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Smart watch notifications - why does pressing the 'down' clear button the message?

After receiving a notification from my phone on my watch I can press the 'down' button to clear it.

That seem odd, why doesn't pressing the 'down' button display the rest of the message? Only the 'back' button should clear the message.

It seem really counterintuitive that the 'start' button displays the details of the message instead of the 'down; button.

  • Absolutely agree. It’s embarrassing, but I discovered only a month ago that with pressing the start button you can read whole message, although I have FR935 hor 2,5 years... I always thought that it only shows the beginning of message. Down button should display whole message and back should clear it. IMHO it would be more intuitive. Or I should read manual Slight smile

  • Only Garmin knows for sure but I'd guess their logic is "sport watch first, smart watch second."

  • Depending on the type of notification, there might be more options than just "Dismiss". The down button gives you access to those options.

    Only the 'back' button should clear the message.

    And what if you want to leave the notification page without dismissing the notification?

    To me it's quite logical. The logic is as follows:

    down button: display options (or dismiss if this is the only option)

    start button: "confirm" the notification, i.e. display it in its entirety

    back button: leave the notification page without dismissing the notification

  • Good points, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. 

    When I'm about to start an activity the 'up button' is used for options. When I am at the top of the notification (for me) it would make sense that the 'up button' took me to options.

    My frustration is that my brain is conditioned to pressing a down button to see the rest of a message and because of this I dismiss nearly every notification on my watch by mistake. It's easier for me to reach for my phone to see a notification.

  • That might well be true.

    Personally, I think that the features that don't work terribly well distract from the features that work well.

    I'd happily forgo smart watch features in favour of better:

    • GPS acquisition times
    • GPS accuracy (for pace and distance)
    • Heart rate accuracy
    • Elevation accuracy