How to Change the Ringtone on Your Apple Watch

watchOS 11 has added the ability to change your Apple Watch’s ringtone, also allowing you to set different tones for different types of alerts. Although I usually keep my Apple Watch on silent mode, this feature offers a viable alternative. Sometimes, I find haptic alerts a little jarring because they use the same intensity for all apps, and I’m now finding it much less intrusive to set less startling ringtones for less important apps. 

This lets me more quickly determine if an alert needs my immediate attention or not. For instance, if I hear a calendar alert, I know I should check my watch right away, but for most others, I can finish what I’m doing before checking it. If this appeals to you, you should consider changing your Apple Watch ringtones in watchOS 11.

Change the ringtone on your Apple Watch

Credit: Pranay Parab

Once you’ve installed watchOS 11, unlock your Apple Watch and go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Ringtone. Choose any of the following options for your main ringtone, which will play when you get a call:

• Pebbles 

• Focus

• Jingle 

• Nighthawk

• Transmit

• Twirl

• Windup

• Wonder

Change the ringtone for other Apple Watch alerts

Credit: Pranay Parab

watchOS 11 also lets you set different alerts for different types of apps. On your watch, go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics to check out all the options. You’ll be able to see the following choices:

• Text Tone

• New Mail

• Calendar Alerts

• Reminder Alerts

• Default Alerts

Select any of the above options to set an alert sound specifically for it. This means that you can set a different tone for texts, email, calendar alerts, and reminders. The last option in the list—Default Alerts—lets you set a tone for all other apps. Ideally, I’d have liked the option to set a custom alert for each of my apps, but for now, that isn’t possible. At the moment, there’s also no way to set different tones for different contacts. You can choose any of the following alert tones:

• Resonate

• Brilliant

• Cheer

• Flutter

• Globe

• Moment

• Scoop

• Timekeeper

• Tinker

• None

Choose “None” if you don’t want any sounds for a particular type of notification. Now that you’ve set fresh ringtones, check here to see how to extend your Apple Watch’s battery life.