⏲️ Now you can pause timers on your Apple Watch without having to open the Timers app.

🏋️ Finally, Apple acknowledges that we need rest days! Here’s how to set daily Activity Ring goals.

🗣️ Leave your iPhone in your pocket and you can use a simple hand gesture to get translations quickly on your Apple Watch.

Test your knowledge

Did you know you can participate in group FaceTime audio calls on the Apple Watch? Guess how many people your watch can handle on a FaceTime call?

1. 🙂 8
2. 🙂🙂 32
3. 🙂🙂🙂 74

Did you get it right? Click the answer to find out!

I’ve been testing the watchOS 11 beta since it became available to the public in July; and now that the finished version is available to everyone, I’m excited to share my experience with the new software!

Things I’m loving

Unlocking my watch face during Sleep mode is faster and easier. I didn’t even realize how annoying it was to press and hold the Digital Crown while half asleep every time I wanted to use my Apple Watch at night. It’s a tiny change, but its impact is significant. My only question is why I can’t stop myself from looking at my watch at night.

I can finally pause rings without losing my streak and customize my daily activity goals (see above). My only complaint about this feature is that it took 10 years to get it. I really could have used this over the summer when I was forced to take it easy while recovering from surgery. Now I no longer have to lose all my progress if I’m sick, injured, really busy at work, or just need a rest day.

Things I’m on the fence about

Training load is cool but confusing. I like rating my effort levels because getting little digital achievement badges from my Apple Watch gives me the same thrill I got as a goody-two-shoes getting a gold star on my sticker chart in grade school. But I have to confess that I don’t really understand yet how this will help me achieve my fitness goals. And l am skeptical about my ability to accurately assess myself. I don’t think it’s a skill many humans possess. I’ll keep using it though and see how I feel in a few months.

Viewing Live Activities in Smart Stacks is great. I guess? Opening apps on the watch is a pain, and I can only put so many complications on my watch face. So it’s handy to swipe up on my watch screen and see any timers, workouts, audio playback, or other activities I’ve got going on in one place. But why does Smart Stacks constantly just open itself? And why does pressing the Digital Crown to return to my watch face not always work? Once Apple fixes these issues, this feature is definitely moving to my Things I’m Loving list.

Sleep apnea monitoring for the Series 9, Series 10, and Ultra 2. I love any feature that empowers Apple Watch users to better understand and take control of their health. The only reason I’m on the fence about this feature is because it wasn’t available in the beta version of watchOS 11, so I haven’t had a chance to test how well it works.

Things I’m hating

Not a thing. It’s not the biggest or most exciting software update, but so far all the new watchOS 11 features work well and improve my overall Apple Watch experience.

From the last edition: Y’all are excited for watchOS 11!

In the September 6 newsletter, I asked if you would download watchOS 11 right away when it became available on September 16 or wait. I figured that the majority of readers would say right away; but to my surprise, it was unanimous. Everyone who wrote in said they were going to install it right away!

Today’s question: Will you get a new watch? Why or why not? If yes, which model?

Picture this: There I was on September 9, watching Apple announce their new watches on my TV with the Apple Store open on my laptop ready to hit buy as soon as Ultra 3 pre-orders started.

But the joke was on me. There’s no new Ultra, just the Apple Watch Ultra 2 in black. And I refuse to pay hundreds of dollars after trade-in for the same watch I’ve already got in a different color. I’m also not giving up 36 hours of battery life to get the Ultra features I love in the Apple Watch Series 10, even though the Ultra 2 dwarfs my wrist. Olena, on the other hand (sorry!), currently has a first-generation Ultra and even smaller wrists than me, so updating to the 10 was an easy call for her.

What about you? Do you plan to get an Apple Watch Ultra 2, Apple Watch 10, or another model? Or will you stick with the watch you have. Undecided? Check out Olena’s article on who should consider upgrading and what to keep in mind when choosing which watch to buy.

Make sure to read the next edition of On the Watch on October 4 for Olena’s review of the Apple Watch Series 10.

Email OnTheWatch@iPhoneLife.com and let me know if you’re getting a new watch and which one, and I’ll share your answers in the next edition!

You asked and Olena answered: Missing navigation prompts in the Maps app and ghost text notifications

I just got an Apple Watch, but now map directions are no longer spoken over my iPhone—I just get buzzes on the watch. I tried Google, checked every setting, and I can’t fix this. Help. - Robert C.

Hello, Robert! It is mostly likely a coincidence that spoken navigation stopped working on your iPhone at the same time you got your watch. There are two common reasons that you might not get voice navigation prompts on your iPhone even if they are enabled in Settings.

First, if your iPhone is connected to your car’s audio or to a nearby Bluetooth audio device, such as AirPods, while the audio is turned down or off. Try disconnecting from Bluetooth or turning the volume on and see what happens.

Second, if you accidentally turned off the spoken directions in the Maps app after starting turn-by-turn navigation. In this case, you will see an audio icon with a slash through it in the upper right of the navigation screen. Tap it to find and select the audio icon with no slash.

If neither of these fixes the issue, try doing a hard restart of your iPhone and your Apple Watch. Once you fix the issue, if you don’t want to receive navigation prompts from your Apple Watch while driving, you can go to the Watch app on your iPhone, scroll down until you see the Maps app, and under Turn Alerts, toggle off Driving and Driving with CarPlay so that those two are gray. Let us know if this helps!

My watch says there is a text message waiting to be read, but there really isn’t. It is out of sync with the iPhone. How do I get it to be back in sync? - Paul B.

Hello, Paul! The first thing I would do is restart your watch, which can fix annoying glitches like this. I would also make sure you are running the latest software on both your Apple Watch and iPhone. If this continues happening, I would check your Messages app notifications settings on the Watch app on your iPhone. Here you can make sure your Apple Watch notifications mirror your iPhone.

✉️ Email your questions to OnTheWatch@iPhoneLife.com and we might answer them in a future edition! Questions may be edited for clarity and length.

• 👂 It’s an AirPod Pro! It’s a hearing aid! It’s both—and you don’t even need to buy new AirPods!
• ⛔ Is the tech meant to make smart homes work on any platform actually a bad thing?
• 🥷 Uh oh. Hackers can use the Vision Pro to steal passwords
• 💻 Will we get new iPads and Macs at an October Apple event?
• 👵🏽 How tech is helping seniors live independently
• 👎 iPhone 16 Pro demand may be lower than expected

Missed the most recent editions? Now you can go back and read them!

• September 6 edition
• August 23 edition
• August 9 edition