Can I Wear My Apple Watch On Ankle? 

The Apple Watch is a smartwatch that is traditionally worn on the wrist. But traditions are meant to be broken. With numerous fitness trackers citing their optimal placement on the ankle, this begs the question, can you wear your Apple Watch on your ankle?

Yes, you can wear your Apple Watch on your ankle. However, some features, such as the ECG and other biometrics, might not operate properly. Step tracking will work just fine with a few chances of inaccuracies, though. 

In this article, we will go over the advantages and disadvantages of wearing your Apple Watch on your ankle and how you can do so in the first place. 

Can You Wear An Apple Watch On Your Ankle?

Yes, you can wear your Apple Watch on your ankle. However, there’s no advantage to doing so. In fact, you’ll end up losing on a few features such as ECG, SpO2 monitoring, handwash detection, and a few others. Plus, from what I’ve tested, the sensors are quite inaccurate compared to wearing the Apple Watch on your wrist.

Simply put, the Apple Watch isn’t designed to be worn on your ankle. But that doesn’t mean you cannot do so at all. In fact, if you don’t need to access your watch frequently and are okay with losing some of the more detailed health-related features, it still tracks your steps and functions just fine.

How Do You Wear An Apple Watch On Your Ankle?

While you can use the band that comes out of the box with your Apple Watch, we recommend opting for an ankle band instead. This is because your primary band might not be able to strap to your ankle properly, depending on its size.

Plus, if you are using stainless steel bands or are using a more rigid material, they won’t be able to conform to your ankle’s shape. Silicon / stretchable fabrics are the best materials when it comes to attaching an Apple Watch to your band, as they have the flexibility necessary to adjust themselves.

Here’s how you can wear an Apple Watch on your ankle:

• Remove your previous band from your Apple Watch
• Insert the new band from both sides into the designated slot
• Now, while sitting down, strap the new band to your ankles
• After doing so, tighten the band such that your Apple Watch is in direct contact with your skin
• Stand up and ensure that your band isn’t so tight that it doesn’t constrict airflow.

How To Use The Apple Watch When Strapped To Your Ankle

You can’t use the Apple Watch normally as you would when strapped to your ankle. This is because your hands won’t be able to reach the watch until you bend down. So, the two ways you can use the watch is:

• Siri: Issuing the watch voice commands is a quick way to quickly get some tasks done. However, the selection of commands that you can execute is fairly limited.
• Watch App: If you want to quickly configure a setting and can’t access your watch immediately, use the Watch application on your phone instead.

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Wearing An Apple Watch On Your Ankle

Now that you’ve strapped the Apple Watch to your ankle, what particular advantages or disadvantages do you expect from doing so in the first place? Here’s a quick summary of what we’ve experienced:

Advantage	Disadvantages
Increased Dexterity	Reduced Biometrics
Reduced Sweat	Reduced Accuracy
Less Chance Of Breaking	Can’t Attend Calls / Answer Notifications
No Distractions	Siri Won’t Be Able To Hear You

Advantages Of Wearing Apple Watch On Ankle

Here are the advantages of wearing the Apple Watch on your ankle:

• Increased Dexterity: When working out, having a device strapped onto your wrist can inhibit your motor movements, especially in your arm / wrist. With a watch strapped to your ankle, you feel much more mobile.
• Reduced Sweat: Your ankles are less prone to sweating than your wrist. So, if you don’t like cleaning your band constantly or don’t want it to get smelly over time, then wearing it on your ankle can lead to a reduction in overall sweat.
• Less Chance Of Breaking: There’s a higher chance of you accidentally hitting your Apple Watch on a wall with your wrist compared to you banging it if it is strapped onto your ankle. While accidents can happen anyways, they’re less likely to happen if the watch is strapped onto your ankle. 
• No Distractions: Getting constant notifications on your Apple Watch and having the convenience to glance at them anytime can lead to you wasting a lot of time glued to your screen. On your ankle, it’s harder to take a look at incoming messages.

Disadvantages Of Wearing Apple Watch On Ankle

Here’s a look at the disadvantages of wearing the Apple Watch on your ankle:

• Reduced Biometrics: Most biometric sensors require your watch to be strapped onto your wrist so it can function properly. So, if you need constant heart / sleep monitoring, strapping your watch to your ankle can prevent that from happening.
• Reduced Accuracy: The Apple Watch is meant for your wrist. So, you may find tons of inaccuracies when wearing the watch on your ankle. While that hasn’t happened for us to a large extent, it is relatively less accurate than wearing it on your wrist.
• Can’t Attend Calls / Answer Notifications: Having the Watch strapped onto your ankle completely defeats all the convenience of owning an Apple Watch in the first place, as you’ll have to either remove it or bend down to be able to use the watch properly. Even then, you might still not be able to answer calls.
• Siri Won’t Be Able To Hear You: Siri isn’t meant to pick up voices that are very far away. When you use an Apple Watch strapped to your ankle, there’s a chance that Siri might not be able to pick up on every word you are speaking due to the relative distance of you from the microphone.

Conclusion

Wearing your Apple Watch on your ankle isn’t as unorthodox as one might initially think. It does have some actual benefits, especially if you have an active lifestyle and don’t want your watch to hinder your mobility constantly.

With that said, if you want to make the most out of your device, we recommend strapping the Apple Watch on your wrist and opting for a more protective case if you are worried about the watch getting damaged.