The Apple Watch is absolutely packed with features, and while that’s undoubtedly a good thing, it also means there are a lot of menus and apps on the watch, which can slow down your navigation and make it harder to get straight to the things you want to do.
Fortunately, there are a lot of clever shortcuts available on the watch to speed up your usage, and two I use all the time when wearing the watch make it faster to navigate the menus and fire up a workout.
I use these shortcuts on an Apple Watch Series 11 because one of them is essentially a replacement for the Action button on the Apple Watch Ultra 3, so it is only needed on Series watches, but the first hidden feature is one that applies to all of the best Apple watches.
Tip #1 — tap the time to jump to the top
If you’ve ever found yourself down at the bottom of a very long Apple Watch menu, knowing that you now need to scroll all the way back to the top to find the setting you need, this tip’s for you.
Simply tap the time in any native Apple Watch app, and it will teleport you back to the top of the menu instantly.
This works in apps like Mail, Workout and Settings, and I find it saves me time every day when I’m working my way around the various menus and options in those apps.
If you just want to head back to your watch face from wherever you are in an app, you can also cover the Apple Watch with your palm for a second, and it will transport you there.
Tip #2 — create one-tap shortcuts to your favorite workouts
I’m a keen runner and often use the Apple Watch Ultra 3 instead of the Series 11, partly because the Action button is a handy way to start a run quickly.
With this feature, you can create a similar feature on any Series Apple Watch, adding a shortcut to starting a run or any workout to your Control Center.
Here’s how to do it:
- In the Shortcuts app on your iPhone, create a new shortcut to start a run (or any workout type)
- Long-press this shortcut and tick "show on Apple Watch"
- You can also customize the icon for the shortcut in the iPhone app and rename it
- Press the side button on your Apple Watch to open the Control Center
- Scroll down to edit, then hit the "+" icon to add your shortcut
- Find your new shortcut and position it where you want in your Control Center
Now when you hit that shortcut in the Control Center, it will immediately open the Workout app and start your chosen training session, almost as quickly as if you’d used the Action button on an Ultra.
You can also add your shortcut directly to a watch face if you have one with complications, meaning you don’t even need to open the Control Center.
I have shortcuts for outdoor run and functional strength training workouts set up on my watch, so I can fire them up with just one or two taps.
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