More and more Apple Watch users keep the smart watch on during the night. This allows them to measure their sleep and gain insight into their sleep patterns. Unfortunately, there was a disturbing factor that could cause you to accidentally switch off the alarm clock during your sleep.
That’s how you can snooze or stop an alarm clock by covering the screen of your Apple Watch. In some cases this happened accidentally and caused the alarm to stop, but Apple has now resolved this.
Accidentally turning off the alarm during sleep
The Cover to Hold feature works differently for alarms and alarms than other apps. That’s how it is. If you set an alarm clock, you naturally want to be woken up by the Apple Watch. However, when you covered the screen for at least three seconds, the alarm was stopped. If you accidentally do this while you sleep, it is anything but helpful.
Since watchOS 9.4, the Apple Watch will no longer apply this hand gesture, as it officially calls it, to alarm clocks when sleep focus is active. This means that an alarm will always go off, even if you cover the screen of your Apple Watch for three seconds or more.
Alarm clocks vibrate you awake
Alarm clocks on an Apple Watch work differently than those on your iPhone. If you set an alarm and wear the watch while you sleep, the Apple Watch will vibrate and play no sound. This means, for example, that your partner will not wake up from your alarm clock.
Exit sleep screen
Want to leave the Apple Watch sleep screen and view the apps overview, watch face, or your smart stack? Then it is sufficient to briefly press the Digital Crown. At least, if you have watchOS 11 installed. In older watchOS versions you have to press and hold the Digital Crown for a few moments.
Cover for keeping still
Covering your Apple Watch screen is mainly used to silence phone calls and other notifications when you are not able to answer them. Of course you can also stop timers this way. Don’t you want this? Then you can disable the feature via Settings on your Apple Watch â–¸ Hearing & Feel â–¸ turn off the ‘Cover to Hold’ option.