How To Use The Apple Watch Always On Display Feature

The Apple Watch Always On Feature

The Apple Watch Always On Feature.

Starting with watchOS 6, Apple has added a new welcomed feature to your favorite wrist-worn device. It’s called Always On and as the name suggest it allows the smartwatch to display time and other complications even when your wrist is down and the Apple Watch idle. Unfortunately, this new option is quite selective. It’s only available to the Series 5 models or later.

The reason for this is that the smartwatch requires special hardware to make the always on feature power efficient. As you might already know, the new Apple Watch models pack an OLED screen and come with LTPO (low-temperature polycrystalline oxide) technology. This is a special backplane tech designed, developed by Apple, that allows the display to stay always on while limiting the power consumption.

How Does Always On Work
This feature is enabled by default on every Apple Watch Series 5 model or later. The feature kicks-in when you lower your wrist. Traditional AW models turn off the display completely. However, Always On only dims the screen. This way you will be able to check the time and read the Watch Face complications even when the Apple Watch is sleeping. There are a few differences though:
– while your Apple Watch is idle the time info and complications update only once every minute.
– time related complications such as Timer and Stopwatch round the displayed info to the minute.
– complications that display live info such as Noise and Compass aren’t active.
– other glances from Calendar, Weather and third-party apps also refresh once per minute.
– notifications aren’t displayed while your wrist is down and Always On kicks in.
– the Workout app is the only one that remains active when screen is idle. This way you can actively keep track of your training session.

Gestures To Enable And Disable Always On
A. Dim the screen of your Apple Watch:
– bring your wrist down.
– cover the display with your hand.
– stop interacting with your display and it will enter idle mode, after 15 or 75 seconds.
Fact: While the screen is dimmed, it becomes unresponsive to swipes. To be able to interact with your Apple Watch you have to wake it with one of the gestures listed below.
B. How to wake your Apple Watch:
raise your wrist.
– tap the display.
– Click the Digital Crown.
– Press the Side Button.

How To Enable/Disable Always On
how to disable Apple Watch Always On feature If you want to save battery you can disable this new feature. Just follow these steps:
1. Wake your Apple Watch and press the Digital Crown.
2. Select Settings, from the app list.
3. Tap Display & Brightness.
4. Tap Always ON and turn the feature Off or On.
Tip: In the same menu, you can also enable the “Hide Sensitive Complications” option. This will cause sensitive glances like your next Calendar appointment, Mail messages and other sensitive info to stop displaying when the Always On feature kicks in.

Fact: You can also disable this feature from the paired iPhone. Open the companion Watch app on your iOS device. Make sure that you browse the “My Watch” tab. Tap on Display & Brightness. Select Always On and tap the toggle next to the Always On label to turn the feature Off or On!

Are you using the Always On feature on your Apple Watch? Let us know in the comments section available below!

Related: Do you know that your Apple Watch can detect if you suffer an accident and collapse to the ground? Here is how to enable and use the Fall Detection feature!