Receiving Calls on Apple Watch

When I first saw an Apple watch my first thought was Dick Tracy had it right all along. (If you don’t know who Dick Tracy is, look him up)

If you have an Apple Watch then you know it works with your iPhone. It took me a bit of time to figure out all the nuances of using them together and one day I was sitting in a meeting at work when my watch started ringing with a phone call.  I tried to play it cool and look around to see who had left their phone turned on while I frantically tried to stop the ringing. At that moment I realized I didn’t have it all figured out.

So here are the simple things you need to know to use your watch to receive calls.

On Apple Watch, calls are routed through the iPhone, but you can answer using your watch, even if your iPhone in another room or tucked away.

Answering a call on your watch works just like the calls on iPhone. You tap the green answer button. If you don’t want to answer it, you can tap the red decline button and send the call to voicemail instead. Note to self: frantic dithering doesn’t help.

You also have the option to answer the call on your iPhone or send a text message. When the call comes in, turn the Digital Crown or swipe upwards to access these options and tap the one you want.

If your watch rings at an inconvenient time you can mute the ring sound by covering the watch display with the palm of your hand for three seconds and then tap to confirm that mute is enabled. You do have to enable this feature. Here’s how.

Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone. Select Sounds and Haptics from the menu. Toggle the “Cover to Mute” switch to the On position.

If your caller leaves you a voice mail (Hello, I have a bridge I want to sell you) you can retrieve it on your watch or iPhone. In the case of your watch a Voice mail notification will appear on your watch face. Tap the play button just like you do for Voicemail on your iPhone.

Once that notification goes away you can still get to a message.

Tap on the phone icon on your watch.   Scroll down to Voicemail. Tap the message you want to listen to. Tap the Play button.

You will note that all the voicemail messages available on your phone are also there on your watch.

The next blog entry will tell you have to successfully make calls on your Apple watch.