How to make the most of Apple Watch notifications

This post is adapted from How to design WatchKit apps for Apple Watch, a whitepaper on designing for Apple’s first wearable.

Since the very beginning, notifications have been at the core of the iOS experience. Incoming messages and timely alerts are made available to iPhone users through a variety of views, and in many ways define the experience for many apps on iOS. As the platform has evolved, so too has its handling of notifications, including a unified Notification Center in iOS 5 and interactive notifications in iOS 8. But while notifications are a crucially important component of the iOS user experience, they are the defining characteristic on Apple Watch.

Apple Watch can display each notification received on iPhone as it comes in, delivering a subtle haptic tap to the user’s wrist. (Within the Apple Watch app on iOS, users can customize the incoming notifications to prevent their wrists from buzzing incessantly.) When users raise their wrists, they see a preview of the notification with a large app icon and a summary—also known as a “short-look” notification in Apple parlance. When they continue looking, the notification transforms into a “long look” to show additional information and options for responses, like Reply or Dismiss.

“Notifications on Apple Watch are interesting,” said Josh Epstein, “Because they’re kind of different than iOS. Notifications on your iPhone are typically informative—there’s a new email in your inbox, you have a new Twitter follower, and so on. On Apple Watch, notifications are almost universally asking you to take immediate action. You have a new iMessage—do you want to reply? Someone sent you their heartbeat—do you want send something back?”

Notifications on iPhone are designed to be informative. Notifications on Apple Watch are designed to help you take action.

This functionality is possible because of interactive notifications, a feature introduced in iOS 8. Rather than sending a static piece of information— Your friend mentioned you in a tweet —apps can supply buttons directly in the notification that allow users to take immediate actions— Reply or Favorite. “Because Apple Watch makes these notification interactions accessible right away, it really puts the focus on things you can do right now,” said Epstein. “It makes the notifications really focused on priorities.”

WatchKit takes this renewed focus and runs with it. While some interactive notification functions on iPhone require users to launch the app, like comment or reply , WatchKit gives developers new opportunities to build actions that users can perform right from the notification. “I like that WatchKit provides more options around interactive notifications, beyond open app or dismiss on iOS,” said Epstein. “That’s an opportunity that doesn’t exist on iOS.”

Further, WatchKit notifications are an opportunity for custom interface adjustments and unique branding. “The ability to customize long-look notifications can make them look a lot nicer than notifications on iOS, which pretty much look the same across the board,” said Epstein. “The fact that you can add images makes it much easier and more convenient for users to access content without having to open the app, and kind of reinvents how certain apps behave. For example, sometimes the entire purpose of a notification on iOS is to inform the user that a friend sent them a photo. Now, users can see the photo straight from the notification, without even launching the app. That completely transforms how apps communicate with the user. And that’s just notifications.”