How do you use Taptic Time on Apple Watch?

Taptic Time makes Apple Watch tap the current time onto your wrist when you hold two fingers on the watch face. It is silent, so it works in meetings, at night, or for people who cannot hear the watch speaker well.

Turn it on

1. On the watch, open Settings > Clock.
2. Switch on Taptic Time.
3. Choose Digits, Terse or Morse Code.

The same options are in the Watch app on iPhone under Clock. Taptic Time sits next to Speak Time; when sound is off, the watch taps instead of speaking.

Reading the taps

• Digits: a long tap for each ten hours, a short tap for each single hour, then a long tap for each ten minutes and short taps for the single minutes. 10:23 is one long, no short, two long, three short.
• Terse: long taps for each five hours, short taps for the hours left over, then long taps for each quarter hour. You get a rough time with fewer taps.
• Morse Code: every digit of the time in Morse.

Digits is the easiest to learn. Terse is quicker once you know it.

What it doesn’t do

Taptic Time only plays when you ask for it with the two-finger hold. It won’t remind you that time is passing. If that is the problem, a regular signal works better: Apple’s Chimes in Accessibility settings play a tone on the hour, or a talking clock can announce the time at the interval you choose.

Voice Clock (my app) has an Apple Watch app that gives a haptic tap before it says the time, so you notice the announcement even if you missed the sound. It runs on a schedule, which Taptic Time doesn’t.

More: hourly chimes on iPhone and Apple Watch and the Voice Clock guides.