In watchOS, the Smart Stack for your Apple Watch is pretty clever. The collection of widgets can be pulled up with a scroll of the Digital Crown, and shows you relevant information throughout your day. But sometimes, its eagerness to help can be a bit much, especially when it comes to Live Activities.

live activities watch
You're probably familiar with this scenario: You raise your wrist expecting to see your carefully customized watch face, but it's been replaced by media playback controls because someone's watching your Apple TV, or there's a delivery tracking screen showing that you aren't currently interested in. Live Activities in the Smart Stack can clearly be useful, but having them automatically take over your display isn't always ideal. Here's how to take back control:

  1. Open Settings on your Apple Watch.
  2. Tap Smart Stack.
  3. Select Live Activities.
  4. Toggle off the switch next to Auto-Launch Live Activities.

settings

After disabling auto-launch, Live Activities will still be available in your Smart Stack when you want them – you'll just need to manually scroll to see them instead of having them pop up automatically.

If you want more granular control, you're in luck. From the same settings screen you can control which Apple apps display Live Activities. Using the Watch app on your iPhone, you can also manage Live Activities settings for third-party apps. This lets you keep the notifications you find useful while preventing the less important ones from interrupting your watch face.

Pro Tip: If it's just those persistent media controls that bug you, head to Media Apps in the same settings menu and turn off Live Activities completely, or alternatively under "Auto-Launch," select Off or Smart Stack for a more focused watch face experience.

Top Rated Comments

zahuh Avatar
1 week ago
THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS!! Such an annoying feature
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CharlesShaw Avatar
1 week ago
I don't use Smart Stack, and frequently set timers. After a few days of clicking the crown to get the face back, I took the time to figure out how to turn it off. I'd have appreciated a suggestion from the OS to turn on the feature instead of making the decision for me.

Add: I don't think the Watch team at Apple fully understands how integral the device is to many of our daily routines. Imagine if the display on your car's dashboard suddenly moved some stuff around. These are tools, not toys.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nealibob Avatar
1 week ago
I hope this sees massive improvements next year. Live activities manage to take over the entire screen and still display almost no information compared to iOS, while simultaneously looking bad and offering no visual customization.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacFan23 Avatar
1 week ago
This thread is really interesting. I'm that one user who really likes the watch showing me context based info/controls at a glance and frankly, wish it did a bit more.

The only thing I ever need to consistently see is the time.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
b0nd18t Avatar
1 week ago
Thank you! I thought this was a permanent feature. Was so annoying with timers. I never want to use Smart Stack. Sad they moved control center
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WarmWinterHat Avatar
1 week ago
Auto-laucnhing live activities was a terrible idea, just like auto-launching audio apps was before this. I couldn't turn those "features" off fast enough.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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