The release candidate for Apple’s watchOS 11.4 has been unveiled today, offering an early look at some of the new features coming to the Apple Watch in the next few weeks. The OS update includes some bug fixes, but the most notable change is that it modifies the silent mode on the Apple Watch, allowing alarms to be heard while everything else remains silent.
Currently, when silent mode is activated, the Apple Watch only alerts users through haptic vibrations. This helps keep notifications private, reduces distractions, and prevents the watch from making noise at inappropriate times, like during a meeting.
In the release candidate notes for watchOS 11.4, the new feature is described as “allowing the sleep wake-up alarm to exit silent mode.” Every individual alarm, including the one set in the Apple Watch’s sleep settings to wake up in the morning, will have a new option to “exit silent mode.” According to 9to5Mac, enabling this will trigger both sound and haptic vibrations when the alarm goes off.
It may be paradoxical to look at it this way, yet I have often slept through alarms from haptic feedback from the Apple Watch, even when set to the highest intensity. I keep the Apple Watch in silent mode at all times, so I do not use it to ring for important alarms; I think that might change.
