Apple Watch Experience

Watch Face

watchOS 10 initially changes the watch face experience to be more like that of Lock Screens in iOS 16 and later. Long press on a face to enter a mode where you can switch or customize faces.

Compared to the prior interaction for switching faces, where one could swipe from the right or left edge, many users have found this to be a step back. However, based on the latest beta of watchOS 10.2, the software will probably return to the previous approach in the next update.

Notification Center

The gesture for accessing notifications is unchanged from prior versions and mimics the iPhone and iPad experience as a swipe down from the top. However, given the tiny screen of Apple Watch, watchOS is more forgiving of differently sized fingers.

To show notifications, swipe down quickly from anywhere above the bottom quarter of the screen or swipe down slowly from the top third or so.

As Apple Watch is primarily a tracker for the current day, it tends to only show notifications from the last 12–24 hours. (iPhone, on the other hand, only clears notifications that are older than a week.) Like iPhone, tap a notification to jump to its source in the associated app.

Control Center

Control Center is a series of buttons that provide quick access to a variety of functions, including toggling various modes like Focus, Silent, Water, and Airplane. Toggles also place an icon at the top of Control Center for quick reference.

There are also buttons to check battery status, adjust type size, and Ping My iPhone. Tap Edit at the bottom to add, remove, or rearrange the buttons. Some of the items in Control Center are available via Settings or other apps while others are only present in this specific interface.

Previously, Control Center was only accessible from the watch face, where a swipe up would reveal it and swiping down or pressing the Digital Crown would dismiss it.

In watchOS 10, Control Center is accessible from any screen by pressing the Side Button (the one next to the Digital Crown). Dismiss by pressing the Side Button or the Digital Crown.

Smart Stack

In watchOS 10, Apple has added another layer of interaction via widgets. These tiles appear in a stack of up to eight when swiping up on the watch face. Mirroring the Notification Center gesture, swipe quickly from below the top quarter or slowly from the bottom half.

Most widgets are associated with a single app, though one widget is available with a row of three apps, similar to complications on a watch face. However, there is an unknown-to-me restriction on which apps can be placed in each space of this widget.

When viewing the widget stack, up to two widgets appear on the screen at once. Tap a widget to go to the associated app/view. Occasionally, widgets are also interactive, such as to pause/resume a timer.

To edit the stack, long press on a widget. Tap the + at the top to add a widget or the ⊖ in the top left corner of any widget to remove it. Tap the push pin in the top right corner of a widget to pin it to or unpin it from the top of the stack.

App View

The app selection view still appears when pressing the Digital Crown while on the watch face. However, the Grid View no longer requires swiping around aimlessly to locate an app. Instead, this view retains a honeycomb design aesthetic that simply scrolls vertically. Or, you can switch to List View and see an alphabetical list of all installed apps.

It’s still possible to long press and delete apps from either view, and to reorganize apps in Grid View. Toggle views at the bottom.

Missing from Grid View, however, is the Clock app with analog hands (including seconds) that used to appear in the middle. Instead, a digital second hand with 60 ticks appears around the current time at the top of the Smart Stack.

App Switcher

Previously, watchOS offered a Dock, where you could show either recently used apps or favorite apps. Now, there is an App Switcher that operates more similarly to that of iPhone.

Double-click the Digital Crown to access the App Switcher, which shows recent apps in order of recency, with active navigation and workout apps always on top. To force quit an app, swipe it to the left and tap the ❌.