Do you like using shortcut automations on your iPhone? The Shortcuts app on the Apple Watch allows you to trigger shortcuts directly from your wrist. And as shortcuts are performed on the watch itself, there is no need to touch your iPhone.
Apple Watch users running watchOS 7 and above can access the Shortcuts app on their wearable. This works perfectly with the Shortcuts app on the iPhone.
The Shortcuts app automatically categorizes shortcuts that may work on your Apple Watch and makes them available on your wrist. This means that you won’t have to create separate shortcuts just for your Apple Watch.
Shortcuts can be triggered both in the Shortcuts app and in the complications of the watch face. But if you trigger the shortcut from the watch face, you must first confirm it by recording a “Run” button
View and manage Apple Watch shortcuts on iPhone
You can find all Apple Watch compatible shortcuts in a separate folder in your shortcut library. To access, open the “Shortcuts” application on your iPhone. You can do this easily using the Spotlight search feature. Swipe down on the home screen, look for the Shortcuts app and select it.
Now, go to the “My shortcuts” tab.
Here, tap the “Shortcuts” button in the upper left corner.
Choose the “Apple Watch” folder.
You will see all the Apple Watch compatible shortcuts here.
If you have dozens of shortcuts, you’ll see that most of them are compatible with Apple Watch. Fortunately, it is very easy to remove shortcuts from the Apple Watch folder.
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Just touch the “Select” button at the top.
Then, tap the shortcuts you want to remove and tap the “Remove” button on the bottom toolbar.
Now, tap the “Done” button to save the changes.
Adding an iPhone shortcut to your Apple Watch is also quite simple.
Go to the “My shortcuts” tab and find the shortcut you want to add to your Apple Watch. Then tap the three-point menu button in the upper right corner of the shortcut.
Here, tap the three-dot menu button again in the upper right corner.
Tap the toggle button next to the “Show on Apple Watch” option.
You can now tap the “Done” button to save the option.
And again, tap the “Done” button on the shortcut to save it.
Trigger shortcuts on Apple Watch
Now that you know what shortcuts are available on your Apple Watch, it’s time to actually use them. This can be done using the Shortcuts application.
On your Apple Watch, press the Digital Crown to view the Applications screen. Now, open the “Shortcuts” application.
You will now see a simple list of all your shortcuts. Use the digital crown to scroll through the list. Just tap on a shortcut to run it.
If the shortcut is simple and does not require any input, it will run automatically. If an entry is required, you will be asked to make the selection in the Shortcuts application itself.
And it’s so simple to trigger Apple Watch shortcuts.
Clock face trigger shortcuts
The Shortcuts application is quite simple, but there is an even faster way to trigger shortcuts. And this is using the clock face complication. Thanks to the new complications structure, you can add several complications from the same application to the watch face.
This means that you can create a watch face with up to eight shortcuts (using the watch face Infograph).
To add a shortcut (or the Shortcuts app) as a complication, tap and hold the watch face and tap the “Edit” button.
Swipe left to go to the “Complications” section and select the complication you want to change.
Use the digital crown to scroll through the list. Here, find the “Shortcuts” section. You will now see the first three shortcuts available here. Touch the “Move” button to see all available shortcuts.
You can now choose a specific shortcut you want to add to the watch face. To create a complication for the Shortcuts application itself, go to the end of this list and choose the option “Shortcuts”.
You can repeat this process to add further complications. When finished, press the digital crown twice to return to the watch face.
To trigger the shortcut, just tap the shortcut on the watch face. Then, tap the “Run” button to run the shortcut.
Do you like using different watch faces throughout the day? See how you can use the Shortcut Automation feature to automatically switch the watch faces on your Apple Watch based on the time of day.
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