Delay in notifications

Hi guys Im a new apple watch 8 user (its my first apple watch) and I have a question. Its really annoying me that my notifications (whatsapp,messenger and imessage) are not coming through on my watch at the same time as to my phone. There is either big delay or they dont show up at all. This is especially annoying since the phone doesnt give a sound when a message comes on the phone (is it true that when your phone is connected to the watch notification sound is silenced on the phone or am I reading something wrong?) so Im constantly missing messages. I have tried the usual unpair/repair, have checked all my settings and have searched the interenet and I still havent fixed this. Does anyone have a good solution to this because at this rate Ill be returning my apple watch and going back to my garmin.


Thank you in advance for you answers and have a great day :)

Apple Watch Series 8, watchOS 9

Posted on Jan 31, 2023 12:31 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 31, 2023 12:42 AM

This can confuse new Watch owners

Apart from actual phone calls which ring on both by default. Notifications for messages etc follow these rules…

  • If the phone is in use (open) then you get notifications on the phone.
  • If the phone is locked you get notifications on the Watch
  • If you go into each notification type and use Custom and disallow notifications they go to the phone always and not to the Watch


Notifications on your Apple Watch - Apple Support


With Whatsapp and some third party "messenger" apps there is no companion app on the phone and notifications may be limited anyway, but the above rules should apply.


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5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 31, 2023 12:42 AM in response to BabyBoo01

This can confuse new Watch owners

Apart from actual phone calls which ring on both by default. Notifications for messages etc follow these rules…

  • If the phone is in use (open) then you get notifications on the phone.
  • If the phone is locked you get notifications on the Watch
  • If you go into each notification type and use Custom and disallow notifications they go to the phone always and not to the Watch


Notifications on your Apple Watch - Apple Support


With Whatsapp and some third party "messenger" apps there is no companion app on the phone and notifications may be limited anyway, but the above rules should apply.


Jan 31, 2023 01:07 AM in response to LD150

Ok thak you for clarifying, thats really helpful. Just one more question regarding the delay in delivery to my watch. Are there any fixes apart form unpair/repar etc? Ive dont those and have checked my settings multiple times but these still get delivered to my watch with at least a 30second delay. Its super frustrating and I have no clue whether this is a bug or its just the way it is with these watches.

Jan 31, 2023 01:37 AM in response to BabyBoo01

you said originally "...my notifications (whatsapp,messenger and imessage) are not coming through on my watch at the same time as to my phone..."


but notifications do not go to both Watch and Phone so I don't know where you experience the 30 seconds delay to be able to answer.

Watches generally respond slower to external messages than a comparable iphone , but where it matters, activity measurement, heart rate, timers etc they work in real time.

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Delay in notifications

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