Apple Watch Ultra Tips and Tricks: 10 Things Worth Trying

Main points

• Use action buttons to create shortcuts to smart home controls or custom routines.
• Use your compass to backtrack and create waypoints to find your way back.
• Enable fall detection, heart rate notifications, and night mode for added safety and convenience.

Apple products are known for being easy to understand and use, but that’s also a myth. Sure, Apple’s software does make some tasks very simple, but unless you take the time to dig and play through various settings and apps, you might be missing out on some of the more advanced, useful features the company has built into it. product.

For example, with the Apple Watch Ultra and the newer Ultra 2, there are a ton of extra features you need to know about to take full advantage. Features include dedicated night modes for specific watch faces, or the ability to add waypoints to your hikes, ensuring you find your way back to camp or your car. Listed below are 10 tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your shiny new Apple Watch Ultra or Ultra 2.

1 Use action buttons to create shortcuts and more

The action buttons are arguably one of the biggest draws of the Apple Watch Ultra and Ultra 2, giving you the option to trigger a workout, start a timer, or launch a myriad of other tasks by pressing a button on the side of the watch. But instead of using an action button to activate a pre-programmed function out of the box, you can get creative and use it to control lights or trigger another smart home automation.

My favorite way to use the action button is to set it to trigger a shortcut I created in the Shortcuts app on my iPhone. The shortcut displays a menu for different tasks, including turning off the TV, putting my Apple devices in Do Not Disturb mode for 30 minutes, and launching Cool Family radio on HomePod during mealtime to ensure my family and I don’t get distracted while we eat. Heart. Let’s enjoy a meal together. I also have a menu item in the fitness app to initiate a walk outside, as well as start charging my car in the evening.

How to create shortcuts using Ultra’s action buttons

1. I have a sample shortcut that you can use as a template to create your own menu of actions that are important to you. Open this link on your iPhone and add it to your Shortcuts app.
2. Once you have the shortcut you want to run from the Action Button, you’ll need to use the Apple Watch app on your iPhone to set up the Action Button to turn it on.To do this, open the Apple Watch app, select action button From the list of options, click action options, choices shortcut Then select the shortcut you want to run.
3. Once setup is complete, press the action button on the side of your Apple Watch Ultra and you should see a new menu appear.

2 No matter where you are, you can always find your way back

For those who don’t want to get lost or easily veered off course, the compass on the Apple Watch Ultra and Ultra 2 is truly a godsend. You can launch the Compass app from Ultra’s app grid or add it as a complication to various watch faces.

How to use the compass function

1. From the Compass home screen, you can use the Digital Crown on the side of the watch to zoom in and out of the interface, changing the amount of information displayed.
2. At the bottom of the app screen, you’ll see a few buttons. Press the button with two feet to start using the backtracking feature to track your route, for example, if you’re hiking so you can find your way back to your car.
3. To add a waypoint, select the button that looks like a message bubble with a location arrow. You can also do it using custom tags.

Waypoints can be anywhere from a campsite to a hospital.

The combination of all these features will help ensure you stay on track, or if you stray slightly off course, you can find your way back.

3 Get help in an emergency

Don’t think this feature is only useful for seniors, as fall detection can be used by anyone who enjoys running, walking, or biking outdoors.

How to fine-tune the working hours of fall detection

1. Open Settings applicationthen scroll down until you find the SOS option; Select it.
2. On the next screen you can change fall detection to always online If you want the watch to continuously monitor for falls (but be careful, false alarms may occur when set to “Always on”), or you can set it to Enabled during exercise If you only want to monitor falls while you’re actively tracking exercise with your watch.

Additionally, the default settings on Apple Watch Ultra and Ultra 2 allow you to contact emergency services by pressing and holding the side button (located below the Digital Crown).

If Apple Watch Ultra or Watch Ultra 2 detects a fall, the watch automatically calls emergency services and alerts your emergency contacts that you have fallen. If your phone isn’t nearby, your watch needs a cellular plan.

4 Keep an eye on your heart rate

When you’re not exercising, Apple Watch records your heart rate every 10 minutes, but when you start exercising on the watch, it records your heart rate and rhythm continuously. Depending on how you set up your watch, you may receive an alert whenever your Apple Watch Ultra detects that your heart rhythm may be irregular.

How to enable irregular cadence notifications

1. Open health apps on your iPhone.
2. From there scroll down and click health check list.
3. choose Irregular rhythm notifications option and toggle the switch on the next screen to exist Location.

Going forward, if your Apple Watch Ultra or Ultra 2 detects an abnormality in your heart rhythm, you’ll receive an alert letting you know and urging you

5 Use Watch Ultra as a flashlight

The screens of Apple Watch Ultra and Ultra 2 are very bright and easy to see in direct sunlight, making them suitable for general outdoor use. But having 2,000 nits or 3,000 nits of brightness respectively has the added benefit of being able to use the watch’s display as a flashlight.

How to trigger Ultra’s flashlight function

1. according to side button Open on your watch control center, Then find and click on the little flashlight icon. Your screen will turn white and after a second or two, increase the brightness level to maximum. If needed, you can adjust the brightness by turning the Digital Crown on your watch.
2. Or, if you want a different color flashlight, you can swipe the screen left to change the color. For example, red can be used for convenience when you don’t want to wake anyone nearby.

6 incognito

Speaking of using a red flashlight, the Apple Watch Ultra has two watch faces, both with a dedicated night mode that turns the entire interface red, making it easier to see at night without irritating your eyes. Essentially, red reduces glare and is a color your eyes adjust to more naturally in very dark environments.

How to take advantage of either watch face and its low-light feature

1. Either add pathfinder or Modular ultra Use the Apple Watch app on iPhone for your watch.
2. After opening the app on your phone, go to the watch face gallery, select one of the watch faces and customize it to your liking and add complications.
3. When you enter the Night Mode section, you can choose Auto, On, or Off.I recommend using carwhich will allow the Ultra to automatically switch between regular and night mode based on the amount of ambient light.

7 Customize a new intelligence stack

With the launch of WatchOS 10, Apple is changing the way you interact with certain elements of your smartwatch. For example, instead of swiping up from the bottom of the screen to view Control Center options, you now see a bunch of widgets with shortcuts to various information and apps.

You can customize your smart stack by long-pressing any card. You can then click on the red circle to delete the card, or click on the yellow icon to pin the card. Take a few minutes to browse your stack to make sure you see what you want and not what you don’t want.

8 Unlock your Mac “automatically”

It may not be custom-made for the Apple Watch Ultra and Ultra 2, but it’s very convenient to unlock your Mac simply by wearing your Apple Watch on your wrist, eliminating the need for you to enter a password or use Touch ID.

How to “Automatically” Unlock Your Mac with Ultra

1. After you set up your Apple Watch, your Mac should prompt you to enable unlocking the next time you use it.If not, you can do this by opening the Settings application then go Touch ID and Password Scroll to the bottom of the page where you should see the watch listed and click the toggle to put it in exist Location.
2. Going forward, just wake up your Mac while wearing your Apple Watch and you’re good to go. In addition to unlocking your Mac, you’ll start receiving prompts on your watch to approve various admin tasks, or to unlock apps that use Touch ID.

9 Get the most out of Siri

Siri is a powerful tool, but with the launch of Apple Watch Ultra 2, its new chipset, and WatchOS 10, Siri is more powerful than ever on Apple Watch. For example, you can interact with Siri without sending all requests to Apple servers, speeding up Siri’s response time.

With the release of WatchOS 10.2, you can now ask Siri for a variety of health statistics, like the number of steps you’ve taken or your maximum heart rate during a recent workout. This last feature is specific to the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2, as both watches use the same processor.

10 find lost phone

If you own the latest Apple Watch Ultra 2 with an Ultra Wideband chip, and you own an iPhone 15, you’re in for a treat the next time you try to locate your lost phone. The two devices are now able to communicate with each other for pinpoint location, making it easier than ever to find your lost phone. Apple’s Ultra Wideband technology means you can pinpoint it to the couch cushion where your phone is.

How to test the new Find My feature

1. according to side button Open control center, then find and select the phone icon. If you don’t have an iPhone 15, your phone will make a loud sound to help guide you to it.
2. Press and hold the button while searching to trigger the sound.
3. If you have an iPhone 15 and your phone is within range of the watch, you’ll see a large arrow on the watch screen directing you toward your phone. As you get closer, the screen will turn green and you’ll start hearing an alarm.
4. You can also long press the “Find iPhone” logo and it will flash your iPhone.