The Hidden Easter Egg
Apple built a delightful, hidden easter egg into specific watch faces on the Apple Watch. If you use the classic Mickey Mouse or Minnie Mouse watch faces, the characters will physically tap their feet to the passing seconds. But beyond the visual animation, these specific watch faces have a hidden audio feature. If you interact with the screen correctly, Mickey or Minnie will actually speak out loud, reading the current time in their authentic, officially licensed Disney voices, complete with character-appropriate greetings like “Good morning!” or “Good evening, pal!”
How to Make Mickey or Minnie Speak
Before this will work, you must ensure your Apple Watch is not currently in Silent Mode (the bell icon with a line through it in the Control Center must be turned off).
- Set your current watch face to either Mickey Mouse or Minnie Mouse.
- Wake up the Apple Watch so the screen is brightly illuminated.
- Place two fingers on the glass screen and press and hold firmly on the center of the watch face.
- Keep your fingers pressed against the glass for approximately one second.
- The character will speak the time out loud through the Apple Watch’s built-in speaker.
Troubleshooting the Feature
If you press with two fingers and nothing happens, the feature might be disabled in the system settings, or the voice files haven’t downloaded.
- Open the Watch app on your paired iPhone.
- Ensure you are on the My Watch tab.
- Scroll down and tap on Clock.
- Scroll down and verify that the Speak Time toggle switch is turned On.
- Ensure the setting directly beneath it is set to Always Speak (otherwise, they won’t speak if your watch is in Silent Mode).
Note: If you just set up a brand new Apple Watch or just switched to the Mickey face for the very first time, the watch needs to download the high-quality voice audio files from Apple’s servers over Wi-Fi. This happens silently in the background and can sometimes take 10 to 15 minutes to complete.