I want to receive notifications for Messages.app on my Apple Watch (so that I can see the notifications in the control center), but I don't want my watch to vibrate every single time I get a message.
I do however want to be alerted of new messages. I also don't like the normal vibration that the iPhone uses (it's too long and distracting), so I made a custom vibration for Messages.app from notifications settings.
However, it seems like I can't simultaneously make alerts play on my iPhone and have notifications delivered to my Apple Watch. Is there any way to achieve this?
One possibility would be to have multiple apps for notifications. For example, for mail, I could use the custom vibration possible for the stock Mail.app to notify me on phone, and get notifications to my Apple Watch (without alerts) via the Gmail app. However, there is only one iMessage app and of course I wouldn't want to connect it to a third-party service.
Best Answer
If you want a solution specifically for the messages app, you could use the messages app complication on the watch. This shows you the number of unread messages you have. Although this is not completely ideal (you can't read the messages without marking them as unread), it does the job of 'notifying' you on your watch while allowing you to have alerts on your iPhone.