watchOS 11.4 Will Make Sure You Don't Miss Alarms
With the watchOS 11.4 update that's set to be released soon, Apple is making a small but useful change to the way that alarms work on the Apple Watch.
The update includes an option to allow the Wake Up alarm you set up for Sleep mode to break through when Silent Mode is activated on your watch, which means you'll be less likely to sleep through your alarm going off.
Right now, if you have Silent Mode turned on, your Apple Watch alarm will use haptic feedback vibrations to tap you on the wrist to wake you, but it won't make noise. Some people are able to easily sleep through the gentle tapping of the alarm, but a loud noise is harder to ignore.
The Break Through Silent Mode option can be found by going to the Sleep app on Apple Watch, tapping on Sounds & Haptics, and toggling on the setting. From there, wearing the Apple Watch to bed will cause the Apple Watch alarm to use both sound and haptic feedback to wake you up.
You can also turn on the Break Through Silent Mode option by opening up the Alarm app and tapping any active alarm you have set up.
watchOS 11.4 also includes support for Matter-compatible robot vacuum cleaners, and it solves an issue where face selection could become unresponsive when switching faces.
Apple provided developers with the watchOS 11.4 release candidate version today, and that represents the final version of watchOS 11.4 that will go out to the public should no additional issues be found. We're expecting watchOS 11.4 to launch in early April, as soon as next week.
Popular Stories
Apple is planning to announce several new features for the Messages and Phone apps on iOS 26, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In a lengthy report outlining his WWDC 2025 expectations today, Gurman said that the two main changes in the Messages app will be the ability to create polls, as well as the option to set a background image within a conversation.
9to5Mac was first to report...
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the ultra-thin device.
Overall, the iPhone 17 Air sounds like a mixed bag. While the device is expected to have an impressively thin and light design, rumors indicate it will have some compromises compared to iPhone 17 Pro models, including worse battery life, only a single ...
While the spotlight has been on CarPlay Ultra lately, the regular version of CarPlay is set to receive some enhancements alongside iOS 26.
Apple will announce iOS 26 at WWDC 2025 next week, and the software update is expected to upgrade the CarPlay experience in at least two ways.
The first iOS 26 beta should be seeded to developers shortly after Apple's keynote, and the update will...
The Apple Watch provides highly accurate measurements of heart rate and step count, but their estimates of calories burned can be significantly off, according to a new peer-reviewed meta-analysis conducted by researchers at the University of Mississippi (via CNET).
The study reviewed 56 previously published studies evaluating the Apple Watch's performance against gold-standard clinical tools ...
If the Mail app on your iPhone is not working lately, you are not alone.
A growing number of iPhone users are seeing a blank screen in the Mail app, according to comments posted across the MacRumors Forums, Reddit, Apple Support Community, and other online discussion platforms. Affected users are unable to view any emails in their inboxes, and the app can also become glitchy and...
In a lengthy report outlining his WWDC 2025 expectations today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman shared more details about iOS 26's rumored new design.
According to Gurman, iOS 26 will feature a "digital glass" design inspired by visionOS, the operating system for Apple's Vision Pro headset. That is a well-known rumor by now, but he goes on to provide some more specific details, as listed below:There ...
macOS 26 will drop support for several older Intel-based Mac models currently compatible with macOS Sequoia, according to a private account on X with a proven track record of leaking information about Apple's software platforms.
macOS 26 will be compatible with the following Mac models, the account said:MacBook Air (M1 and later)
MacBook Pro (2019 and later)
iMac (2020 and later)
Mac...
