How to Change the Language on an Apple Watch

Customising Your Wearable Experience

Because the Apple Watch relies heavily on text-based notifications, fitness summaries, and Siri voice commands, it is crucial that the device operates in a language you can read and understand quickly. Whether you are learning a new language and want total immersion, or you simply bought a pre-owned Watch that arrived stuck in French, you need to know how to change the primary system language.

By default, when you first take an Apple Watch out of the box and pair it with your iPhone, it automatically mirrors the language and region settings of that phone. If your iPhone is set to UK English, the Watch will be set to UK English.

However, you are not forced to keep them identical. Apple allows you to “decouple” these settings, meaning you can keep your iPhone operating in English while your Apple Watch displays its menus and notifications entirely in Spanish or Japanese.

Method 1: Change the Language via the iPhone Watch App

The easiest way to change the language on your Apple Watch is to use the much larger screen of your paired iPhone. This method is especially helpful if your Watch is currently stuck in a language you cannot read, making it difficult to navigate its tiny internal menus.

1. Open the Watch app on your paired iPhone. (It is the app with a black background and a side profile of the Apple Watch).
2. Ensure the My Watch tab is selected at the bottom of the screen.
3. Scroll down and tap on General (look for the grey gear icon if you cannot read the text).
4. Scroll down and tap on Language & Region.
5. At the top of the screen, tap on Watch Language.
6. A long list of supported languages will appear. Scroll through and select your preferred language. (Note: You can also search for the language using the search bar at the top).
7. A confirmation box will appear at the bottom of the screen. Tap Change to [Your Selected Language].

Look at your physical Apple Watch. The screen will briefly go black and display a message saying “Setting Language.” This process usually takes about 30 seconds. Once the watch face reappears, the entire operating system will be translated.

Method 2: Change the Language Directly on the Apple Watch

If your iPhone is in another room or currently dead, you can change the language directly from your wrist, provided your Watch is running watchOS 7 or later.

1. Press the Digital Crown (the circular dial on the side) to view your app grid.
2. Find and tap the Settings app (the grey gear icon).
3. Scroll down using the Digital Crown and tap on General.
4. Scroll down and tap on Language & Region.
5. Tap on Language at the top of the menu.
6. Scroll through the list and select your desired language.
7. The Watch will ask you to confirm. Tap the checkmark or confirm button.

Just like the iPhone method, the Watch will pause to apply the new linguistic files before returning to the main watch face.

Why Is Siri Still Speaking the Old Language?

If you successfully changed the system language so that all the menus and notifications are translated, but Siri is still speaking to you in the previous language, do not panic. The text language and the Siri voice language are controlled independently.

This is a deliberate design choice. For example, a user might want to read their watch menus in their native Italian, but they might want Siri to speak and dictate in English to practice their pronunciation.

To fix Siri:

1. Open the Settings app directly on your Apple Watch.
2. Scroll down and tap on Siri.
3. Under the “Ask Siri” section, tap on Language.
4. Select the language you want Siri to understand and speak.
5. Wait a few moments. If the Watch needs to download a new voice file for that language, it must be connected to Wi-Fi to complete the download.