Your Apple Watch Just Got a Small But Significant New Feature

Today, Apple rolled out watchOS 11.4, the next big software update for the Apple Watch. It doesn’t ring in the changes, but it does deliver one subtle but helpful new feature — particularly for anybody who wears their Apple Watch while sleeping.

The feature is called “Break Through Silent Mode.”

Don’t sleep through an alarm

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

Most people who wear their Apple Watch to bed either have Sleep Focus enabled or Silent Mode turned on. Both options silence all notifications to not wake you up during the night. This includes alarms, which vibrate instead.

To date, this has been a common complaint for Apple Watch wearers. While vibrating alarms work well for some — and they make a lot of sense for those who share a bed with a partner — they’re not nearly as effective as an alarm sound, and it’s caused many to sleep through their alarms.

Well, the upcoming Break Through Silent Mode feature fixes just that. As the release notes for watchOS 11.4 point out, the option allows an “alarm to break through Silent Mode.” All other notifications will stay silent or have haptic responses.

How to turn on Break Through Silent Mode

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

When your Apple Watch is running watchOS 11.4, you’ll have to turn on Break Through Silent Mode, which can be done in two ways — both directly on the Apple Watch.

• In the Sleep app > select the alarm icon > select Sounds & Haptics > toggle on Break Through Silent Mode.

• In the Alarms app > select the alarm > select Change in Sleep > select Sounds & Haptics > toggle on Break Through Silent Mode.

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

When’s it coming?

After weeks of the public beta being available, Apple officially released watchOS 11.4 to the masses. If your Apple Watch doesn’t prompt you to update, you can do so manually via the Apple Watch app and going through Settings.

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