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Those who often forget to wash their hands can now get help from the Apple Watch. The function is very easy to set up and can be adapted to your own needs.
Washing hands with the Apple Watch: Setup
- Before you use the Apple Watch to wash your hands, you need to activate the feature:
- The basic requirement is that you have the watchOS 7 or later operating system installed, as the function is only available in the new software.
- To activate the hand washing function, open the Settings app on your Apple Watch. Then find the “Wash hands” item and select the “Hand wash timer” function there
- You can also activate notifications for this on the Apple Watch. You can also find this setting in the “Wash your hands” section under the sub-item “Hand washing reminders”. Again, simply tap the button that appears next to the text to activate notifications.
- You can disable the features at any time by going back to the settings and turning off one or both of the switches.
Washing your hands with the Apple Watch: how it works
If you have activated the function, the timer starts automatically as soon as you start washing your hands.
- The Apple Watch detects whether you are washing your hands by your movements and the sound of the running water and starts a timer set to 20 seconds. If you don’t wash your hands long enough, the Watch will prompt you to continue.
- When you reach the 20-second mark, the Apple Watch will signal you with haptic feedback and text overlay. However, you cannot adjust the duration of the timer.
- If you have also enabled hand washing notifications, the Apple Watch will remind you to wash your hands after entering your home by sending you a short notification.
- You can also check the tracked time you washed your hands and the average duration later in the statistics of your Health app.
