# How to Keep Your Apple Watch Displaying the Watch Face
The Apple Watch is a versatile gadget that fits effortlessly into your everyday routine, providing notifications, fitness tracking, and a wide range of applications right on your wrist. Nonetheless, many users would rather see their watch face at all times rather than have it obscured by app notifications or the Smart Stack. Luckily, with a few adjustments in the settings, you can make sure that your watch face remains visible whenever you check your wrist.
## Understanding Live Activities
With the launch of watchOS 10, Apple introduced a feature known as Live Activities. This capability allows certain notifications to refresh in real-time, delivering information such as sports scores or the status of food deliveries without sending multiple alerts. While this feature can be beneficial, it may occasionally disrupt your ability to view your watch face.
### Disabling Live Activities
If your priority is to maintain your watch face over Live Activities, you can easily modify the settings:
1. **Launch the Settings app** on your Apple Watch.
2. **Select General**.
3. **Scroll to Auto-Launch** and tap to enter this section.
4. **Choose Live Activities Settings** at the top of the menu.
In this area, you can enable or disable Live Activities completely or opt to turn off auto-launching of Live Activities. By disabling Auto-Launch, you can still access Live Activities by swiping up or performing the double-tap gesture to view the widgets, but they won’t override your watch face while active.
Moreover, there’s an option that lets you determine whether Live Activities appear when your wrist is down and the screen is dimmed. This feature is enabled by default but can be modified based on your preferences.
### Customizing Media App Behavior
Within the Live Activities Settings, you also have the ability to dictate how media apps function. By default, auto-launch for media apps is active, meaning that a notification from a media app can take over your watch face. If you’d like to keep your watch face visible, you can disable this feature while still permitting other apps to auto-launch Live Activities.
### Managing Auto-Launching Apps
Beyond Live Activities, you can further refine which apps automatically launch on your Apple Watch. At the bottom of the Live Activities Settings section, you can opt to turn off Live Activities for specific apps while allowing others to auto-launch. Available apps include:
– Alarms
– Compass
– Mindfulness
– Music Recognition
– Stopwatch
– Timers
– Voice Memos
– Wallet
– Workout
This fine-tuned control allows you to customize your Apple Watch experience to suit your needs, ensuring you see what is most important to you.
### Auto-Launch Settings for Submerged Use
If you own an Apple Watch model that features the Depth app, you can also control how auto-launch functions when your watch is submerged. By default, the Depth app will auto-launch when underwater, but you can choose to keep your watch face visible instead. This setting is particularly advantageous for divers or snorkelers who want to maintain visibility of their watch face while beneath the surface.
## Conclusion
By grasping and utilizing the settings available in watchOS 10, you can personalize your Apple Watch experience to ensure that your watch face is perpetually visible when you check your wrist. Whether you decide to disable Live Activities, manage media app behavior, or adjust auto-launch settings, these modifications can significantly enhance how you interact with your Apple Watch. With these adjustments, you can benefit from your device’s functionality without sacrificing the simplicity and elegance of your watch face.
