The Artificial Click
The Apple Watch features a physical scrolling wheel called the Digital Crown. As you rotate this wheel to scroll through emails or zoom in on the app grid, the watch’s internal Taptic Engine fires hundreds of microscopic vibrations into your wrist. This creates the physical illusion of a mechanical clicking gear, mimicking a traditional analog watch. While this is an impressive piece of software engineering, it constantly drains battery life and can be annoying if you prefer perfectly smooth, silent scrolling. You must permanently detach the vibration motor from the scrolling wheel.
How to Turn Off Digital Crown Haptics
You can permanently silence the artificial clicking sensation 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.
- Locate the toggle switch labeled Crown Haptics.
- Toggle this switch to the Off position (the green background will disappear).
Smooth Scrolling
The change is instantaneous. The Apple Watch will completely sever the software link between the Digital Crown’s rotational sensor and the Taptic Engine. The next time you spin the dial, the wheel will spin perfectly smoothly with absolutely zero physical resistance or clicking feedback. The interface will scroll silently and effortlessly, ensuring the vibration motor is only used for actual notifications, thereby saving a measurable amount of battery life over the course of the day.