Washing your hands with soap and water is one of the best ways to keep from picking up viruses and germs of all kinds and spreading them to other people.

Experts agree that to make the most of handwashing, you need to scrub for at least 20 seconds. And a great Apple Watch feature, starting with watchOS 7, helps make sure you'll reach that magic mark.

Let's take a look at how to set up and make the most of the Handwashing Timer on the Apple Watch.

Getting Starting With the Apple Watch Handwashing Timer

To use the Handwashing Timer feature, you'll need an Apple Watch Series 4 or later with the most recent version of watchOS installed.

To activate the feature, go to Settings > Handwashing on your Apple Watch. Make sure that the Handwashing Timer is turned on.

Alternatively, you can turn the feature on via the companion Watch app on your iPhone. Select Handwashing in the My Watch tab and turn the Handwashing Timer toggle on. With that, you're set and can start using the feature.

The best part of the Handwashing feature is that you don't need to activate anything for the timer to begin. The Apple Watch uses both audio and motion sensors to detect when you're washing your hands and the timer begins automatically.

When the feature activates, you'll feel a small haptic touch and the countdown will appear on your screen. You might hear a beep as well, unless your Watch is in Silent mode.

Keep washing your hands until the timer is finished, when you'll feel another tap and hear another beep.

If you happen to stop washing before the timer is up, you'll see a message to keep going. If the feature activates accidentally, you can just tap the screen to dismiss it.

You can also turn on the Handwashing Timer feature as part of Family Setup for someone else's Apple Watch. To do that, take a look at how Family Setup lets you use an Apple Watch without an iPhone.

Receive a Handwashing Reminder

Along with the timer feature, you can also activate a Handwashing Reminders feature. This reminds you to wash your hands within a few minutes of returning home.

To activate this feature, open the Watch app on your iPhone, select Handwashing in the My Watch tab, and toggle on Handwashing Reminders.

Keep Clean With the Apple Watch Handwashing Timer

While we all know that handwashing is an important way to keep clean and healthy, it is sometimes hard to make sure that we scrub for a long enough time. The Handwashing Timer on Apple Watch is a great way to help remind you to wash for 20 seconds every time.

And Apple's wearable device can do even more to help keep you healthy, including a great feature that tracks your sleep to help you get a better night's rest.