is perhaps the worst idea you have had since iPod socks! We need an ios update immediately to make our phones work like phones again and actually do their job of notifying us when we receive a text. (Yes I have filled out the little form asking Apple to do this. I would just hope that someone from their company also occasionally reads the threads on their own website.)

PlateCrafters wrote:

 

I would just hope that someone from their company also occasionally reads the threads on their own website.)

Sorry, but they do not. But you would have known that had you read the TOS that you saw when you signed up the for site. If you read the information provided in the User Guide, you can get the iPhone to provide you with notifications as well as the watch, depending on how you have the watch configured. Normally though, with the default configurations, when the phone is locked, you will receive notifications on the watch instead of the phone.

PlateCrafters wrote:

 

APPLE! Please fix this!!! This is perhaps the worst idea you have had since iPod socks! We need an ios update immediately to make our phones work like phones again and actually do their job of notifying us when we receive a text.

You do realize that, until very recently, a phone acting like a phone didn't involve texting at all. My brother would think you are nuts. He is of the opinion that phones are for talking on, none of this new-fangled texting nonsense.

My phone still notifies me of texts when it's not locked or when I'm not wearing my Watch. Of course, I bought the Watch so it would handle notifications. After all, isn't that the point of a watch?

Meg, text messages have been around for over 20 years. Nearly 9 trillion text messages are sent per year, compared to about 900 billion phone calls. I have made 3 calls on my cell today and have made a few dozen texts. Cell phones are about texting now. And yes, the idea of the watch was to make this easier, not harder. Which is why I am so upset. I am missing texts because I am wearing an Apple watch. Every notification sounds identical, and when I am distracted I don't notice the watch, whereas I would always notice the phone because of the very loud tone I use. The point is, how can Apple assume that users would never again want their phones to notify them about text messages when that is what users use their phone for? It was a foolish design flaw and one that they really need to fix. 

PlateCrafters wrote:

 

Meg, text messages have been around for over 20 years.

Yes, as I said, fairly recently. The phone was used for talking for a hundred years before that.

Given that Apple made a very big deal about how the Apple Watch would allow people to get notifications in a more personal way, I'm pretty sure everything they did was deliberate and not a "design flaw". You can also turn off wrist detection and you'll get your notifications on your phone.

But, the Apple Watch isn't for every one. If it's upsetting you, sell it and move on. Life is too short for that sort of aggravation.

I think I found a reasonable solution.

Anyway. Open you watch app on your iPhone. Then open Notifications>Messages. The default will likely be "Mirror my iPhone". Change that to "Custom", and then turn off Sound.

Now when you get a text, text notifications will only be heard from your phone, but you will still get haptic feedback and and alert will show on the watch. This will only effect Messages, so alarms phone calls, etc will still function as before.

Not the perfect solution, possibly a reasonable workaround until Apple realizes the need to rethink how notifications work.

Hope this helps

<Edited by Host>

PamN49 wrote:

 

Not the perfect solution, possibly a reasonable workaround until Apple realizes the need to rethink how notifications work.

 

Hope this helps

Um, the perfect solution for me is having it work exactly the way it does. In fact, it's why I bought the Apple Watch in the first place.

But thanks.

I am glad I am not the only one who would like to have my alerts still happen on the iPhone and watch. As Plate mentioned, I rely on certain tones on my phone to know if I need to look at the message right away or if it can wait. It's kind of bummer that the workaround isn't working for me either.  I tried turning the sound off within the watch app for messages and they still aren't making a sound on the iPhone. The odd thing is, mail alerts me on the phone while locked with sound and vibration like it normally would without the watch on and also alters me on the watch too. I really don't want to turn off wrist detection so I am thinking of just turning off alerts for messages on the watch all together. While it may be a cool feature, I really rely on the sounds of various things for my job.

Also, saying that you want something to "work exactly the way it does" would imply that no one in the world wants any customization on any device they buy ever. That seems silly. What is normal for one person, may be annoying to the next. I can see how this "feature" of not receiving alerts may be great to some people. Perhaps instead of trolling and name calling on a forum in which the topic clearly isn't an issue for you, you could find better use of your time? Just saying....

kacooley wrote:

 

 

Also, saying that you want something to "work exactly the way it does" would imply that no one in the world wants any customization on any device they buy ever. That seems silly. What is normal for one person, may be annoying to the next. I can see how this "feature" of not receiving alerts may be great to some people. Perhaps instead of trolling and name calling on a forum in which the topic clearly isn't an issue for you, you could find better use of your time? Just saying....

You may be inferring that but you'd be wrong. I am speaking only for myself when I say I like the way it works right now. I recognize that lots of people have different opinions. Disagreeing with people doesn't mean that I'm belittling them. Why do you find it necessary to take my statement of my preference and try to make it seem like something nasty? Seems like you could find something better to do with your time than put words in someone else's mouth. Just saying.....

Also, other than a humorous reference to my luddite brother (yes, I AM calling my brother names) and what he might think of someone's idea, I don't see where I've come close to calling anyone names. The OP seemed to have found my post helpful. I can honestly say my contribution has been deemed meaningful to this thread.

I hope you've submitted your feedback to Apple.

Thanks Pam for your most intelligent and reasonable solution.  It's appreciated as I am one of the people who doesn't like what Apple has done here. 

I found a way of getting your tones back, but it means no notifications on the watch. You go in to the watch settings > notifications > messages > turn off alerts. When you hear your text tone on your iphone you have to switch to the messages app on your apple watch. This is the only fix I have found to get custom text tones back while paired to your apple watch.

Thanks Pam, but I tried this and it did not work. I only got a tap on the watch. No alert tone on the phone.

Thanks xaniegirl's boyfriend.  I don't like loosing apple pay, etc, but since too many notifications had gone unnoticed I needed my loud phone notifications back.  On a positive note I suspect disabling wrist detection may also lengthen battery life a tad.