How to force Reminders notifications to Apple Watch instead of iPhone

Question

Level 1

4 points

How to force Reminders notifications to Apple Watch instead of iPhone

I use Apple Reminders heavily throughout the day, with multiple time-based reminders. One of the main reasons I bought an Apple Watch was to receive reminders and calendar (meeting) alerts on my wrist.

However, in practice, my reminders almost always alert on the iPhone and not on the Apple Watch. Even when my iPhone has been recently locked and a reminder is about to trigger, the alert still appears only on the iPhone.

What I am trying to achieve is either:

reminders alerting on the Apple Watch instead of the iPhone, or
reminders alerting on both devices

Is there any supported way to force Apple Reminders to always notify on the Apple Watch, regardless of the iPhone’s lock state?

Apple Watch SE 3, watchOS 26

Posted on Dec 16, 2025 9:27 PM

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Answer 1

Ingo2711

Level 10

80,151 points

Dec 16, 2025 11:24 PM in response to eeriegoesd

Sorry, but notifications will only appear on the watch or on the iPhone, but not on both devices, except for phone calls.

Have a look at the related article:

Notifications on your Apple Watch - Apple Support

But, you can tell Apple about your wishes for future watchOS updates by using the Feedback link:

Feedback - Apple Watch - Apple

Did you already try to force restart your iPhone and Apple Watch after the latest watchOS and iOS updates?

Since the software for both devices has just been updated, this might also be a software issue, which you can also report via the Feedback link.

Force restart iPhone - Apple Support

To force restart your watch, press and hold the Digital Crown and the Side button together for about 10sec, until the Apple logo comes back again.

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Answer 2

Dec 16, 2025 9:56 PM in response to eeriegoesd

iPhone = primary interaction device

Watch = secondary, glance-based device

Duplicate notifications = “annoying”

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