The 7 Easiest Ways to Reply to Text Messages on Your Apple Watch

The estimated reading time for this post is 6 minutes

Reading and replying to text messages are among the most useful tasks on an Apple Watch. Unlike the now-defunct Pebble watch, the Apple Watch lets you not only read your messages, but respond to them as well.

Replying to text messages on the tiny Apple Watch screen can seem challenging, but actually can be faster and easier than replying on your phone. By using your Watch, you can answer most text messages without having to pull out your phone and start typing.

In fact, you probably will find answering a text message on your Apple Watch is much faster and easier than using your phone.

Replying to Messages on Your Apple Watch

When you get a text message on your Apple Watch, scroll to the bottom of the message to see options to respond.

You can respond to older text messages by pressing on the Digital Crown to display the app screen. Tap on the Messages icon to see a list of your most recent messages. Tap on the text message you want to respond to.

Default Replies

When you see a text message on your Apple Watch screen, turn the Digital Crown to show a list of Default Replies.

These Default Replies range from the generic “Yes”, “No” and “I don’t know” to more involved ones such as “In a meeting. Call you later?” or “Sorry, can’t talk right now…”

Scroll through these Default Replies to see if any seem similar to what you might actually say if you were typing a response on your phone. You may find a perfect response, saving you the hassle of pulling out your phone and typing.

Just tap the response you think works best and it’s sent instantly as a reply to the text message.

Editing Default Replies

You can make Default Replies work even better for you by changing the order in which they appear  and deleting any you won’t ever use.

To edit Default Replies, open the Watch app on your iPhone. Scroll down to Messages.

Below you’ll see a list of Default Replies in response to a text message. Tap Edit in the upper right corner of the screen to customize these replies.

Tap the red dot to the left of a reply to delete it. You can also change the order of Default Replies by dragging the three bars to the right of a reply. You can change the wording of a Default Reply by tapping on the reply and typing the words you’d prefer to use.

But the most helpful thing to do on this screen is to add your own custom replies.

Custom Auto Replies

Sometimes Default Replies aren’t an appropriate response. Good news, you can create your own custom replies to answer text messages on your Watch.

Having custom replies handy makes replying to a text message on your Apple Watch easier than using your iPhone.

Custom replies are helpful when you have a response you need often but isn’t a Default Reply.

You can create any reply you want, such as “Heading home soon, I’ll stop at the store. Do you need anything?” “I already fed and walked the dog,” or “Let’s never talk about this again.” Replies you create will appear in your list of Default Replies on your Watch.

To create a custom reply for text messages on your Apple Watch, open the Watch app on your iPhone. Scroll down to Messages. Tap Messages => Default Replies.

At the bottom of the list is Add reply… Tap that to add a reply that is a response in your own words that you may use often.

The keyboard will appear and you can start typing your custom reply.

Tap Done on the keyboard when you’ve finished adding your custom replies. Your custom replies will appear in white text in the list of Default Replies.

The next time you’re responding to a text message on your Apple Watch your custom responses will appear in the list of Default Replies. Easy peasy!

Smart Replies

In addition to Default Replies, you can choose from Smart Replies generated by Siri. These replies are more tailored to the text messages you receive. Siri tries to analyze the meaning of the message and suggest appropriate responses.

Smart Replies must be turned on to work. Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.

Tap Messages => Default Replies

Make sure Smart Replies is turned on in the app. The switch at the upper right corner of the screen should show green.

Emojis

Another quick way to respond to text messages on your Apple Watch is by using emojis. A picture can say a thousand words and sometimes a simple Thumbs Up emoji can be the easiest response (who wants to read a thousand word text message anyway?).

To respond using an emoji, tap the smiley face icon on your screen.

You’ll be shown a list of frequently used emojis (though the emojis my Apple Watch shows aren’t the ones I use frequently).

Scroll down to search for emojis by category, such as Animals & Nature, Activity, Food & Drink and Stickers.

Tap the emoji you want to use and it will be sent instantly.

Dictation

You can dictate text message responses on your Apple Watch. Tap the microphone icon and start speaking your response. You’ll see the words typed as you speak them.

Speak punctuation marks, such as comma, period, exclamation point and they’ll be included in your message.

Tap Send in the upper right corner when you’ve finished dictating your message.

Scribble

Sometimes you want to type the exact word, to account for an unusual spelling, or words Siri can’t quite figure out.

Scribble lets you use your finger to handwrite letters onto the screen. These letters can form words, which then can form sentences.

You wouldn’t want to use Scribble for long messages, but it’s surprisingly helpful for shorter messages.

The accuracy of Scribble is impressive too. You can try writing a few responses to see if it works well for you.

To use Scribble, tap the hand icon on the screen. You’ll see a blank section you can think of as your writing tablet. Use your finger to write a letter. As you lift your finger from the screen the letter will appear above and you can being to write the next letter.

Tap SPACE when you want to start a new word. Tap the back arrow to correct a mistake.

Tap Send when you’re ready to send your message.

Send Location

Trying to meet up with someone at a crowded place? Want to update someone on where you are? Use your Apple Watch to send your location easily.

Press and hold a text message to reveal the Send Location option on a new menu.

Tap Send Location to send a map with a pin on your location in a text message.

Your Thoughts

Have you ever responded to a text message using your Apple Watch? Have you created custom replies? What’s your favorite way of responding to text messages using your Apple Watch?

Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!