THE EXTENSION

Exploring topics beyond our day-to-day coverage.

Focusing on iPhone and Apple Watch Customization

• John

I’ve been writing about Lock Screen widgets a lot lately. They’re an excellent new customization tool, but just one of many now at our disposal. What’s most interesting to me is the mix of the Always-On display on the iPhone 14 Pro line, Lock Screen widgets, and Focus Filters combined with existing customization options. The new flexibility has caused me to rethink and link my iPhone and Apple Watch setups in new ways. And, while I haven’t settled on a final setup yet, I thought I’d share a few in-progress tips and ideas to illustrate some of the new ways you can approach customizing both.

I’ve struggled to write this because Focus modes have quickly become a misnomer that undersells what they can do. Sure, they can be used to silence notifications and filter content from apps, but they’re also powerful ways to customize your iPhone’s Lock Screen and Home Screen and your Apple Watch’s watch face. Focus modes are still useful for shutting out distractions, but they also work as a broader framework that can be used to make your iPhone and Apple Watch fit better into the broader context of your typical day or week. That’s an idea that gets far too abstract quickly, so let’s consider a few examples from my recent experiments.