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How to Control Your Apple Watch With Your iPhone

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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In iOS 16, Apple introduced a new Apple Watch Mirroring feature that lets you see and control your Apple Watch screen from your paired iPhone. Apple Watch Mirroring is designed to make the watch experience more accessible for people with physical and motor disabilities, but it can be useful to anyone. Keep reading to learn how to use it.

apple-watch-mirroring.jpg

With Apple Watch Mirroring in iOS 16, Apple utilizes its AirPlay wireless protocol to make Apple Watch more accessible. The addition of the new feature means you can use touch or assistive features like Voice Control, Switch Control, and more on your iPhone to interact with your Apple Watch.

To start using Apple Watch Mirroring, you'll need an Apple Watch Series 6 or later running watchOS 9, along with a paired iPhone running iOS 16. You can check if your iPhone needs updating by going to Settings -> General -> Software Update.

How to Control Apple Watch Mirroring

  1. On your iPhone, launch the Settings app.
  2. Scroll down and tap Accessibility.
  3. Under "Physical and Motor," tap Apple Watch Mirroring.
  4. Toggle on the switch next to Apple Watch Mirroring.
apple-watch-mirroring-setting.jpg


After you've performed the last step, a graphical representation of your Apple Watch will appear on your iPhone's screen, while a blue outline will appear around the face of your Apple Watch to indicate that mirroring is enabled.

You'll now be able to control your Apple Watch by tapping and swiping on the watch image that appears on your iPhone. You can even tap the Side button and swipe the Digital Crown to mimic the same physical actions that you would perform on your watch. When you're done using Apple Watch Mirroring, simply tap the X in the top-right corner of the Apple Watch card on your iPhone.

If you want to make Apple Watch Mirroring quicker to access, you can add it to Apple's Accessibility Shortcut menu, which, once set up, can be invoked using a triple click of the Home button or Side button.

Article Link: How to Control Your Apple Watch With Your iPhone
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/control-apple-watch-with-your-iphone/
Last edited:
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Rob07003 said:
This option doesn’t exist on my iPhone 12 Pro (v14.0.2) and I have a Series 4 running the latest watchOS.
Click to expand...
Works in my 12PM with iOS16.0.2. with AW6. Can someone confirm if it works with AW SE1?
 
Eldaerenth Faexidor said:
This is pretty cool. iOS16 is the most enjoyable iOS to date imo.
Click to expand...

This is cool, and thank you MR for reminding me about this.

I see what they were going for with 16 but it's still so buggy for me in daily use. I really hope they get past the issues with the new iPhones and on to bug fixes soon.
 
My Ultra shows up visibly as a S8 but the non-existent action button is touchable and the watch face is my Ultra Wayfinder face as shown. I can touch the side of the iPhone “watch” where the action button is and it works. Nice accessibility feature!
 
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MacRumors said:


In iOS 16, Apple introduced a new Apple Watch Mirroring feature that lets you see and control your Apple Watch screen from your paired iPhone. Keep reading to learn how to use it.

apple-watch-mirroring.jpg

With Apple Watch Mirroring in iOS 16, Apple utilizes its AirPlay wireless protocol to make Apple Watch more accessible. The addition of the new feature means you can use touch or assistive features like Voice Control, Switch Control, and more on your iPhone to interact with your Apple Watch.

To start using Apple Watch Mirroring, you'll need an Apple Watch Series 6 or later running watchOS 9, along with a paired iPhone running iOS 16. You can check if your iPhone needs updating by going to Settings -> General -> Software Update.

How to Control Apple Watch Mirroring

  1. On your iPhone, launch the Settings app.
  2. Scroll down and tap Accessibility.
  3. Under "Physical and Motor," tap Apple Watch Mirroring.
  4. Toggle on the switch next to Apple Watch Mirroring.
apple-watch-mirroring-setting.jpg


After you've performed the last step, a graphical representation of your Apple Watch will appear on your iPhone's screen, while a blue outline will appear around the face of your Apple Watch to indicate that mirroring is enabled.

You'll now be able to control your Apple Watch by tapping and swiping on the watch image that appears on your iPhone. You can even tap the Side button and swipe the Digital Crown to mimic the same physical actions that you would perform on your watch. When you're done using Apple Watch Mirroring, simply tap the X in the top-right corner of the Apple Watch card on your iPhone.

If you want to make Apple Watch Mirroring quicker to access, you can add it to Apple's Accessibility Shortcut menu, which, once set up, can be invoked using a triple click of the Home button.

Article Link: How to Control Your Apple Watch With Your iPhone
Click to expand...
How is this useful?
 
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NinjaHERO said:
The only function I want is one that stops my touch screen from working randomly when I cross my arms. My watch is always doing fun stuff on its own. Is that a feature yet?
Click to expand...
Try turning on water lock.
apyrenum said:
Can someone tell me why this could be useful? What are some possible use cases?
Click to expand...
People with mobility or vision problems that find the controls on the watch too small to use. People wearing long sleeves in layers in the winter, who may find that fishing out their phones from their pockets is faster than digging out the watch from under layered sleeves.
 
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Not working with the ultra watch on 9.1 beta 3 and 14 Pro Max on iOS 16.1 beta 4, I have the option to tap mirroring, new window pops up but it connects forever without doing anything.

Fixed - Had to turn off focus mode on the watch and it connected immediately.
 
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