No Watch Message Notifications When Mac is On.

Question

Level 1

64 points

No Watch Message Notifications When Mac is On.

When my Mac is on, I no longer get Message notifications on my Apple Watch.

I have been having problems not receiving Message notifications on my Watch. I have narrowed it down to occurring when the Mac is on. Since I use my Mac to play music much of the time, I can be elsewhere in the house and not get Message notifications.

How can I insure that I get notifications on my Watch? Honestly, I would like notifications on both my Watch and iPhone since my hearing is not great, but that seems impossible too.

Apple Watch Series 10, watchOS 26

Posted on Dec 5, 2025 3:04 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

azaksalmarzur28

Level 4

1,248 points

Dec 6, 2025 4:22 AM in response to LexVAPin

Enable “Deliver to Apple Watch” even when Mac is active (WORKAROUND)

This depends on changing how notifications behave on the Mac.

Go to:

Mac → System Settings → Notifications → Messages

Change the following:

Turn OFF “Allow Notifications”
(this forces iCloud to deliver alerts to other devices)

OR

Turn OFF “Show notifications on lock screen” and
Turn OFF “Show banners”
(the Mac will still receive them, but quietly → Watch now becomes primary)

This is the most reliable fix.

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Answer 2

LexVAPin Author

Level 1

64 points

Dec 6, 2025 10:51 AM in response to azaksalmarzur28

On the Mac, I turned off Banners and Allow notifications on Lock Screen. On are Show in Notification Center, Badge application icon, Play sound for notification. Show previews is Default and Notification grouping is Automatic. I get a ping on the Mac.

Still nothing on the Watch.

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Answer 3

LexVAPin Author

Level 1

64 points

Dec 6, 2025 10:37 AM in response to azaksalmarzur28

Thanks for that.

I am not thrilled with turning off notifications on my Mac, but if that is the only workaround that Apple offers, I guess I will do so.

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