Apple Watch Ultra is a piece of art. The product’s design maximizes utility, and its distinctive looks help it stand out from the rest of the Apple Watch lineup and other smartwatches. If I may take the liberty to say, it is the best overall smartwatch in the market right now because of all the valuable and lifesaving features it offers. If you’ve got yourself a new Apple Watch Ultra, here are 15 tips to help you get the most out of your new purchase. 

1. Customize Action Button 

The Apple Watch Ultra features a programmable Action Button (in bright orange) located beside the speaker grille on the left of the casing. 

You customize it to perform any task of your choice. The options range from quickly accessing features like Waypoint, Backtrack, Flashlight, etc., or you can even assign it a Shortcut. You will need to create the Shortcut on your iPhone with the help of the Shortcuts app. 

When you begin setting up your new Apple Watch Ultra, you will be asked to set up the Action Button too. If you skipped the steps back then or want to customize the Action Button on your Apple Watch Ultra now, read below.

1. Head to the Settings menu on your Apple Watch Ultra.
2. Navigate to Action Button and select the Choose Action option.
3. Select from one of these actions: Workout, Stopwatch, Waypoint, Backtrack, Dive, Flashlight, or Shortcut.
4. Tap the < button at the top left corner.
5. You should now see an App button if the selected action supports it.
6. Press the App button and select the app you want to launch when the Action Button is pressed. Some actions might not feature the App button.
7. Tap the < button to go back.
8. Select the First Press option under the Menu and assign it an action. Some features will allow different actions to take place with the first and second press of the Action Button. 

When you scroll down on the same screen under Gestures, you can read all the tips that explain how the Action Button works when you press it alone or in combination with the Side Button or the Digital Crown. 

2. Enable Wayfinder Night Mode 

The Apple Watch Ultra comes with an exclusive watch face called Wayfinder. It is targeted towards explorers and offers you the ability to add up to eight complications. Complications is another name for widgets on an Apple watch face that displays useful information at a glance. 

But the best feature of this watch face is the ability to scroll to a dedicated night mode. When enabled, all the elements on the watch face turn into a bright red color with a pitch-black background. It helps make every element easily readable and avoids straining the eyes. 

To enable night mode on your Apple Watch, you must set the Wayfinder as the watch face, and here’s how to do it. 

1. Open the Watch app on the iPhone paired with your Apple Watch Ultra.
2. Tap the My Watch tab.
3. Head to My Face and select the Wayfinder as the new watch face.
4. Make all the necessary changes under Style, Bezel, and Complications.
5. And, done. 

Now that you have set Wayfinder as the watch face on your Apple Watch Ultra. Here’s how you can enable night mode on it. 

1. Ensure that you’ve set the Wayfinder as the watch face.
2. Rotate the Digital Crown upwards to enable night mode.
3. To disable night mode, rotate the Digital Crown in the opposite direction. 

3. Retrace Your Steps Using the Compass App

Backtrack is a new feature in the Apple Watch Ultra Compass app that lets you track your route, mark it on the map, and then retrace your steps back to the point of origin. It uses the dual-frequency GPS of the smartwatch to track your route with greater accuracy.

Thanks to dual-frequency GPS, your Apple Watch Ultra will receive GPS data from the L1 band and L5 band. Both work together to eliminate each other’s shortcomings, leading to precise navigation.

Here’s how you can begin marking your route using the Backtrack feature.

1. Head to the Compass app on your Apple Watch Ultra.
2. Select the Steps icon at the bottom right.
3. Tap the Start button to commence marking your route.
4. Once you’ve reached your destination, tap the Pause button at the bottom right.
5. Select the Retrace Steps button to begin retracing your steps.
6. Follow the path on the screen and once you reach the location of origin, tap the Steps icon at the bottom right.
7. Now, tap Delete Steps to reset the route. 

Apart from the Apple Watch Ultra, the Backtrack feature is also available on Apple Watch SE (2nd Gen) and Apple Watch Series 6 and above, running on watchOS 9 and above. 

4. Mark Waypoints Using the Compass App

Compass Waypoints refer to the ability to add your live location as a waypoint in the Compass app. Once you’ve marked and added these waypoints to the map, you can see the distance and direction of every waypoint you create. And here’s how to do it. 

1. Head to the Compass app on your Apple Watch Ultra.
2. Tap the Arrow icon at the bottom left.
3. Add all the essential waypoint information like the label, color, and symbol, and tap Done. 

Whenever you want to view the saved waypoint, open the Compass app, rotate the Digital Crown to navigate to the desired waypoint, and then tap Select. Details regarding the waypoint’s distance and directions to the marked location will appear on the screen. Moreover, the screen also displays map coordinates to the selected waypoint.

5. Learn To Use the Siren 

Another safety feature integrated within the Apple Watch Ultra to alert people of an emergency or ensure you do not get lost when hiking with a group, etc., is a built-in siren. Apple claims this siren can get as loud as 86 decibels and be heard up to 600 feet away. The audio output is in two alternating patterns, and here’s how you can enable the siren when in need. 

1. Press and hold the side button and wait for the Siren slider appears. Or press and hold the Action Button and wait for the Siren Slider to appear.
2. Once it does, drag the Siren slider to the right and wait for the countdown to begin.
3. Once the countdown ends, the siren will go off, altering users around you of an emergency.
4. To disable the siren, tap the Stop icon within the Siren app.

6. Enable Crash Detection 

Crash Detection is a feature that detects if you’ve been in a crash and automatically notifies emergency services. It also sends a message to your emergency contacts. The GPS sensor detects the speed, the microphone pays attention to changes in sound, and the barometer detects the change in pressure to detect if you’ve been in a crash. 

We sincerely hope you never face the circumstances of using this feature. But, we strongly recommend enabling it to be on the safer side. 

1. Open the Watch app on the iPhone paired with your Apple Watch Ultra.
2. Tap the My Watch tab.
3. Navigate to Emergency SOS.
4. Enable the Call After Severe Crash toggle. 

Whenever the Apple Watch detects that you’ve been in a crash, it’ll begin a countdown of 20 seconds. Once the countdown ends, it will call emergency services, respond on your behalf if you’re unresponsive (plays an automated message), and share your GPS coordinates. 

7. Track Changes in Wrist Temperature

The Apple Watch Series 8 and the Apple Watch Ultra feature a new temperature sensor. One is placed within the back crystal and another under the display. The sensor at the back crystal detects your body temperature, while the sensor under the display detects the temperature of your surroundings. 

Some pre-requisites to track your body temperature are, 

• Set up Sleep in the Health app and track sleep with the Apple Watch option enabled.
• You need to enable Sleep Focus for a minimum of 4 hours for at least five nights.

Once you’ve done the needful, you can check your weekly, monthly, and biannual records in the Health app. 

1. Open the Health app on your iPhone paired with the Apple Watch.
2. Select the Browse tab at the bottom.
3. Navigate to Body Measurements located under the Health Category.
4. Tap Wrist Temperature, and you can now view all the recorded data. 

8. Automatically Enable Depth App 

The Depth App on the Apple Watch Ultra helps measure the water temperature, depth of up to 130 feet (40 meters), and displays the time you’ve been underwater. While you can use it during underwater swimming, shallow free diving, snorkeling, etc., it should not be used as a depth gauge or timer as it isn’t a substitute for a dive computer. 

Here’s how you can change a few settings and set the Dive app to launch automatically as soon as it detects the device is submerged underwater. 

1. Head to the Settings on your Apple Watch Ultra.
2. Tap General.
3. Now select the Auto-Launch option.
4. Navigate to When Submerged option.
5. Enable the Auto-Launch toggle. 

You can change the depth (Feet or Meters) and temperature units (Fahrenheit or Celsius) by heading into Settings > Depth > Depth Units > Water Temperature Units. Even after you’ve enabled the Depth app to launch automatically, you still have to option to open it manually. 

9. Use It as a Flashlight

The Apple Watch Ultra display can reach a peak brightness of 2,000 nits. To maximize the utility of this bright panel, Apple allows you to use the display as a flashlight. Moreover, you can select if you want the display to emit white light, flash white light, or red light. Here’s how to enable the flashlight on your Apple Watch Ultra.

1. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and open the Control Panel.
2. Tap the Flashlight icon to enable it. You can now swipe left to choose between the three flashlight modes.
3. To disable the flashlight, press the Digital Crown or side button, or you could swipe down from the top of the screen. 

10. Optimized Charge Limit To Protect Battery Health

Optimized Battery Charging is a feature available on most Apple devices. In addition, the Apple Watch Ultra has an Optimized Charge Limit, which learns from your usage patterns and decides when to exceed the limit to allow a full charge and when to charge to the optimized limit.

The feature is enabled by default. If you are not a fan, here’s how you can disable Optimized Charge Limit. 

1. Head to the Settings on your Apple Watch Ultra.
2. Navigate to Battery.
3. Select Battery Health.
4. Turn off the Optimized Charge Limit toggle and select Turn Off Until Tomorrow or Turn Off. 

11. Enable Low Power Mode

Enabling Low Power Mode on the Apple Watch Ultra reduces battery consumption by disabling features like, Always On display, Heart rate measurements and notifications, etc. 

1. Head to the Settings on your Apple Watch Ultra.
2. Navigate to Battery.
3. Turn on the Low Power Mode toggle.
4. Select Turn On or Turn On For. If you select the latter, choose the number of days you want the feature to be enabled.

Low Power Mode will turn off when your battery is charged to 80%. But, if you previously chose the Turn On For option and set a certain number of days, the feature will turn off only after those days. Or you have the option to disable Low Power Mode manually. 

12. Extra Battery Life

The GPS and Heart Rate sensors capture readings frequently when using the Workout app to carry out an activity, which leads to higher battery consumption. To reduce this frequency and increase the battery life of your Apple Watch Ultra, you can enable the Fewer GPS and Heart Rate Reading feature. Enabling it ensures you reach the promised 60-hour battery limit of the Apple Watch Ultra.

Here’s how you can maximize the battery life of your Apple Watch Ultra. 

1. Head to the Settings on your Apple Watch Ultra.
2. Scroll down and tap the Workout option.
3. Turn on the Low Power Mode toggle.
4. Turn on the Fewer GPS and Heart Rate Readings toggle. 

Henceforth, this feature will automatically turn on when your watch is in Low Power Mode, and you begin an activity in the Workout app. 

13. Track Menstrual Cycles

The Health app allows you to keep track of your menstrual cycle. You can log details like flow information or even record symptoms like cramps, headaches, etc. The app will record this information and, over time, be able to predict your next period, ovulation, etc. 

Here’s how to set up and use Cycle Tracking. 

1. Open the Health app on your iPhone paired with the Apple Watch.
2. Select the Browse tab at the bottom.
3. Navigate to Body Measurements located under the Health Category.
4. Tap the Cycle Tracking option, and tap Get Started. 
5. Follow the on-screen instructions and complete the setup process.

Once the setup is completed, a dedicated app to track your Menstrual Cycle is added to your iPhone and Apple Watch Ultra. 

14. Set Up Unlock With Apple Watch 

Your Apple Watch Ultra can help you unlock your iPhone and Mac. The process is swift, and you need not touch your iPhone or Mac to unlock it. If you’re wearing your watch and are near your iPhone or Mac, you can automatically unlock these devices. 

These features are not enabled by default, and you must set them up. To start with the setup process, refer to our detailed step-by-step guides on how to unlock your Mac using Apple Watch and your iPhone using Apple Watch. 

15. Change your Apple Watch Ultra Band 

When ordering the Apple Watch Ultra, you can select from the Alpine Loop, Trail Loop, or Ocean band. If you have any of these and don’t find them comfortable, the best course is to get a new watch band. 

Plenty of options are available, and you won’t run out of choices. You can choose from first-party Apple bands or pick one from any third-party seller. You can try multiple bands and settle on whichever you find the most comfortable. 

Which Is Your Favorite Feature?

The Apple Watch Ultra has features that elevate the experience of using a smartwatch. The exceptionally improved battery life is what I love the most about the watch, apart from its robust build quality. Which feature do you like the most about the Apple Watch Ultra? Do let us know in the comments below.