Subj : I was sick of Apple Watch Live Activities until I found this simp To : All From : TechnologyDaily Date : Sat Nov 08 2025 05:15:07 I was sick of Apple Watch Live Activities until I found this simple fix Date: Sat, 08 Nov 2025 05:00:00 +0000 Description: Live Activities can take over your Apple Watch screen, but theres a quick way to rein them in. FULL STORY ====================================================================== The Apple Watch is all about quick, glanceable information your split time on your morning jog, message alerts when your friends get in touch, the latest updates from the weekends big games. With just a swift glance at your wrist, youve got all the info you need. Live Activities make that even easier. This feature allows apps running on your iPhone to display pertinent data on your Watch face. But theres a problem: Live Activities take over your entire Watch screen. If you want to use a different app or just want to tell the time, youve got to dismiss the Live Activities first. They get in the way and slow you down. I find this particularly annoying when Im on a morning run or walk. I like to listen to podcasts when Im out of the house, and launching an episode from an app like Overcast brings up a Live Activity on my iPhone. Unfortunately, it also brings up a Live Activity on my Watch. Thats a problem because rather than seeing how far through an episode I am, I would much rather have an unobstructed view of my Watch face, but this gets obscured by the podcast Live Activity. As a result, my Watch is instead taken over by something I would much prefer to control on my iPhone. Fortunately, theres a way to prevent Live Activities from hijacking your Watch without disabling the feature on your iPhone. Its quick and simple to do and means you get an unobstructed view of your Watch face, even when an app is running. Better yet, theres plenty of extra customization available should you need it. Lets take a look at how its done. How to rein in Live Activities (Image credit: Future / Alex Blake) To stop Live Activities opening apps on your Watch and instead just show your Apple Watchs face, follow the steps below: On your Apple Watch, open the Settings app Now go to General > Auto-Launch > Live Activities Settings Within this menu, disable the toggle next to Auto-Launch Live Activities And thats it. Now when an iPhone app brings up a Live Activity, itll only do so on your iPhone, not on your Apple Watch. And if you change your mind, all you need to do is re-enable the toggle you switched off in step 3 above. The best bit is theres still a quick and easy way to access Live Activities, even after youve disabled them: just swipe up from the bottom of your Watchs screen. As long as theres a Live Activity running on your iPhone, itll now be visible on your Watch. To dismiss it, just swipe down or press the Digital Crown. Its all still accessible, it just wont take over your display by default. Further customization (Image credit: Apple) Apple doesnt just leave things there it gives you more controls to tweak Apple Watch Live Activities to your liking. For instance, scroll down the Settings page and youll see an option to show Live Activities if your wrist is down. This is enabled by default, but can be switched off. Scroll down further and youll find sections for media apps, as well as entries for individual apps that you have installed on your Watch. Tap one of these sections and you can switch off Live Activities for selected apps while allowing them for all others, giving you plenty of granular control over how Live Activities are displayed on your wrist. A small change that makes all the difference (Image credit: Future) With a few of these settings adjusted, I feel like Live Activities are much more under control on my Apple Watch. Theyre reined in and only appear when Id like them to, allowing me to enjoy my morning podcast while still getting a clear view of my Watch face whenever I need to. If youve previously despaired of Live Activities or wondered why they insist on taking over your Watch at every opportunity, changing a few settings can help put things right in just a few taps. And you dont even have to lose Live Activities when you follow these steps a simple swipe up from the bottom of your Watch screen restores the Live Activity, ready for when you need it. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button! And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too. You might also like... The best Apple Watch 2025: Top smartwatches to use with iOS phones iOS 18 is downgrading Live Activities widgets in one key way 50 best Apple Watch apps: From health apps to games and everything in between ====================================================================== Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/health-fitness/smartwatches/i-was-sick-of-apple-watc h-live-activities-until-i-found-this-simple-fix --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 (Linux/64) * Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100) .