If you’re flexing a shiny new Watch on your wrist, or have installed watchOS 7 on your old one, read Craig Grannell’s tips to ensure you’re all set for maximum wearable magic

THE BASICS

■ Watch and learn 

To pair an Apple Watch, just place it near your iPhone; and when asked, put it beneath the viewfinder. Now set it up as new or a family device (to manage a relative’s Watch from your phone), or restore from a backup. If an Apple Watch is running an older version of watchOS than what’s on the one you’re replacing, you’ll have to update it before restoring.

■ Start the tweak 

Hold the Digital Crown and ask your Watch to open Settings. In App View, select List View for a simpler app-browsing experience. In Display & Brightness, you can adjust the text; and in Accessibility, activate Reduce Motion if you have motion sickness.

■ Stay healthy 

In Settings > Handwashing, turn on the timer to ensure you scrub enough. In SOS, turn on Fall Detection, no matter your age. Use Heart, ECG and Blood Oxygen apps to track your innards — but be wary that results aren’t always accurate. Blood Oxygen in particular tends to provide lower readouts than standalone sensors.

■ Tune in 

With a Wi-Fi/cellular connection, you can stream Apple Music and podcasts; and Using the iPhone Watch app’s Music and Podcast sections, you can add local content to the Watch itself. This is automated by default, based on recent plays, but you can opt to manually select items instead. Note: uploads take ages, and require your Watch to be near your iPhone and on its charger.

■ Tidy app 

You can manage Apple Watch apps with the iPhone Watch app or use the on-device App Store to install apps and buy new ones. To remove an app in Grid View, tap-hold until the icons jiggle then tap the app’s cross button. In List View, swipe leftwards across the app, tap the red bin button and then Delete App to confirm.

CHEERS, ME EARS

■ Check on it 

Not sure if it’s a DJ or rattling public transport giving your hearing a battering? Fire up the Noise app and it’ll tell you. In fact, your Watch will warn you regardless if it thinks your ears need protection — set the dB level in Settings > Noise.

■ Keep it down 

Should your ears mostly be under threat from your own listening habits, go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics and then select and turn on Reduce Loud Sounds. This will limit headphone output to a sensible 85dB — although that level can be adjusted.

JOG ON

■ Move the goalposts 

Discouraged or not challenged enough by your activity rings? Change them. In the Activity app, scroll to and tap Change Goals. Stands can be dropped to as low as six, and your exercise goal set to between 10 and 60 minutes.

■ Dance off 

Good news to all budding John Travoltas: Apple now considers dancing to be exercise. To kick off a dance workout, select it in the Workouts app, ape the animated icon’s funky moves (or concoct your own routine), and wonder why everyone’s giving you funny looks.

SHADDAP YOU FACES

■ Pull a face 

Tap-hold a watch face to access edit mode, then swipe past your existing faces and tap ‘+’ to add a new one. Use the Digital Crown to browse what’s available and tap a face to select it.

■ Save face 

Tap-hold a face and Edit to start editing; swipe left/right to select an edit pane. Colour and Complications are shared by all faces, but some have other options, such as Chronograph’s timescale.

■ Stuff your face 

In the Complications pane, tap a complication to bring up available options for that slot. Note that as of watchOS 7, you can have one app fill as many complication slots as you wish — see the panel on the right for setups that take advantage of this.

THE WRITE STUFF

■ Talk to the hand 

Need to reply to a message? Tap the emoji button to say it in pictures, use Scribble to jot down individual letters your Watch will attempt to interpret, or dictate your words — which now happens on-device and therefore more rapidly.

■ Get key skills 

If you’re old-school and want a keyboard beneath your mitts, Apple won’t oblige, but other app creators will. FlickType (£2.99) gives you a Gboard or Swiftkey for your Watch — and you can use the Digital Crown to search for alternative words.

O COME ALL YE FACE-FUL

FOR SUNSEEKERS

Now that apps can include as many complications as you like, this opens up opportunities for context-specific faces. This Infograph Modular example uses Carrot Weather (£4.99) to provide forecasting info, with Air Matters (£free) in the bottom-right corner for local air quality.

FOR SUPERBEINGS

Infograph Modular is again rolled out for this face, designed for health tracking. At the top-left are the activity rings, and at the bottom are Apple’s Noise tracker, Workouts shortcut and elevation readout. In the central slot, Heart Analyzer (£free), provides ongoing detailed metrics.

FOR STARGAZERS

This Modular Compact face is for stargazers. The round clock face is suitably planet-like and to its left is Apple’s Moon complication, plus Solar Watch (£free) for daylight tracking. At the bottom is a big Night Sky (£free) complication suggesting we should stay in tonight.