Do you wish your Apple Watch always displayed the watch face when you look at it? By default, the Apple Watch opens specific apps or shows the Smart Stack depending on your activity. However, if you’d like to keep your watch face visible at all times, a few adjustments are needed.
Live Activities
watchOS 10, the operating system for the Apple Watch, adds support for Live Activities. Similar to notifications on the iPhone, these widget-style alerts can refresh in real-time, providing updates on sports scores and food deliveries without sending multiple notifications.
If your goal is to see your watch face whenever you glance at your wrist, Live Activities may obstruct that. Fortunately, you can toggle them off:
- Open the Settings app and select General
- Scroll to Auto-Launch and tap to access the section
- Select Live Activities Settings at the top of the list
In this section, you can enable or disable Live Activities and auto-launching them. Turning off Auto-Launch for Live Activities allows you to view them via a swipe up or a double tap to access the widgets view, but they won’t override your watch face when they are active.
There’s also a setting that lets you enable or disable the display of Live Activities when your wrist is down and your Apple Watch screen is dimmed. This option is enabled by default, but can be modified if you have Live Activities activated.
Additionally, there is an option within the Live Activities Settings to manage how media apps function. You can disable Live Activities for media apps while still allowing auto-launching for other compatible apps in the Smart Stack.
By default, the auto-launch feature for media apps is enabled. If this setting is active, you can modify the default behavior of opening the Smart Stack widgets to instead auto-open the media app. This reflects the behavior of media apps in earlier versions of watchOS.
More Auto-Launching Apps
Lastly, you have the option to disable Live Activities for specific apps while continuing to auto-launch Live Activities for others. This fine-tuned control is located at the bottom of the Live Activities Settings section, allowing you to disable or auto-launch the Smart Stack or the apps themselves. The supported apps consist of Alarms, Compass, Mindfulness, Music Recognition, Stopwatch, Timers, Voice Memos, Wallet, and Workout.
Furthermore, there’s an additional setting in Settings > General > Auto-Launch to manage how auto-launch functions when your Apple Watch is submerged. By default, models equipped with the Depth app will activate it when submerged. Alternatively, you can opt to keep your Apple Watch set to the watch face. While things may evolve in the future, understanding these three categories will give you extensive control over whether you see your watch face or allow the auto-launching of Live Activities, apps, or diving-related applications.
Best Apple Watch Accessories
FTC: We utilize income-generating affiliate links. More.