The BassWatch is an AMOLED touchscreen worn on the wrist. Navigation is by touch: there is no rotary encoder. A side button opens the menu and toggles the screen. This article covers how to move around the screen, and what each monitoring view shows. For the idle home screen, see Watch Faces.
The Two Screens
The BassWatch has two main screens:
- Watch face (idle home): the clock plus a compact telemetry glance. This is what you see when you wake the watch. See Watch Faces.
- Monitoring: the full live-data screen with a mode tab bar. Tap the watch face to open it.
Swiping down from monitoring returns you to the watch face.
Input Methods
| Gesture | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Raise wrist | Wakes the screen, when Tilt to Wake is turned on in Settings (it ships off by default) |
| Tap | On the watch face, opens monitoring when connected, or starts pairing (Tap to Pair) when no device is paired. Elsewhere, selects an item: a mode tab, a settings row, a button, or a confirm/cancel choice |
| Swipe left / right | On the monitoring screen, switches between modes (Volts, Volume, Temp, and so on). On a settings screen, swiping right goes back |
| Swipe up / down | On a menu or settings screen, scrolls the list (with momentum); tap a row to select it. While editing a slider, swipe up / down adjusts the value. On the monitoring screen, swiping down returns to the watch face, and swiping up from the lower half opens the volume control |
| Long press | Opens the main menu |
| Side button | Opens the main menu from any screen. On a dark screen, the first press only wakes it |
The side button is the reliable way into the menu: it works from any screen, including while the watch is unpaired or the base station is offline.
Monitoring Screen Layout
The monitoring screen has three parts:
- Top bar (across the top): the LF Audio logo, compact readouts for voltage, temperature (when a probe is connected), and volume, the link signal strength, system status icons, and the battery indicator.
- Content area (the middle): shows whichever mode you are currently viewing.
- Mode tab bar (across the bottom): a row of tabs, one per available mode. The active tab is highlighted.
Switching Between Modes
There are two ways to change what the content area shows:
- Tap a mode tab along the bottom of the screen.
- Swipe left or right anywhere in the content area. Swiping cycles through the available modes and wraps around at the ends.
A swipe works anywhere in the content area, including on top of the readouts and buttons drawn there: the temperature readings and the multi-channel temperature grid, the per-channel voltage cells shown with a voltmeter, and the channel pair and view style buttons on the audio analysis views. You can start a swipe on one of those, or drag across it, and the screen still changes. Tapping those buttons still activates them as normal, so nothing is lost.
On firmware older than 4.8.1, swiping on the Temp view did nothing, and a swipe that began on or crossed the channel pair or view style button on FFT, Scope, or Waterfall was ignored. Update your BassWatch if swipes are not working on those views. See Firmware Updates.
Which mode tabs appear depends entirely on the connected device. A WVC base station shows Volts and Volume (plus Temp and the audio-analysis tabs on a WVC-PRO or WVC-PRO 6); an SSA analyzer shows the audio-analysis tabs; a WTH temperature hub shows Temp; and an HPVM voltmeter shows Volts. See Overview for the full capability table.
The Modes
Volts
Volts shows your system voltage as a large reading over a full-width scrolling trend graph, so you can see both the current value and how it has been moving.
Below the large reading is a smaller min / max readout (for example, min 12.3V max 14.5V). Whether these values track the all-time lowest and highest since power-on, or just the values currently visible in the graph, is controlled by the Min/Max setting. See Menus and Settings.
When the BassWatch is paired to a multi-channel HPVM voltmeter, the Volts view shows a row of per-channel cells above the trend instead of a single large reading, one cell per voltage channel the meter reports, with a trend line for each. Channels with nothing connected to them are hidden rather than shown as zero, and the remaining cells spread out to fill the row. Swiping left or right on that row of cells changes the mode as usual.
Volume
A console of vertical volume faders, one per channel group, showing your system's volume. From the BassWatch you can both see and adjust volume.
- Each fader's fill height shows the volume level that is actually playing for that group.
- The number above each fader shows that group's own set point. For a group that follows another group, this number is the value you set for it, even though what plays is adjusted by its parent.
- A group that is slaved to another (its volume follows a parent group) shows a dim band up to its set point and a small
> parent namelink beneath it, so you can see the relationship. - At zero volume, a fader reads MUTE.
- Touch a fader and drag to set that group's volume. The change is sent to the base station, and the fader reflects the confirmed level a moment later.
Volume can be shown as a percentage or in decibels (dB), set by the Volume Units setting. If your system has only one volume group, a single MASTER fader is shown instead.
Temp
Temperature over a shared scrolling trend graph. On a WVC-PRO or WVC-PRO 6 these are amplifier probes, labeled PROBE 1, PROBE 2, and PROBE 3. On a WTH Wireless Temperature Hub they are the hub's temperature channels.
Only probes that actually have a sensor plugged in are shown. If a probe jack is empty, its readout is hidden rather than showing a placeholder, and the trend line for that probe is skipped. If nothing is connected, a single -- is shown. The displayed unit follows your Temp Units setting (F or C).
This view appears on a device with temperature sensing: a WVC-PRO (one probe), a WVC-PRO 6 (three probes), or a WTH (multiple channels).
On a WTH hub, the readings are laid out as a grid of channel cells above the trend, since the hub reports more channels than a set of amplifier probes. Swiping left or right anywhere on the readings, including across the grid, changes the mode as usual.
FFT
A real-time frequency spectrum analyzer. The channels are shown side by side as a bar graph, with the live input voltage for each channel labeled in the corners. This view is useful for seeing the frequency content of the signal. It appears on a WVC-PRO or WVC-PRO 6 and on an SSA analyzer.
Scope
A real-time oscilloscope showing the actual shape of the audio signal. Quiet signals are scaled down so they do not fill the screen, giving you a sense of relative level. It appears on a WVC-PRO or WVC-PRO 6 and on an SSA.
The Scope view has a COMB | SPLIT selector in the top-left corner that chooses how the two channels are laid out:
- COMB (combined): both waveforms are drawn over one another on a single grid, so you can compare them directly. This is the default.
- SPLIT: the channels are stacked, each on its own half of the view with its own center line and its own channel name, so neither trace runs through the other.
Tap COMB or SPLIT to switch. Your choice is saved and restored.
Waterfall
A view of the audio spectrum over time, showing two channels side by side. Newer data sits in front and older data recedes, so you can watch how the spectrum has changed over the last few seconds. It appears on a WVC-PRO or WVC-PRO 6 and on an SSA. On a multi-channel device (a WVC-PRO 6, or a 4-channel SSA) you can pick which channel pair to view (see the channel pair selector below); on a 2-channel WVC-PRO it shows that system's single pair.
The Waterfall view has a 3D | SPEC selector in the top-left corner that switches between two ways of drawing the same data:
- 3D: a mountain-range view where each channel's spectrum rises and falls over time, with newer frames in front.
- SPEC: a spectrogram (also called a spectrograph), a flat color-coded heatmap where each horizontal line is one moment's frequency content and brightness represents level. The newest line appears at the top and the image scrolls downward as new data arrives, so you can read sustained tones, sweeps, and rhythmic content at a glance.
Tap 3D or SPEC to switch. Your choice is saved and restored.
When you first switch to the Waterfall view, the display takes a second or two to fill in as new data streams in. This is expected, not a freeze: the BassWatch only requests waterfall data for the channels you are actively viewing, which keeps the wireless link efficient and saves battery.
Channel Pair Selector (Multi-Channel Devices)
On a device with more than two channels, the FFT, Scope, and Waterfall views show one channel pair at a time, with a button at the top of the view to switch pairs. On a 6-channel WVC-PRO 6 you can tap between CH 1-2, CH 3-4, and CH 5-6; on a 4-channel SSA you can tap between CH 1-2 and CH 3-4. On 2-channel systems there is only one pair, so the selector does not appear.
The channel pair button and the view style button (3D | SPEC on Waterfall, COMB | SPLIT on Scope) both sit inside the content area, so a left or right swipe that starts on one of them, or drags across it, still switches modes. A tap on either button still changes the setting, exactly as before.
When Data Isn't Available
If the audio analysis data stops arriving, the FFT, Scope, and Waterfall views tell you which of two things is happening:
- "Waiting for data..." means the link is up but the frames have briefly stalled, for example in the second or two just after you wake the watch. It fills in on its own.
- "No connection", in red with a warning symbol, means the base station is gone. Check that it is powered on and in range; the view resumes when the link returns.
Status Icons
Icons in the top bar reflect your system's current state:
| Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Shield | The Intelligent Drive System (IDS) is armed |
| Crosshairs | Competition mode is active |
| Bolt (blinking) | IDS triggered on low voltage |
| Fire (blinking) | IDS triggered on high temperature |
| Bolt + Fire (blinking) | IDS triggered on both voltage and temperature |
The warning icon (bolt / fire) blinks to draw attention and clears on its own once the underlying condition (low voltage or high temperature) goes away. For details on what IDS does, see the Intelligent Drive System (IDS) article.
Top-Bar Readouts
Alongside the icons, the top bar carries compact glances so the key numbers are always visible, even while you are on a different mode:
- Voltage: the current system voltage, to one decimal.
- Temperature: the first connected temperature probe (hidden when no probe is connected), in your selected unit.
- Volume: the master volume, as a percentage or in dB depending on your Volume Units setting.
- Battery: the watch's own charge level, with a charging symbol when plugged in.
Auto Swap (Slideshow Mode)
When enabled, Auto Swap automatically cycles the monitoring screen through the available mode tabs every few seconds, the same sequence you would swipe through manually. You control whether it is on and how long each mode is shown (the Swap Time) from Settings. See Menus and Settings.
If the display is changing views while you are trying to read one, turn Auto Swap off in Settings and switch modes manually by tapping a tab or swiping.
Connecting and Update Screens
While the BassWatch is pairing with a device for the first time, it shows a status screen with a progress indicator and a message describing what it is doing. The menu remains reachable with the side button (or a long-press) throughout, so you can start a firmware update or change settings without waiting for the connection. You can also swipe right on this searching screen to cancel and return to the watch face (this is disabled during a firmware update, so a flash cannot be interrupted).
This screen is only used for first-time pairing (and for firmware updates, below). If an already-paired watch loses its device, it does not come back to this screen: it shows Reconnecting on the watch face instead, so the clock and battery stay usable. See First Boot and Pairing.
During a firmware update (its own or the base station's), this same screen shows the live progress of the update. See Firmware Updates for the full workflow.
Navigating Menus and Settings Screens
All menu and settings screens share a consistent layout:
- A title stays fixed at the top. Tap it to go back.
- A scrollable list of items sits below the title. Swipe up or down (or flick) to scroll the list with momentum, then tap a row to select it.
- A Back item at the bottom is another way to return, and swiping right from any settings screen also goes back.
- Tap an item to activate it: this toggles a switch, opens a sub-screen, cycles an option, or starts editing a slider.
For sliders, tap the row to begin editing, then adjust the value. See Menus and Settings for the full menu structure and every setting.
Display Brightness
Adjust screen brightness from 10-100% in Settings > Brightness. Lower brightness saves battery and reduces glare in dark environments; the change applies immediately as you adjust it. See Battery and Charging for how brightness affects run time.