Clearing notifications on Watch doesn't clear on iPhone

Hello,


When I dismiss or clear notifications from the Apple Watch, whether it is dismissing them individually or clearing them all at once, they do not dismiss or clear on my iPhone, not even on the lock screen. This issue only seems to affect third party apps - when I dismiss notifications from Mail and Messages, they dismiss on the iPhone just fine. I have tried unpairing and repairing, even restoring the Watch to factory settings, but the issue still persists.

My Apple Watch is running watchOS 2.2 and my iPhone is on iOS 9.3


I'd really appreciate any help or advice.


Thanks.

Apple Watch, watchOS 2.2, null

Posted on May 4, 2016 7:59 AM

Reply
13 replies

May 5, 2016 8:42 AM in response to ralf99

I suspect that this is expected behavior.


If there is a corresponding Watch app for any particular app, you have some control over notifications and it may sync back to the phone (like Messages does). However, if there is NO corresponding app, the notifications being sent to the watch are probably more "generic" and will not sync status back to the phone.


In some cases, however, such as reading an email in the Gmail app, the status of the message itself gets updated and that's enough to clear the notification from the phone.


I've also verified that swiping down on a "new" notification (just came in) for Gmail does NOT clear the notification on the phone. Waiting for a minute, waking up the watch, and swiping down to see the notification in Notification Center on the watch and then force-pressing to clear all notifications DOES clear it from the phone.


The behavior is definitely quirky and inconsistent.

May 5, 2016 8:32 AM in response to ember1205

Hmmm, that's strange. So I guess I'm not the only one experiencing these issues. I went and checked on the Apple Watch support pages and found this About notifications on your Apple Watch - Apple Support in which it says that "when you dismiss notifications on your Apple Watch, they're also dismissed from your iPhone." I suppose this is a bug. Here's hoping they fix it soon.

May 4, 2016 8:09 AM in response to ralf99

It can be caused by the absence of a right synchronization.

Check if you followed all these steps:

- To pair your Apple Watch, you need an iPhone 5 or later and the latest version of iOS.

- On your iPhone, go to Settings > Bluetooth and make sure Bluetooth is on.

- Make sure your iPhone is connected to Wi-Fi or a cellular network.

- Turn on your Apple Watch by pressing and holding the side button next to the Digital Crown until you see the Apple logo.

- Make sure both devices are charged and keep them close together as you pair and sync them.

Or you can also see more information here: Set up your Apple Watch - Apple Supporthttps://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204505

May 4, 2016 8:55 AM in response to ralf99

Dismissing a notification is not the same as acknowledging its source. If someone sends you a text and simply clear the notification, the text message is not correspondingly marked read. As such, the notification on the phone will remain.


In order for the notification to clear from the phone, you need to actually ACT on the notification. In the case of the example above, OPEN the text message and read it.

May 5, 2016 6:18 AM in response to ralf99

It actually depends on WHICH notifications you're referring to.


Any notification on the lock screen of the phone should go away when you clear the notification from the watch. It will not be marked "read", however, unless you actually open the notification on the watch. So, things like Badges will still appear if you have those enabled.

May 5, 2016 8:07 AM in response to ralf99

If you turn BT off on the phone, will the watch stay connected to the phone via the cloud?


Swipe up then all the way to the right. The connection status is shown on the top and will show a device if connected via BT and the cloud symbol if connected via WiFi / iCloud.


If it won't stay connected via the cloud, there may be a general issue with the way the watch is paired and you should remove it and re-pair it.

May 5, 2016 8:26 AM in response to ralf99

I just went back and re-read your original post. You've mentioned that things seem to work properly for Apple apps, but third-party apps (like Twitter) do not. This is how my Watch and Phone work as well. I can clear notifications from Messages and Mail, but Gmail does not clear when I dismiss the notification on the watch (the app, not just the account being tied into my Mail).

May 6, 2016 5:30 AM in response to ralf99

Just an update, everything seems to be working fine now. All notifications I dismiss or clear from the watch now dismiss on the phone as well. I have no clue why it just started working. I didn't do anything or change anything with the devices, no reboot, no software update. But it appears to be working now.

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Clearing notifications on Watch doesn't clear on iPhone

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