How customize the News app and turn off notifications on Apple Watch
- sep
- 19
watchOS 4 gives you the latest news in an extra-compact interface.
When you update to watchOS 4, you'll get a micro-sized version of Apple's News app on the iPhone. You can't read full stories in this News app, but you can still keep up to date on the latest stories and save them for later reading on a bigger iPhone-or-iPad-style screen. Here's how!
How to use the News app on Apple Watch
Unsurprisingly, the News app is simply titled "News" on Apple Watch, and sports the same red icon with a bold N found on your iPhone.
When you launch the News app, you're greeted with a single header, Top Stories, and five top news articles picked from sources you follow in the News app on iPhone.
You can scroll vertically through each story's photo, headline, and brief summary; after finishing, you're presented with the option to save the story in full for later reading, or skip to the next story. After you read all five stories, you can use horizontal swipes to go back to a previous story, or leave the News app; new stories appear daily. Unlike the News app on iPhone, you can't Like or Dislike these stories, or request to see less from a channel — you'll have to do that on your smartphone directly.
You'll also get notifications throughout the day, mirrored from your Apple Watch, with a similar photo/headline/summary interface.
How to change what stories you see in the News app on Apple Watch
There are two ways to alter the stories you see on Apple Watch: Through following channels, and notifications.
How to change your News channel notification settings
- Open the News app on your iPhone.
- Go to the Following tab.
Scroll to the bottom of the screen and select Manage Notifications.
- Tap the blue bell icon to turn notifications on or off.
How to turn off notifications for the News app on Apple Watch
If you want to kill News notifications entirely on your Apple Watch, here's how to do it.
- Open the Watch app on your iPhone.
- Go to the My Watch tab.
- Select Notifications.
Tap on the News option.
- Change the alert style from Mirror my iPhone to Custom.
- Turn off the slider next to Show Alerts.
Any questions?
Let us know in the comments.
