Since iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, you can already adjust the sound for standard notifications on an iPhone and iPad. This way you can better distinguish between different notification tones. Since watchOS 11, you can also customize the default notification sounds on an Apple Watch.
This means that you can choose your own sounds for notifications that use the default sound. It’s a welcome addition because the sounds for Apple Watch notifications are fairly short and unobtrusive.
Adjust sound for standard notifications
- Open Settings on your Apple Watch
- Go to ‘Hear and feel’
- Tap ‘Standard notifications’
- Choose a desired sound
Of course you can also change this via the Watch app for iPhone. Open it, go to ‘My Watch’ and tap ‘Hear and feel. Select a desired item and adjust the ringtone.
Revert to old sound
Are you having trouble getting used to your self-chosen sound? Then you can return to the old sound via the steps above. For ringtone this is ‘Pebbles’. SMS tone and new email use the ‘Resound’ sound, while calendar and reminder notifications use ‘instant’. Finally, the globe sound for ‘Standard Notifications’ is used.