Hands-On With the New Theater Mode in watchOS 3.2

Apple released the first beta of watchOS 3.2 for developers this morning, and included in the update is a brand new "Theater Mode." Theater Mode is designed to let customers mute the sound on the Apple Watch and disable Raise to Wake, preventing the screen from lighting up with arm movement.

Since watchOS 3.2 is limited to developers, we went hands-on with Theater Mode in the video below to give MacRumors readers an idea of what they can expect when the update is released to the public.


Theater Mode can be accessed by swiping up on the watch face to bring up the Control Center. It's just below the option for silencing the Apple Watch and features an icon with two theater masks.

When Theater Mode is turned on, it prevents the Apple Watch from making noise and it keeps the screen dark even when the wrist is raised. Notifications still come through, however, and are delivered via haptic feedback. The Apple Watch's screen can be activated with a tap or through a press on the Digital Crown.

watchOS 3.2, which will likely be released to the public sometime in March, also brings SiriKit to the Apple Watch, letting customers ask Siri to do tasks like sending messages, sending payments, booking a ride, and more.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 11
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)

Popular Stories

2024 iPhone Boxes Feature

Apple Adjusts Trade-In Values for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and More

Thursday November 6, 2025 11:12 am PST by
Apple today updated its trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models. Trade-ins can be completed on Apple's website, or at an Apple Store. The charts below provide an overview of Apple's current and previous trade-in values in the U.S., according to its website. Maximum values for most devices either decreased or saw no change, but the iPad Air received a slight bump. ...
Liquid Glass General Feature

Apple Shares Liquid Glass Design Gallery

Thursday November 6, 2025 2:45 pm PST by
Apple is promoting the new Liquid Glass design in iOS 26, showing off the ways that third-party developers are embracing the aesthetic in their apps. On its developer website, Apple is featuring a visual gallery that demonstrates how "teams of all sizes" are creating Liquid Glass experiences. The gallery features examples of Liquid Glass in apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac. Apple...
airtag purple

Apple's Website Lists AirTag 4-Pack at Shockingly Low Price [Updated]

Friday November 7, 2025 6:40 am PST by
Apple's online store in the U.S. is suddenly offering a pack of four AirTags for just $29, which is the same price as a single AirTag. This is likely a pricing error, and it is unclear if orders will be fulfilled. Apple has not discounted the AirTag four-pack in any other countries that we checked. Delivery estimates are already pushing into late November to early December, suggesting...
iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Available Now With These 8 New Features

Monday November 3, 2025 5:54 am PST by
Following more than a month of beta testing, Apple released iOS 26.1 on Monday, November 3. The update includes a handful of new features and changes, including the ability to adjust the look of Liquid Glass and more. Below, we outline iOS 26.1's key new features. Liquid Glass Toggle iOS 26.1 lets you choose your preferred look for Liquid Glass. In the Settings app, under Display...
ikea smart home devices

IKEA Debuts 21 HomeKit-Compatible Smart Bulbs, Sensors, and Controls

Thursday November 6, 2025 4:08 pm PST by
IKEA today announced the upcoming launch of 21 new Matter-compatible smart home products that will be able to interface with HomeKit and the Apple Home app. There are sensors, lights, and control options, all of which will be reasonably priced. Some of the products are new, while some are updates to existing lines that IKEA previously offered. There are a series of new smart bulbs that are...
Early Black Friday Deals 1

The Best Early Black Friday Apple Deals on MacBook, Apple Watch, iPad, and More

Saturday November 8, 2025 6:16 am PST by
We're officially in the month of Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 28 in 2025. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. In this article, the majority of the discounts will be found on Amazon. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When ...
Apple fitness plus feature

Future of Apple Fitness+ 'Under Review'

Sunday November 9, 2025 5:30 am PST by
The future of Apple Fitness+ is "under review" amid a reorganization of the service, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In the latest edition of his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that Apple Fitness+ remains one of the company's "weakest digital offerings." The service apparently suffers from high churn and little revenue. Nevertheless, Fitness+ has a small, loyal fanbase that...
maxresdefault

In-Depth iPhone Battery Experiment Pits Slow Charging Against Fast Charging

Friday November 7, 2025 1:19 pm PST by
HTX Studio this week shared the results from a six-month battery test that compared how fast charging and slow charging can affect battery life over time. Using six iPhone 12 models, the channel set up a system to drain the batteries from five percent and charge them to 100 percent over and over again. Three were fast charged, and three were slow charged. Another set of iPhones underwent...
apple watch se 3 always on

Apple to Remove iPhone-Apple Watch Wi-Fi Sync in EU With iOS 26.2

Thursday November 6, 2025 4:37 am PST by
Apple in iOS 26.2 will disable automatic Wi-Fi network syncing between iPhone and Apple Watch in the European Union to comply with the bloc's regulations, suggests a new report. Normally, when an iPhone connects to a new Wi-Fi network, it automatically shares the network credentials with the paired Apple Watch. This allows the watch to connect to the same network independently – for...

Top Rated Comments

wolfshades Avatar
115 months ago
I don't get it at all - how this is remotely useful. Who is spending that much time in dark places to justify its own easily accessible setting for this feature?

I have my watch always on silent and I get haptic feedback all day, every day. When exactly was it ever an issue to have the screen light up, turning the situation into an inconvenient moment? Even in a theatre/cinema, it is not like my watch will light up the entire room.
As a weekly theatre-goer, you'd be surprised how annoying even a little bit of light can be. This is a good feature. Not an "OMG I have to upgrade immediately" type of feature, but a good one anyway.
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
motm95 Avatar
115 months ago
Here is my watch with theater mode. Works great.

Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
zacheryjensen Avatar
115 months ago
I have literally been wishing for this feature since the first day I had my Apple Watch at launch. I have no idea why someone would complain about it being added. The people who find their way onto these forums never cease to amaze me. You lose literally nothing with Apple adding this feature. You don't care about distracting people in the theatre? Fine. Never tap that button. Never go to the theatre? Probably not a concern to you then. Don't own an Apple watch? Why do you think your opinion is valid?

All the existing buttons on the swipe-up panel are still there. They just made it taller. Nobody loses anything. Considerate theatre-goers get a nice boost in convenience.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Blackstick Avatar
115 months ago
Seems like a widely-deployed solution to a very small problem.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
zacheryjensen Avatar
115 months ago
As a weekly theatre-goer, you'd be surprised how annoying even a little bit of light can be. This is a good feature. Not an "OMG I have to upgrade immediately" type of feature, but a good one anyway.
Right? I hate to witness someone being so completely ignorant of how rude they are like this. If you think your apple watch turning on in a theatre isn't incredibly rude, you need some serious recalibration of whatever part of your brain determines this.

To be perfectly clear: any light source in a theatre coming from a person is rude and very distracting. Period. It's never okay. And it's almost always 10x brighter than you think it's going to be. In fact, the farther away you are from it, the worse and more distracting it becomes as that is the nature of light, the smaller the source of light relative to your view, the higher contrast it will have in the view.

So in reality, the watch lighting up is actually worse than a phone. And personally, I have always gone through the trouble of manually setting my watch to behave as this mode does during any movie screening I attend. I'll be very happy to be able to do it in a swipe + tap.

On another note, I wonder about the water icon there. It's not there on my current watch. Is this a series 2 specific feature? If not, is it also new? What does it do?
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
itsmilo Avatar
115 months ago
That damn "Emergency Exit" Sign over the escape door right next to the damn screen needs a theater mode! Annoys me every time.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)