How To: Your iPhone's Clock App Just Got a Big New Feature with iOS 18

When iOS 17 first came out, the iPhone's Clock app received a giant new feature, one that lets you set multiple timers and keep track of them on the Lock Screen, Notification Center, and Dynamic Island. Now, the iOS 18 software update gives us something just as exciting for the stopwatch.

In an early iOS 17.4 beta build, Apple previewed what Live Activities for Clock's stopwatch tool would look like. Unfortunately, the Live Activity never showed up in the stable iOS 17.4, nor any future iOS 17 software updates. But it's finally useable with iOS 18, released on Sept. 16.

On iOS 18, as well as on iPadOS 18 for iPad, you simply open Clock, tap "Stopwatch" in the tab bar, and hit "Start" on either the digital or analog view to begin the counting. You could also:

• Ask Siri to start the stopwatch.
• Activate the stopwatch from a search in Spotlight.
• Start the stopwatch from Control Center.
• Begin the stopwatch from a control on your Lock Screen.
• Touch and hold Clock's icon on your Home Screen or App Library and initiate it from the quick actions.

You can view the stopwatch's Live Activity from your Lock Screen or Notification Center as the time elapses. It also is visible in the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, and iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, as well as the iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, and 16 Pro Max.

Like in the Clock app, you can pause the stopwatch and record laps. After pausing, you can stop and exit the stopwatch and Live Activity. This works from the Lock Screen, Notification Center, and expanded Dynamic Island (touch and hold the Dynamic Island to see the controls). If you want to see the analog interface, you can swipe to it in the Clock app, but it won't appear as such in the Live Activity.

In the iOS 17.4 beta, the Live Activity would only show minutes and seconds, but the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 version also gives you milliseconds.

While Clock's timer feature has been compatible with Live Activities since Live Activities' introduction on iOS 16.1, there was no way to view the stopwatch outside of the Clock app. Including Live Activities support reduces the chance of accidentally activating and forgetting the stopwatch. It also lets you use other apps without returning to Clock whenever you want to interact with the stopwatch.