The Apple Watch Series 5 screen is always on, but it also makes it easier to see information on your watch face that may be personal.
This way you can shield Apple Watch complications
The big improvement of the Watch Series 5 is the new screen, which is now always on. A difference from all previous Apple Watches, where you had to turn your wrist to activate the display.
The fact that you can now always read the time is a nice improvement, but it also has some consequences for your privacy. For example, it has now become a lot easier for someone sitting next to you to see what is happening on your watch face. If only a clock can be found there, it will be of little use to him or she.
Yet there are also many people who have their calendar, task list or mail app on the watch face, for example. You probably also prefer to keep information about your heart rate and other health data to yourself. Fortunately, if sensitive information is written there, you can protect it via the settings of the Apple Watch. You do this as follows.
This is how you shield sensitive Apple Watch complications
- Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch;
- Go to ‘Display and Brightness’;
- Tap ‘Always on’;
- Set the switch behind ‘Hide sensitive complications’ to green.
In this way, complications will be made illegible from now on, and the sensitive information will only appear again when you have turned your wrist. To make sure this new screen doesn’t consume too much power, the Series 5’s display only refreshes once a minute when your wrist isn’t turned.
That also means that complications are updated less often than you are used to from the Watch. However, this measure was necessary to ensure that the battery life can last as long as the Apple Watch Series 4. Depending on how you use it, the Series 5 will last for at least a full day.
Also read: the extensive Apple Watch Series 5 review and the review of watchOS 6