What you can change on your Apple Watch screen
Your Apple Watch display has several settings you can adjust without visiting a repair shop or changing the hardware itself. You can make the screen brighter or dimmer, change the text size, flip the display orientation if you wear the watch on your right wrist, and adjust how long the screen stays on before it goes dark. You can also change the watch face itself — the background image and complications (the small data windows that show time, weather, or activity rings).
Most of these changes happen in the Settings app on the watch itself. A few require you to use the Apple Watch app on your paired iPhone instead. This guide walks you through both.
Key Takeaways
- Brightness and text size are adjusted in the Watch Settings app under Display & Brightness.
- You can flip the display upside down in Settings if you wear your watch on your right wrist.
- Watch faces and their complications are changed by swiping left on the current face and tapping the edit button.
- Screen timeout (how long before the display goes dark) is found in Settings under Display & Brightness.
- If your watch is running an older version of watchOS, some settings may be in slightly different locations.
Adjust brightness and text size on the watch
Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch by pressing the Digital Crown (the round button on the side) and tapping the gear icon. Scroll down and tap Display & Brightness.
To change brightness, tap Brightness and use the slider that appears. Drag it left to dim the screen or right to make it brighter. The watch shows you a preview as you adjust. Tap the back arrow when you are done.
To change text size, go back to Display & Brightness and tap Text Size. Use the slider to make text larger or smaller. Larger text takes up more screen space, so you will see fewer items at once, but it is easier to read. Tap the back arrow to save your choice.
Flip the display if you wear your watch on your right wrist
If you wear your Apple Watch on your right wrist instead of your left, you can flip the display upside down so the Digital Crown is on the left side of the screen. This makes the watch more comfortable to use and easier to read.
Open Settings on the watch and scroll down to Display & Brightness. Tap Watch Orientation. You will see two options: Left and Right. Tap Right. The display will flip, and the Digital Crown will move to the opposite side of the screen.
Change how long the screen stays on
By default, your Apple Watch screen turns off after 15 seconds of inactivity to save battery. You can make this shorter or longer depending on your needs. Open Settings and go to Display & Brightness, then tap Screen Wake Duration.
You will see options ranging from 15 seconds to 70 seconds. Tap the duration you want. A longer duration drains the battery faster, but you will not have to raise your wrist as often to see the time. A shorter duration saves battery but means you need to tap or raise your wrist more frequently to wake the screen.
Change your watch face and add complications
The watch face is the background and layout of your watch screen. To change it, swipe left on your current watch face (the main screen you see when you press the Digital Crown). Keep swiping until you see a face you like, then tap it to make it active.
To customize the face you are using, swipe left on it and tap the Edit button (it looks like three dots or a pencil, depending on your watchOS version). You can now change the color, add or remove complications, and adjust other details. Tap and hold a complication to move it or swipe to remove it. When you are done, press the Digital Crown to save.
If you want to add a completely new face, swipe left past all your current faces until you reach the end, then tap the plus sign. Choose a face from the list and customize it the same way.
Use your iPhone to change advanced display settings
Some display settings are only available through the Apple Watch app on your iPhone. Open the Watch app and tap the Display & Brightness tab at the bottom. Here you can toggle Reduce Motion (which slows down animations to reduce motion sickness), turn Bold Text on or off, and adjust Text Size from your phone instead of the watch.
You can also manage which watch faces appear on your watch from this screen. Tap Faces to add, remove, or reorder the faces that show up when you swipe left on your home screen.
Troubleshoot display problems
If your screen is too dim and you have already turned up the brightness, check whether Reduce Motion is accidentally turned on — it can make the display appear dimmer. Go to Settings on the watch, tap Accessibility, and make sure Reduce Motion is off.
If the text is still hard to read after you have increased the text size, try making the font bold. Open the Watch app on your iPhone, go to Display & Brightness, and toggle Bold Text on. This makes every letter thicker and easier to see.
If your screen is not responding to touches or the display looks cracked, those are hardware problems that require service. But if the display simply looks wrong — colors are off, or the screen flickers — try restarting your watch. Press and hold the side button until you see the power-off slider, then slide to turn it off. Wait 10 seconds and press the side button again to turn it back on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make the always-on display brighter?
The always-on display (the dimmed version that shows when your wrist is down) uses a fixed brightness to save battery. You cannot make it brighter, but you can raise your wrist or tap the screen to wake the full bright display. The brightness setting you adjust in Display & Brightness controls only the full bright display.
Why does my watch face look different than my friend's, even though we have the same model?
Different watchOS versions and different watch models support different faces and complications. If your friend has a newer watch or a newer version of watchOS, they may have access to faces you do not. You can update your watch by opening the Watch app on your iPhone, going to General, and tapping Software Update.
Does changing the display settings drain the battery faster?
Yes, a brighter screen and a longer screen wake duration both use more battery. If your watch is not lasting a full day, try lowering the brightness slightly and reducing the screen wake duration to 15 seconds. You can always raise your wrist to wake the screen manually.
Can I change the display settings for specific watch faces?
Brightness and text size apply to all faces on your watch — you cannot set different brightness for different faces. However, you can customize the colors and complications for each individual face, so each one can look and function differently even though they share the same brightness setting.