Matt Klein has nearly two decades of technical writing experience. He’s covered Windows, Android, macOS, Microsoft Office, and everything in between. He’s even written a book, The How-To Geek Guide to Windows 8. Read more.
Of all the myriad functions the Apple Watch can perform, an oft-overlooked but very useful option is the stopwatch function. The Apple Watch’s stopwatch does more than just start, stop, and lap.
Go the app screen and tap the stopwatch icon. When the Stopwatch loads, you’ll have four choices: Analog, Digital, Graph, and Hybrid. When you choose one, you can always get back to the selection screen by pressing down on the Watch’s face until they appear.
If you ever want to get back to the mode selection screen (picture right), simply press down on the Watch face until it pops up.
The Analog stopwatch looks like your traditional stopwatch, as was popular in the 20th century before digital stopwatches became the norm.
At the bottom of the Analog watch are two buttons. The green button starts the watch. Once you start timing, you can press the white button for lap times. Press the red button to stop. Once stopped, press the white button again to reset the watch.
The Analog mode does everything the other modes do. The only thing it doesn’t do is tick.
The Digital stopwatch will be much more familiar to most people. Again, like with the Analog mode, press the “Start” button to begin timing, press “Lap” to record you lap times, and “Stop” will obviously halt the entire process. Once stopped, the Lap button will turn into a Reset button unless you choose to start the watch again.
The Digital mode is probably more of what you’re used to and resembles what you find on your iPhone.
The Graph mode is a bit different, but very useful. This stopwatch is intended to give you a visual idea of lap times by plotting them on a horizontal line graph. Each time you press the “Lap” button, it will place a dot at that lap’s time. The orange line that runs across it represents the average lap time, which is good information to know.
The Graph mode is a great way to visually see lap times and lap time average.
Finally, there’s the best of three worlds: The Hybrid stopwatch mode combines the Analog, Digital, and Graph modes into one single mode.
At the top of the Hybrid display, you see the analog functions, in the middle is the digital readout, and at the bottom you’ll see the graphed lap times, so you don’t have to make a choice, you can simply use Hybrid and have everything in one mode.
Something for everyone, the Hybrid mode incorporates Analog, Digital, and Graph stopwatches.
Using your Apple Watch as a stopwatch may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s not immediately obvious that it even has a stopwatch function unless you sort through the many included apps.
Once you do use it for this purpose, though, you’ll see that it is a handy and convenient way to time people and events. The inclusion of four stopwatch modes means that there’s something for everyone’s particular tastes and needs.
Удобный и точный способ засекать время. На Apple Watch можно отслеживать продолжительность всего события (длительностью до 11 часов 55 минут) и определять время каждого круга и промежуточное время, отображать результаты в виде списка или графика и отсчет времени прямо на циферблате. На циферблате «Хронограф» и «Хронограф Pro» есть встроенный секундомер.
Как открыть секундомер
Откройте приложение «Секундомер» на Apple Watch или коснитесь секундомера на циферблате (если Вы добавили секундомер на циферблат или используете циферблат «Хронограф» или «Хронограф Pro»).
Запуск, пауза и сброс секундомера
Откройте приложение «Секундомер» на Apple Watch и выполните любое из следующих действий.
Старт. Коснитесь зеленой кнопки «Старт».
Запись круга. Коснитесь белой кнопки «Круг».
Запись итогового времени. Коснитесь красной кнопки «Стоп».
Сброс секундомера. Коснитесь белой кнопки «Сброс» или «Круг».
Отсчет времени продолжается, даже если Вы переходите к циферблату или открываете другие приложения.
Просматривайте результаты на дисплее отсчета времени или измените дисплеи, чтобы проанализировать время прохождения кругов и отобразить круги с самым коротким или долгим временем (они отмечены зеленым и красным цветом) в том формате, который Вы выбрали. Если результаты с временем круга отображаются в виде списка, прокрутите колесико Digital Crown, чтобы его просмотреть.
Смена формата секундомера
Откройте приложение «Секундомер» на Apple Watch.
Коснитесь дисплея и просмотрите форматы «Цифровой», «Обычный», «График» и «Гибрид».
Apple Watch Series 5 and Series 6 can display the time and other glanceable information, even when your wrist is down.
Always On is turned on by default on Apple Watch Series 5 and Series 6. In this mode, the time is always visible, along with your watch face or the most recent active app.
To preserve battery life, the display dims when your wrist is down, or by a quick gesture of covering the display with your hand. A wrist raise or tap on the screen brings everything back to full brightness and makes the watch screen active so you can interact with your watch.
How information appears
While your wrist is down, the time and complications on the watch face update once a minute, and information appears as follows:
- Time complications, such as Stopwatch and Timer, round their displayed information to the minute.
- Complications that show live data, such as Compass and Noise, are not active.
- Other complications, such as Calendar, Weather, and third-party apps, refresh once per minute or as needed.
The Workout app stays visible while you’re exercising, so you can easily see your workout information.
Notifications don’t appear on the watch face when your wrist is down.
How to interact with your watch
When your display is dimmed, it ignores most swipes to prevent accidental input. Even with your wrist down, you can still tap a complication to open its app, swipe down from the top of the screen to see notifications, or swipe up from the bottom to use Control Center.
You can also raise your wrist, press the Digital Crown, or press the side button to bring your watch to full brightness.
Manage Always On settings
Always On has settings that let you turn the feature off, which can increase battery life. You can also hide sensitive complications.
- Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch. To do this, press the Digital Crown to see the Home screen, then tap the Settings icon .
- Tap Display & Brightness.
- Tap Always On to turn the feature on or off. You can also select Hide Sensitive Complications if you want information such as calendar events, messages, and heart rate to remain hidden when your wrist is down.
I accidentally deleted the stopwatch app from my Apple watch and don’t know how to get it back.
I cannot find it in the app store. It does not seem to be part of the clock app like it is on the iPhone. They seem like separate apps on the watch. Is there a way to do this or a way to access the stopwatch from the clock app on the watch?
Posted on Dec 27, 2019 6:52 AM
On your watch find the app store app
Turn your crown to scroll down unit you find it.
Posted on Dec 27, 2019 7:18 AM
Helpful answers
- Helpful answers
- All replies
Thank you for your kind words. I’ve not studied deleting built-in apps on my Apple Watch, however after checking your statement, if you go the App Store on your Watch, then search for Stopwatch, it will appear after scrolling down a ways through the other stopwatch apps available. It is listed as stopwatch, utilities. It is displaying Open on mine, since I have not deleted mine, you should see the ability to download it.
Dec 27, 2019 7:27 AM
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The Stopwatch is a part of the watchOS and cannot be deleted. What did you do that makes you believe that you deleted the stopwatch? There is a separate icon for the stop watch, but it is not a separate app.
Dec 27, 2019 7:03 AM
Dec 27, 2019 7:06 AM
Sir, If you don’t have a helpful answer, what are we doing here? I assure you I did it, Go ahead and try for yourself. If you hold down on the apps until they wiggle, you will see a little X on the icons, select the icon and then click “Delete App” or “Cancel”. Its that simple.
Dec 27, 2019 7:10 AM
On your watch find the app store app
Turn your crown to scroll down unit you find it.
Dec 27, 2019 7:18 AM
Thank you for your kind words. I’ve not studied deleting built-in apps on my Apple Watch, however after checking your statement, if you go the App Store on your Watch, then search for Stopwatch, it will appear after scrolling down a ways through the other stopwatch apps available. It is listed as stopwatch, utilities. It is displaying Open on mine, since I have not deleted mine, you should see the ability to download it.
Apple has separated its three time-based categories into separate apps on Apple Watch. This allows you to quickly access the specific feature of the timer, alarm, and stopwatch you want with just a few taps.
While most of it is self-explanatory, we’ve got some tips for how to get the most out of each of these apps so they work the way you want, when you want.
Timer
The Timer app on Apple watch makes it possible for you to set a timer right from your wrist so you don’t have to search out your iPhone to activate or even turn off the alert when time is up.
Tap the Timer app icon on Apple Watch to open it. Then rotate the Digital Crown to adjust the time. When ready, tap the Start button.
You can switch between a timer that goes from zero to 12 hours and a timer that goes from zero to 24 hours by firmly pressing the display screen.
Alarm
The Alarm app on Apple Watch is completely separate from the iPhone, but the two are not mutually exclusive. Alarms will not sync between devices. However, if you are wearing Apple Watch when an alarm goes off on your iPhone, you will receive an alert and be able to dismiss or snooze it.
To set an alarm on Apple Watch:
- Open the Alarm app on Apple Watch.
- Firmly press the screen to call up the add (+) symbol.
- Change the time and repetition. Name the alarm using Dictation. Turn on or off the snooze feature.
- Toggle the alarm on or off when you want to activate it.
To delete an alarm, tap it. Then, scroll to the bottom and tap Delete.
Stopwatch
The Stopwatch app on Apple Watch is robust with multiple options for tracking your fitness routine and other activities you might want to use a stopwatch with.
There are four different types of stopwatches. To access the different types, firmly press on the screen to call up the four stopwatch icons.
Analog:
The Analog display shows the seconds on a minute clock face. Tap the green button to start the stopwatch. Tap the white button to set a new lap or reset the data. Tap the red button to stop the stopwatch.
Digital:
The Digital display shows the minutes, seconds, and milliseconds as digital data. Tap the Start button to start the stopwatch. Tap the Lap button to set a new lap. Tap the Stop button to stop the stopwatch. Tap Reset to clear the data.
Graph:
The Graph display shows the information on a graph based on how much more or less time each lap uses. Follow the instructions for the Digital display to control the Graph display.
Hybrid:
The Hybrid display shows the most important features of all three. The analog clock face shows the minutes, seconds, and milliseconds, as does the digital data. The graph shows your progress as it pertains to the previous lap. Follow the instructions for the digital display to control the Hybrid display.
With the Timer, Alarm, and Stopwatch apps on Apple Watch, you can quickly and easily access the same features available within the iPhone’s Clock app, but without having to navigate through so many sections. Each app is specially designed to optimize its most important features.
Приложение «Таймер» на Apple Watch помогает Вам отслеживать время. Интервал таймера может составлять до 24 часов.
Спросите Siri. Произнесите команду, например: «Установи таймер на 20 минут».
Как быстро установить таймер
Откройте приложение «Таймер» на Apple Watch.
Коснитесь нужной длительности, чтобы установить таймер.
Пролистайте вниз, чтобы выбрать недавно использованный интервал или задать новый.
После окончания таймера можно коснуться «Повтор», чтобы начать отсчет такой же длительности.
Как установить произвольный таймер
Откройте приложение «Таймер» на Apple Watch.
Прокрутите вниз и коснитесь «Настроить».
Коснитесь значения часов, минут или секунд, прокрутите колесико Digital Crown, чтобы выбрать нужное значение.
На Apple Watch в разделе «Недавние» отображаются последние использованные произвольные таймеры.
Toggle Dark Mode
Think about how the stopwatch on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch works. Pretty simple, right? Except it doesn’t work the way that you’re probably thinking it does.
Generally, you think of a stopwatch as a simple mechanism that just measures how much time has elapsed. In other words, it’s a device or app that “counts seconds.” And the stopwatch app on your iPhone does work like that, but there’s a small quirk that’s really interesting to note.
Instead of just counting the seconds after you tap on Start, the Stopwatch app actually records the time and date that you hit that button.
It then saves that start time and calculates the amount of time that has elapsed since then.
The end result is that the Stopwatch can measure time, even if you close out of the app or you shut down your phone. It doesn’t need to know how much time has passed because it can simply calculate it on its own. (The timer, of course, works in a similar way, just in reverse.)
That’s pretty much the reason that your stopwatch can go for days without any error in calculations. You’ve probably forgotten about it at least once and returned to see a massive number on the display.
Once you know that one little detail, the next thing that may come to mind is just how far you could push those limits.
While there’s no official world record for most time logged on an iPhone stopwatch, there are some unofficial results. Joshua Mallik of Kuwait City, for example, apparently logged about 9 years on his iPhone. That roughly translates to 78,888 hours and 32.80 seconds.
There is, in fact, a number of people who apparently just leave their stopwatch running to achieve similar records.
In any case, the stopwatch on your iPhone is a handy tool to track time and events. And with this little tidbit of knowledge, you can rest assured that you’ll be able to accurately track time — even through iPhone resets or your battery dying.
It’s worth noting that the Apple Watch stopwatch probably works slightly differently. At the very least, Apple notes that the maximum amount of time it can run is 11 hours and 55 minutes.
The Apple Watch display is set to time out and go dark after about 18 seconds. I always wondered about this choice of time out period. Why not 15 or 20 seconds? I don’t know why, but the 18 seconds number seemed to suggest something to me. I found it.
Tap the face, again, lightly at, say, 15 seconds.
Don’t tap so hard as to activate Force Touch. That will bring up the watch face customization mode. Just tap lightly anywhere on the face, and you’ll give the Apple Watch display 18 seconds (or so) of new life.
You can tap sooner than 15 seconds. The renewed time out period seems to start from the latest tap.
This accidental discovery is just a stopgap for when you’re timing an event with the stopwatch, the chronograph or perhaps just the sweep second hand.
[UPDATE: Reader Steve B. suggests two other methods that work.
- Touch and hold a finger on a corner of the display. That will keep the display from timing out.
- Spin the digital crown before a time out, just as the tap described above.]
Apple, I surmise, has enough technical feedback now on the average remaning battery life for users each night, and I’m betting, based on my own experience, that it’s encouraging. In fact, since that report, my remaining battery life each night with watchOS 1.0.1 has been about 75 percent. This calls for Apple to allow a setting in the next released version of watchOS (please don’t wait for 2.0) to allow the user to specify the time out period, say, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 90 seconds, 2 minutes and so on.
Meanwhile, tap, spin or touch away and keep your display alive. It’s a pain, but it’s all we have for now—that I know of.
If you are anything like me, you multitask throughout the day and have a lot of things to keep track of at the same time! Things like doing a load of laundry while boiling a batch of eggs and wearing a face or hair mask–all at the same time.
To keep track of all the different things, I use timers. In the past, I used my iPhone to keep track of all these things. But now, with watchOS 8+, you can finally have multiple timers active at the same time on your Apple Watch!
With multiple timers for Apple Watch, you see all your timers in the Watch’s Timer app. And when each of those timers goes off, a timer label pops up on your watch’s screen, so you know which task’s timer is complete. Easy peasy!
So let’s take a look at how you get multiple timers working on your Apple Watch today!
Related reading
- Apple Watch won’t pair because iPhone is out of date?
- How to set up an easy Timer on your Samsung Galaxy Watch
- Apple Watch not reading heart rate? Here’s the fix
How to set multiple timers on Apple Watch
The easiest way to set up a timer on your Apple Watch is to ask Siri.
Say something like: “Hey Siri, set up a time labeled (insert task) for XX minutes.” For example, ask Siri to “set a timer labeled dog wash for 20 minutes.”
Once you ask, Siri sets your time and labels it so you know which timer expires when!
To create additional times, repeat the steps for each task. Use the words “labeled, called, and named” when describing your task to Siri.
When a timer expires, your watch alerts you on-screen, and vibrates with a haptic alert or rings depending on how you set up your watch’s sound and haptic settings.
If you want to repeat a timer that just finished, tap the Repeat button (arrow in a circle icon) at the bottom to start the timer again.
You must ask Siri to label your timers
If you don’t ask Siri to name or label your timer, Siri creates a timer but does not label it with its task name.
Unfortunately, at this time you cannot manually label your timers by typing or scribbling in its name. Currently, only Siri can name a timer.
Manually set up multiple timers on Apple Watch using the Timer app
- Open the Timer app on your Apple Watch.
- Choose custom or scroll down and choose a recent timer (by length) or tap one of the pre-installed timer options.
- You cannot currently label manual timers. You will see the timer’s duration but not a description of the timer.
- If you want a timer with a description, ask Siri to create the timer following the steps above.
- For custom timers, select the hours, minutes, and seconds, then press Start.
- Tap hours, minutes, or seconds; and either scroll with your finder or turn the Digital Crown to adjust the numbers.
- You can set a custom timer up to 24 hours in length.
- To add additional manual timers, repeat steps 2-3.
Review the timers on your Apple Watch
It’s easy to see what timers you have active on your watch.
- Open the Timer app on your watch.
- Find all your active timers listed just below the Custom button and above the Recent list .
- Tap on an active timer to see it full screen and access the stop or pause buttons easily.
How to pause or stop timers on Apple Watch
If you don’t need a timer anymore or if you need to temporarily pause the timer, that’s fairly simple.
Pause your timers ![How to use your apple watch as a stopwatch]( "How to use your apple watch as a stopwatch")
- Ask Siri to pause a timer by its name. To resume, just ask Siri–make sure you use the name of the timer.
- Manually pause a timer by opening up your watch’s Timer app and pressing the pause button. Tap the play button to resume.
- When a timer pauses, it’s grayed out. When it resumes, it returns to its active state.
Stop and cancel your timers ![How to use your apple watch as a stopwatch]( "How to use your apple watch as a stopwatch")
- Ask Siri to stop or cancel a timer by its name. Once canceled, you must create a new timer for that task, if needed.
- Manually stop a timer by opening the Timer app and scrolling to the timer you wish to cancel. Swipe on it and tap the red X to delete it.
- You can also tap the timer to expand it full screen and then tap the x icon to remove it.
Awesome ways to use timers on your Apple Watch!
I use timers for a ton of things in my daily world. And it’s so much easier now that I can use my Apple Watch to keep track of them all!
Using timers helps me and the rest of my family stay motivated, organized, and be more productive.
