Apple Watch Notifications or Control Center Not Working? How to Fix

The Control Center and its menu of buttons are supposed to be shown in every watch face on Apple Watches. Sometimes these interactions will not work when you try them, due to an undisclosed and intermittent bug. There are some possibilities in this article.

Many Apple Watch users have reported that they can't access notifications or the Control Center with a single touch on the watch face. The issue goes back to watchOS 8 and has been found to occur on different Apple Watches, so it is a recurring bug that spans hardware and software versions.

If Apple doesn't fix the watch face interaction problem, you can try one of the alternatives.

Method 1: Switch Apple Watch Face

You can switch the watch face before attempting the other methods.

The control center and notifications interactions have been brought back by users who just swiped left or right to change the watch face.

Method 2: Reboot Apple Watch

It is not possible to restart an Apple Watch if it is charging, so undock it first.

1. Press and hold the side button until you see the Power Off slider on the screen.
2. Drag the Power Off slider with your finger.
3. Once your Apple Watch has turned off, press and hold the side button again until you see the Apple logo.

   

Method 3: Hard Reset Apple Watch

Force restart your Apple Watch if rebooting didn't solve the problem. You should only use this as a last resort. Don't restart your Apple Watch if it's in the middle of an OS update.

1. Press and hold both the side button and Digital Crown for at least 10 seconds.
2. Release both buttons when you see the Apple logo.

Method 4: Re-Pair Apple Watch

Some people have been helped by unpairing the Apple watch. It's worth it if you don't see the gestures that reveal Control Center and notifications.

1. Bring your ‌iPhone‌ and Apple Watch close together, then open the Watch app on your ‌iPhone‌.
2. In the My Watch tab, tap All Watches.
3. Tap the info (i) button next to the watch that you want to unpair.
4. Tap Unpair Apple Watch. (For GPS + Cellular models, choose to keep your cellular plan.)
5. Tap again to confirm. You might need to enter your Apple ID password to disable Activation Lock.

Your phone creates a backup of your Apple Watch before you erase it. The backup can be used to restore a new watch. You'll see the Start Pairing message after you unpair your Apple watch. It's possible to pair your watch to your phone again.

1. Press and hold the side button on your Apple Watch until you see the Apple logo.
2. Wait for the "Use your ‌iPhone‌ to set up this Apple Watch" message to appear on your ‌iPhone‌, then tap Continue. If you don't see this message, open the Watch app on your ‌iPhone‌, tap All Watches, then tap Pair New Watch.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions to re-pair your watch.

Final Thoughts

If you can't get any of the above suggestions to work, you'll have to take your Apple Watch to an Apple Store for repair or replacement.

If you solved the problem, you will have to wait for Apple to fix the problem in a future update. Hopefully we'll see a fix with the release of watchOS 8.7 or watchOS 9 in the fall of 2022.