The Generic Suggestions
When you receive a text message on your Apple Watch, the operating system analyzes the context of the message and automatically generates a list of “Smart Replies” (e.g., “Sounds good!”, “On my way”, “No problem”) that you can tap to instantly send. While intended to save time, this feature takes up massive amounts of screen space at the bottom of every message thread. Furthermore, accidentally tapping one of these generic phrases when trying to scroll can result in sending an awkward or completely inappropriate response to a professional contact. You must disable this automated text generator.
How to Turn Off Smart Replies
You can permanently sever the watch’s text-analysis engine via the Watch app on your iPhone.
- Open the Watch app on your paired iPhone.
- Ensure you are on the My Watch tab at the bottom left.
- Scroll down the main list and tap on Messages.
- Tap on Default Replies.
- Locate the toggle switch at the top of the screen labeled Smart Replies.
- Toggle this switch to the Off position (the green background will disappear).
A Cleaner Interface
The change is instantaneous. The Apple Watch will completely terminate the background machine-learning daemon responsible for analyzing your incoming text messages. When you open a text thread on your wrist, the massive list of dynamically generated suggestions will be completely gone. You will only see the standard input buttons (Dictation, Scribble, Emoji), guaranteeing a cleaner, shorter interface and completely eliminating the risk of accidentally sending a robotic, generic reply.