Thirty-six days.

That’s how long I’ve been wearing the Apple Watch. It’s been a good month with Apple’s first wearable. We’ve traveled the country, checked into flights, taken selfies, bought shakes and told time together. I feel like I really know the watch. I’ve also discovered some hidden features and ways of getting more out of this impressively versatile device.

What follows are my favorite tips and tricks. For fellow Apple Watch owners out there, feel free to add your finds in the comments below.

Screenshots

The first time I put on my Apple Watch, I asked Apple if there was a way to capture the screen. Apple execs said yes and added, jokingly, that the feature was added just for me. I think that’s at least partly true. Tech journalists like me want to illustrate our stories about gadgets by showing what we’re seeing on screen. The iPhone and iPad have always included screen capture (the early Windows Phone, notably, did not).

To capture a screen on your Apple Watch, just press the digital crown and side button simultaneously. The screen will flash and the image will be captured and stored instantly…on your iPhone. As a result, there’s no hunting around on the Apple Watch for stored photos, they’re all on the iPhone’s camera roll, stored as 312 x 390 PNG files.

Deleting all notifications

Apple Watch notification screen on the left and a clear all option on the right. Image: Apple

Apple Watch notifications appear briefly on screen and then disappear, but they remain accessible right above the watch face. You just put your finger on the screen and drag down. Then you can scroll through them. If you have enough notifications, that scrolling can seem endless.

If you’d like to clean house, just use Force Touch. While viewing notifications, put your finger on the Apple Watch screen and press until you feel a vibration, which will make it feel like you’re actually pressing the screen down even further (you’re not). The screen will show a “Clear All” button. Press it and you'll be notification-free, until another one comes in, of course.

Finding Siri

Apple Watch Siri screen listening on left and voice recognition for query on the right. Image: Apple

Siri, Apple’s digital voice assistant lives on the Apple Watch, too, though she is silent. To access her, press and hold the digital crown until you see a “What can I help you with?" message. At this point, Siri is listening: you can tell by the little voice wave patterns at the bottom of the screen that move with the sound of your voice. Ask her a question just as you would on the phone — your query will appear on screen — and the Apple Watch will pull the information from the Internet (via your iPhone).

Launching an app with the digital crown

Every time I show someone the Apple Watch’s home screen, they comment that the app icons look tiny and they have no idea how anyone can navigate it. They ask about pinching and zooming, but I remind them that this screen is not really designed for the two-finger navigation you’re accustomed to on the iPhone and iPad. That said, navigating and launching apps on the Apple Watch is easy.

To access the home screen, I press the digital crown once. Then I use one finger to put the app I want to launch in the center of the screen. Now, I could tap the app to launch it, but I could also miss. I like using the digital crown to launch apps. To do so, I simply put my finger on the top edge of the digital crown and then roll it up, which zooms into the app screen and – when you keep going – launches the app.

Managing apps

The Apple Watch layout interface on the Apple Watch Utility App on the left and App management on the Apple Watch on the right. Image: Apple

Apple Watch apps are automatically added to the watch every time you install an iPhone app that has an Apple Watch companion app. As a result, the Apple Watch home screen can get a bit overwhelming. You can manage apps directly on the device or on the iPhone on the Apple Watch Utility app.

On the Apple Watch Utility, “App Layout” can be found under “My Watch.” Here, you’ll see a recreation of your Apple Watch home screen app layout. You can move apps around by holding your finger on top of any of them and then dragging the app icon to a new position in the cluster. Unfortunately, you can’t delete apps in this interface.

On the Apple Watch, you press the digital crown to access the Home Screen and then hold your finger down on top of the app cluster until they all start to vibrate. You can then drag and drop app icons to reorganize or you can delete any app that has a little “x” on it. Not all do, since some are considered part of the Apple Watch system (Workout, Setup, Mail, Watch face, etc.).

Last app

There is no concept of multi-tasking on the Apple Watch, but it can remember the last thing you were doing. A double-press of the digital crown will resurface the last app you were using.

Quick replies for Messaging

Apple Watch Messaging screen on left and Quick reply options on the right. Image: Apple

The Apple Watch is a pretty effective messaging tool. It can notify you of an incoming message with a haptic tap on the wrist and show you a portion of the message when you glance at the screen. If you keep looking at the Apple Watch, it’ll show you then entire message, or at least what fits on the screen; you can scroll to see the rest. If you keep scrolling up past the message, you’ll see a “reply” option. That’ gives you three ways to reply. Quick Reply lets you select a canned response and then get right back to whatever else you were doing.

Other options include sending an emoticon and recording a voice reply, which will still let you send that as an audio recording or as text (if it gets the recognition right, which it usually does).

Leftie mode

The Watch Orientation screen in the Apple Watch Utility app on the iPhone. Image: Apple

Every time I appear on TV wearing the Apple Watch, someone insists on telling me I’m wearing it wrong. They don’t understand that I’m a right-handed guy who likes wearing his watch on his right hand and always having my crown pointing away from my hand. They also think that it shows off an Apple Watch limitation.

These people are wrong on all counts.

The Apple Watch is designed to be worn by right and left-handed people and you can choose the orientation of the screen and the position of the digital crown.

In the Apple Watch utility app on the iPhone, you select “Watch Orientation” from under “General” in the “My Watch” area. In it, you can set the watch for “Left Wrist” or “Right Wrist” wearers and decide if you want the Digital Crown on the left or right side when you wear it on either wrist.

Drawing on Digital Touch

It takes practice, practice, practice and patience to draw anything decent on the Apple Watch. Image: Apple, Lance Ulanoff

One of the more entertaining and — to be honest — useless features on the Apple Watch is Digital Touch. Before you can use it, you have to define your Circle of Friends on the Apple Watch Utility app on the iPhone. You select them from your contacts and then they appear in the Friends interface you access by pressing once on the side button.

If you select a friend who also has an Apple Watch, they can receive heartbeats (two fingers held down), taps and doodles. Doodles are, as far as I’m concerned, the most interesting option. You simply draw on the screen with your finger tip and then that drawing is duplicated, stroke-by-stroke, on your friend’s Apple Watch. The problem is, there does not seem to be enough time or control to draw anything meaningful.

I have found, however, that if you do not lift your finger from the screen and keep moving, you can draw almost endlessly. In addition, if you do not pause more than a millisecond between strokes, you can actually send some relatively sophisticated drawings.

Just keep tapping

The Apple Watch’s haptic-based Taptic Engine is pretty sophisticated. It can create the sensation of a tap or heartbeat. If you don’t think a tap on the wrist will get your attention, you can set the Apple Watch to use what’s known as “Prominent Haptic” response. Look in the Apple Watch Utility app under “My Watch” and “Sounds and Haptics.” Turn on “Prominent Haptics” to make the watch “pre-announce” more subtle haptic notifications with a good-old-fashioned buzz.