- Tips - Pay with your watch’s virtual wallet. 💳
- Deep Dive - Renew your watch, even if it’s not new. ⌚
- Health Challenge Update - Join our first Challenge of 2026! 🏆
- 🆕 Update your weight for more accurate workouts.
- 💻 Unlock your Mac by wearing your watch!
- 💰 Quickly pay with your virtual wallet.
A lot of us, myself included, underutilize our Apple Watch by falling into lazy habits and not exploring new features when they come out. The watchOS 26 update made my Apple Watch 10 feel brand new, so if you haven’t updated and tried the new features yet, you’re missing out and should do that ASAP. Once you’re updated, here are the five steps to take to renew your device!
1. New watch face!
Before you scoff at this, I’d like to share that I am one of those people who will use the same watch face for YEARS. But the moment I switch to a new watch face, I kick myself for not doing it sooner! You don’t have to delete your old watch face when you create a new one, so you can always switch back if you want. I am a big fan of practical watch faces like Infograph, which lets you add a bunch of complications so that you see lots of information at a glance.
When seeing all the information all the time gets a little overwhelming, I like to mix things up by adding a photo watch face with my favorite pet pictures. I can still access all the information I want by swiping to change watch faces or taking the extra step of opening the app I’m interested in.
Of course, there are also third-party watch face apps that you can try and a bunch of new complications you can explore. I challenge you to create ONE new watch face, try it out for an entire day, and see how it changes your day-to-day life! You might be surprised.
2. Delete unused apps
This tedious but useful step will help your watch run faster, increase your available storage, and you’ll be able to find the apps you actually want to use way quicker if you don’t have to sort through a bunch of irrelevant ones. Deleting an app on your watch is easy! Just long-press on the app until it jiggles, tap the little x on it, and confirm that you wish to delete it.
I like to take this one step further… Most of the apps that I download are for my phone, and I never plan on using the watch version. But by default, your watch will download the apps you have on your iPhone. I like to turn off this setting so that every new app stays on my phone, unless I decide to add it to my watch as well—which just takes a few taps in the Watch app on your iPhone.
3. Minimize notifications
It can be hard to relax and be present when your watch keeps pinging or vibrating. If you want to stay up-to-date without getting notifications all day long, it’s time to customize your Apple Watch notifications.
This process does involve some thought and maybe even trial and error. You might silence something that you want later on, but that’s an easy fix: just follow the same customization steps again. If the notifications on your phone mirror your watch, you can also use this new trick to mute notifications directly from your phone’s Lock Screen.
Personally, I prefer to have different notifications on my devices since my phone is never far from me, even if I’m wearing my watch. That is something else to consider while you are customizing your notifications.
4. Clear your storage
While I’ve never run out of storage on my Apple Watch, there are many perks to having less data on it. For example, it can be faster if you only keep the essentials! It is also easier to navigate if you don’t keep every single watch face you’ve ever used and delete downloaded podcasts from weeks/months ago. Here’s a thorough article on how to free up space on your Apple Watch that you should check out.
5. Restart to reboot
If your Apple Watch experiences random glitches, it could just be a software problem that can be solved with a simple restart. If you keep your watching running 24/7 like I do, it’s a good idea to do this every once in a while. So once you’ve followed all the other steps, do a restart (or force restart) and enjoy your new(ish) watch!
Did I miss your favorite way to make your watch feel brand new? Email OntheWatch@iphonelife.com and let me know!
Our first iPhone Life Health Challenge of 2026 is here! If you join today, you’ll still get all the points you’ve earned this month - as long as you’ve been wearing your watch.
The monthly iPhone Life Challenge is a great way to come together as a community and motivate each other to reach our health goals by staying active. We’ll be doing a weekly accountability post for subscribers in our Insider Facebook group. Join to share struggles, trade tips, and support one another on our journeys.
To join the challenge, download the free Challenges app on your iPhone and enter the code DUEC when prompted. Need help? This article explains the steps and tells you more about the app.
Are you enjoying the challenge? Do you have any suggestions for how we can make it even better? Email OnTheWatch@iPhoneLife.com and let me know.
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