The Intense Vibration
The Apple Watch utilizes an internal vibration motor called the Taptic Engine to silently alert you to incoming text messages, phone calls, and alarms. By default, these haptic taps are relatively subtle. To ensure you never miss a notification, Apple includes a feature called “Prominent Haptics.” When this is enabled, the watch precedes every standard notification with an aggressive, highly intense preliminary vibration designed to completely jolt your wrist. While this is helpful if you are operating heavy machinery or running, it is often overly aggressive and annoying in a quiet office environment. You must disable the prominent booster.
How to Turn Off Prominent Haptics
You can force the watch to use only the standard, subtle vibrations via the Sound settings.
- Open the Settings app directly on your Apple Watch (the grey gear icon).
- Scroll down the main list and tap on Sounds & Haptics.
- Scroll down to the “Haptics” section.
- Ensure the master “Haptic Alerts” switch is turned On.
- Directly underneath that switch, select the Default option instead of the “Prominent” option.
Subtle Alerts
The change is instantaneous. The Apple Watch will immediately stop firing the aggressive booster vibration. The next time you receive a text message, the watch will deliver a crisp, standard tap to your wrist. This saves a small amount of battery life and prevents the watch from feeling like it is violently vibrating against your arm throughout the workday.