Is there a way to disable notification previews for the watch, but still able to check the notifications at the notification center?

As per title, I would like to disable the notifications banners/previews, that part where it notifies you on your watchface when someone texts or call you, BUT still able to view the notifications in the notification center. I have tried turning on DND, the banners/previews still comes in. I tried turning the 'status' off, i ended up with no notifications received at all (not viewable at the notification center).

  • just wondering if you ever found a workaround to this? I am using a fenix 8 and am wondering the same thing as of today in 2025.

    seems like if the watch is in DND mode, it does exactly that, the banners are gone and the notification counter adds up and I can check the notifications in the notification center on the watch anytime I want. 

    this is the only workaround i found but it is not ideal to be honest. 

  • sorry for the double message but in case anyone wants to have that exact scenario as explained below:

    "I want to have a notification counter + be able to see my notifications individually on the notification center that i can swipe down"

    the fix is to simply do the following, on your watch:

    go to Settings > Notifications & Alerts > Smart Notifications > Status > Off

    -- this will allow you to be able to do exactly that, aka get notified without the screen showing a notification preview.

    -- You can also customize this to just Apps in case you want Calls and Texts notifications to show previews but not Apps

    you do that by adding an extra step to the instructions above

    go to Settings > Notifications & Alerts > Smart Notifications > Apps > Status > Off

    can mimic this settings for any of the others listed (calls, texts) if needed as well.

    Took me a while to figure this but we got it done haha

  • This is a quit good solution, thanks for sharing.

    However, this matter should be solved by Garmin, by adding something like "vibration only" option in "Privacy" menu.

    The current "privacy" options are ridiculous, as in any option the screen illuminates and, at least, the sender's name is appearing in the display!

    Any solution/update is welcomed.