Key Takeaways
- To alter the Motion button’s linked app/perform, maintain the button down, then use your finger or the digital crown.
- This could work with any Apple Watch Extremely up to date to watchOS 11 or later.
- You are still restricted to the identical set of choices present in watchOS 10.
Whereas Apple did not make any {hardware} updates to the Apple Watch Ultra this yr aside from a brand new shade, it did at the very least introduce plenty of software program options alongside watchOS 11, reminiscent of sleep apnea detection and a long-overdue Coaching Load metric. The truth is, as is surprisingly frequent for Apple, a few of these options went unannounced — together with a brand new manner of configuring the Extremely’s Motion button.
Beforehand, the one manner of fixing the Motion button’s linked perform was to enter the watchOS Settings app. I am going to show the brand new methodology beneath, in addition to its ongoing limitations.
Methods to configure the Extremely’s Motion button in watchOS 11
Change it up immediately for quicker controls
To alter what the Motion button does, all you need to do is maintain it down and scroll by an inventory of onscreen actions utilizing your finger or the Extremely’s digital crown. This works with each the unique Extremely and the Ultra 2. You possibly can try a video of the characteristic on Threads if you wish to see it simulated.
There’s nonetheless a restricted variety of apps and capabilities you’ll be able to set off. These embrace:
- Exercise
- Stopwatch
- Waypoint
- Backtrack
- Dive
- Flashlight
- Shortcut
Be aware that the final possibility requires creating an automation within the official Shortcuts app in your iPhone. It is extraordinarily highly effective — you could possibly, as an illustration, begin shuffling music and navigate residence on the similar time — however the Shortcuts interface takes some getting used to, and you will have to particularly flag a shortcut as seen in your Extremely. As soon as you have accomplished one, faucet its Extra (triple-dot) icon, then Information (i). Choose Present on Apple Watch Extremely.
In your Extremely, you’ll have to decide on which shortcut it will default to. To do this:
- Open the watchOS Settings app.
- Go to Motion Button > Motion, then faucet Shortcut.
- In the event you do not see shortcuts you have flagged, faucet the Again button, faucet Shortcut once more, then choose a shortcut.
Why cannot I make the Motion button do something I would like?
Ready for change straight from the higher-ups
Solely Apple or third-party builders can say for positive, however we do know that, like all Apple cell platforms, watchOS 11 is comparatively locked down. There’s most likely no common manner of linking particular instructions inside particular apps, which implies Apple has to do the coding itself.
The Shortcuts app is Apple’s reply to the issue.
The corporate can also be attempting to maintain the Apple Watch expertise easy. Having a flood of instructions to select from would possibly overwhelm some customers, main them to disregard the button totally. The choices watchOS 11 does have are more likely to be a few of the most used, or at the very least aimed in the direction of the Extremely’s (nominal) viewers of athletes, hikers, and divers.
The Shortcuts app is Apple’s reply to the issue, at the very least for the second. I would not be stunned although if watchOS 12 opened up the Motion button a bit bit extra, or at the very least added a number of extra suitable apps.
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