The release candidate for watchOS 11.4 by Apple was launched today, offering a preview of new features that will be introduced to the Apple Watch in the upcoming weeks. This update to the operating system contains bug fixes, but more importantly, it brings a modification to the Silent Mode of the Apple Watch, enabling alarms to sound even when the device is muted.

At present, when Silent Mode is on, the Apple Watch only notifies users through vibrations. This feature helps maintain the privacy of notifications, reduces interruptions, and prevents the watch from audibly alerting at inconvenient times, such as during meetings.

The release notes for the watchOS 11.4 release candidate mention the new functionality as “an option to allow Sleep Wake Up alarm to break through Silent Mode.” Each alarm, including the wake-up alarm set in the Apple Watch’s sleep settings, will feature a new setting called “Break Through Silent Mode.” When enabled, both sounds and vibrations will be triggered when an alarm goes off, as reported by 9to5Mac.

The change seems counterintuitive to Silent Mode, but even with the Apple Watch’s haptics set to Prominent, the highest possible intensity, I still frequently find myself sleeping through the vibrations of an alarm I’ve set. I refuse to turn Silent Mode off, which means I just don’t use my Apple Watch for any critical alarms, but that could soon change.