From time to time, especially when it’s dark, you may notice the back of your Apple Watch glowing red. While red is often associated with warnings, danger, or emergencies, don’t worry; it means something totally different when it appears on the back of your Apple Watch.
The red glow on the back of your Apple Watch indicates that your watch is measuring the amount of oxygen in your blood. It’s an advanced Apple feature that helps users understand their well-being. It can be deactivated via the Blood Oxygen tab in the Watch app or in Settings on your watch.
The red glow from your Apple Watch is completely normal and shouldn’t cause you any alarm. But let’s take a closer look at how it works and how you can turn it off, so that you can fully understand what’s going on.
What Is the Red Light on the Back of an Apple Watch?
If you own the Apple Watch Series 6 (on Amazon) or Series 7 (also on Amazon), you’ll occasionally notice a red glow on the back. This glow is a functionality of the Blood Oxygen App, which measures the amount of oxygen in your blood.
The optical heart sensors in these innovative watches are designed with photodiodes that measure the amount of oxygen in the blood. The brighter the blood, the more oxygen it has.
These measurements are then fed into an algorithm that gives an estimated amount of oxygen in the blood.
Note: This red light isn’t to be confused with the red dot on the top of your watch’s face. The red dot indicates that you have unread notifications, and it will disappear once you check these notifications.
What Are the Green Lights on the Back of an Apple Watch?
Similar to the red lights, the green lights are also courtesy of the optical sensors, and they’re used to measure your heart rate. The green light will come on mostly during physical exercises such as cycling, dancing, and running.
Your Apple Watch will also light up green when you ping it.
The light can help you locate the watch when it’s lost. While you can disable the green light used to measure your heart rate, you can’t turn off the pinging feature.
How to Turn Off the Red Glow on an Apple Watch
Apple allows you to disable the blood oxygen feature on your watch if you feel it’s bothersome or uncomfortable. When you disable it, your watch won’t be able to measure your blood oxygen unless you turn it on again.
Here’s how to disable the blood oxygen measurement on your Apple Watch:
- Press the Digital Crown to access the apps screen.
- Go to Settings.
- Scroll down and select Blood Oxygen.
- Toggle off Blood Oxygen Measurements.
You can also use your iPhone to disable the feature. Here’s how to do it:
- On your iPhone, go to the Watch App.
- Scroll down and select Blood Oxygen.
- Toggle off Blood Oxygen Measurements to turn it off.
How to Turn Off the Green Glow on an Apple Watch
You can also disable the green light if you feel it is a distraction or uncomfortable. You can use your iPhone or watch to turn off the feature. Here’s how:
- On your iPhone, navigate to Watch App > My Watch and select Privacy.
- Tap Heart Rate.
- Disable the permission.
Alternatively:
- On your watch, go to Settings > Privacy and tap Health.
- Select Heart Rate
- Turn off the option to track your heart rate.
Why You May Want to Disable the Red and Green Lights on Your Apple Watch
By now, you know how important the heart rate and blood oxygen measurement features are. Even so, some users would still rather turn them off. Here are a few reasons why:
- Some users are bothered and feel uncomfortable by the constant glowing of the lights.
- The lights can draw attention when at work, in a meeting, or in public.
- Turning off the lights may enhance your focus while driving.
Green Light, Red Light
So, as you can see, there’s no need to get alarmed when your watch suddenly starts glowing red or green. Apple installed these lights as features to track your health.
The information gathered using the lights can be useful to your doctor and will ultimately contribute to your overall well-being.