Issue with audible text notifications while wearing both apple watch and hearing aids

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Level 1

4 points

Issue with audible text notifications while wearing both apple watch and hearing aids

I have an iPhone 12, an apple watch 7, and I wear hearing aids paired to my phone. I've found that if I'm wearing both my HA's and watch, my text notification only comes through as a watch vibration. I want the audible notification to come directly to my hearing aids

It looks like I can choose between having sound notifications on my watch (which I don’t want) or silencing the watch and relying on vibration alone. Even at the highest vibration setting, I often miss notifications. If I turn off message notifications for the watch entirely, my phone works correctly, but I lose the convenience of glancing at my watch to see messages. Additionally, accessing messages on the watch becomes cumbersome, as I have to navigate into the Messages app to read them.

Is there a way to keep notification sounds routed to my hearing aids while having vibration-only notifications on the Apple Watch? This feature would greatly benefit hearing-impaired users like me.

iPhone 12

Posted on Sep 14, 2025 11:43 PM

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Answer 1

brbo

Level 8

38,209 points

Sep 22, 2025 6:03 PM in response to JP_Oct71

Re:" Issue with audible text notifications while wearing both apple watch and hearing aids"

Am no expert in this area, yet your request deserves some response.

As far as I know Apple does not offer support for use of hearing-aids with Apple Watch.

"Made for iPhone" (Mfi) Hearing-aids can often make use of iPhone softtware.

Hearing Aids that are not Mfi must rely on Bluetooth and sometimes an app from the manufacturer.

If you want: You can check if your HA's are listed: List of Made for iPhone hearing devices - Apple Support

Also: article says:

"These Made for iPhone (MFi) hearing aids are compatible with iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro devices that meet the system requirements."

Wondering if Apple Support's online article for iOS 26 (link below) can help:

Route and automatically answer calls on iPhone - Apple Support

Eg: says:

"You can automatically direct the audio of phone or FaceTime calls to the iPhone speaker, a Bluetooth® headset, or your hearing device. iPhone can also automatically answer calls after a length of time you set.

Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Call Audio Routing, then choose an audio destination.
Tap Auto-Answer Calls, turn on Auto-Answer Calls, then set the duration of time before the call is answered by tapping or .

During a call, you can switch the audio routing from your hearing aid to the iPhone speaker by removing the hearing aid from your ear."

Also: you may be able to: Announce calls, messages, and more with Siri on iPhone - Apple Support

All the best :-)

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