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Ultra Action Button

BenGoren

BenGoren

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 10, 2021
548
1,536
Dan’s video review today of his past (almost) year of wearing his Ultra got me thinking … it’s been long enough that, whatever people are actually going to use the Action button for, they’ve figured it out.

I have mine mapped to the flashlight. I don’t use it much. I wouldn’t miss it if it went away.

But how about you?

Of course, I’m partly hoping for some sort of brilliant “Now why didn’t I think of that!?” answer, but I’m also curious … because I suspect that, presumably with the exception of those using it for workouts, it’s not used much at all.

b&
 
BenGoren said:
Dan’s video review today of his past (almost) year of wearing his Ultra got me thinking … it’s been long enough that, whatever people are actually going to use the Action button for, they’ve figured it out.

I have mine mapped to the flashlight. I don’t use it much. I wouldn’t miss it if it went away.

But how about you?

Of course, I’m partly hoping for some sort of brilliant “Now why didn’t I think of that!?” answer, but I’m also curious … because I suspect that, presumably with the exception of those using it for workouts, it’s not used much at all.

b&
Click to expand...
I use mine to start a workout, use it every day - the indoor cycle workout
 
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Since you can assign a shortcut to the button the potential seems huge. But I don't own an Ultra (yet?) so haven't messed around with it at all.
 
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I tried to use it to open the Home app, but it puts that stupid orange splash screen up when you push the button so it's almost faster to just pick it from the app menu...

What I'd like to be able to do is program it to lock the watch to avoid accidental touches sometimes, but "lock" isn't a shortcut action available on the watch as far as I can tell...
 
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Analog Kid said:
I tried to use it to open the Home app, but it puts that stupid orange splash screen up when you push the button so it's almost faster to just pick it from the app menu...

What I'd like to be able to do is program it to lock the watch to avoid accidental touches sometimes, but "lock" isn't a shortcut action available on the watch as far as I can tell...
Click to expand...
I have a shortcut to lock/unlock the watch. Wonder why you can't find it?
 
Since watchOS 10 eliminates the dock button I now have the action button running a shortcut that opens a “dock”(list of apps or functions).
 
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Analog Kid said:
Lock Screen says can’t be used on Apple Watch. Looks like there’s a water lock, is that what you’re using? I haven’t tried that…
Click to expand...
Yes. Water lock is the thing that prevents accidental touches on the Apple watch. Lock Screen turns off the iPhone screen.
 
I run every day, so my Action Button starts an Open Run Outdoors - in the long-sleeve season it's even better, as I can water-lock the display and press action button, put on shoes and outside and press it again (even if it's under my sleve) and get going. Has been quite a game changer for my use of the Apple Watch as a running watch together with GPS-lock-on mode)
 
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rstark18 said:
Since watchOS 10 eliminates the dock button I now have the action button running a shortcut that opens a “dock”(list of apps or functions).
Click to expand...

I haven’t installed the beta, and don’t plan on upgrading until release day … but yours is suddenly the most compelling use case I’ve heard of. I’ll have to see just what app management looks like in 10, but an action that quickly gets me to a familiar launcher doohickey could well be nice to have.

Night Spring said:
Yes. Water lock is the thing that prevents accidental touches on the Apple watch. Lock Screen turns off the iPhone screen.
Click to expand...

I like the idea of having easy access to the water lock … but I’m afraid that the action button would be too easy. Maybe if it could be triggered with a double-click of the action button … but I’m pretty sure that Apple doesn’t have any API for double-clicks.

ebika said:
I use the action button to open/close my garage door when I'm riding my motorcycle. I wrote a shortcut to control the opener in the Home app.
Click to expand...

Now that’s cool! Does your watch have an app that controls the garage door, or are you somehow triggering something on your phone that does the communication, or … ? Also … will it still open the door even if you’re miles away? That might make me nervous … an accidental press somewhere and you don’t even realize that the door is open …

b&
 
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BenGoren said:
I like the idea of having easy access to the water lock … but I’m afraid that the action button would be too easy.
Click to expand...
Well, it's also very simple to undo the water lock. Just make a shortcut that toggles the water lock, and set the action button to that shortcut. Then each time you click the action button, the water lock will turn on or off, depending on what state it is in.
 
Night Spring said:
Well, it's also very simple to undo the water lock. Just make a shortcut that toggles the water lock, and set the action button to that shortcut. Then each time you click the action button, the water lock will turn on or off, depending on what state it is in.
Click to expand...

Seems like something that would work well for actual water activities, but I tend to use mine most for things like gardening where a sleeve wet with sweat is the most likely unwelcome trigger. And, when in the garden, it’s not uncommon for me to be leaning on and bending my wrist in ways that press (and sometimes hold) the side buttons unintentionally.

(What I do is start the workout and activate water lock before putting on gloves, and then let it run until I’m done and take off the gloves.)

Still … I’ll have to sleep on it, maybe give it a try. Especially for the next beach vacation where I’d be splashing in the surf without actually working out.

b&
 
BenGoren said:
...

Now that’s cool! Does your watch have an app that controls the garage door, or are you somehow triggering something on your phone that does the communication, or … ? Also … will it still open the door even if you’re miles away? That might make me nervous … an accidental press somewhere and you don’t even realize that the door is open …

b&
Click to expand...
It works from anywhere through the internet.

Modern Chamberlain/Liftmaster garage openers are internet-connected with their MyQ tech. My Liftmaster opener is older without that built in, so I bought their wall button panel and home bridge to MyQ-ify my opener. That works both with the Chamberlain MyQ app for iPhone and Apple Watch, and also lets you integrate it into Apple HomeKit.

The shortcut goes: action button -> shortcut -> HomeKit -> internet -> HomePod -> Chamberlain bridge (callback to the Chamberlain cloud APIs too) -> Chamberlain wall panel to trigger the opener. It works with Siri too, and I could theoretically set up automated scenes, like flipping on lights and setting the thermostat. HomeKit sends me notifications whenever the door is opened or closed (configurable to turn that off).

The Chamberlain cloud servers also can trigger notifications that go to iPhones via the MyQ app if the door is open for too long. In my case, I live in a 3 unit building, and have my neighbors on the app too, so we all get a notification for the door being opened for too long.

One last bonus feature with the MyQ app is the lock screen widget for door open/close state (the fourth icon in this image).

IMG_1191.jpeg
 
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BenGoren said:
Seems like something that would work well for actual water activities, but I tend to use mine most for things like gardening where a sleeve wet with sweat is the most likely unwelcome trigger. And, when in the garden, it’s not uncommon for me to be leaning on and bending my wrist in ways that press (and sometimes hold) the side buttons unintentionally.

(What I do is start the workout and activate water lock before putting on gloves, and then let it run until I’m done and take off the gloves.)

Still … I’ll have to sleep on it, maybe give it a try. Especially for the next beach vacation where I’d be splashing in the surf without actually working out.

b&
Click to expand...
I've never had problems with inadvertently pressing side buttons, but can see how that could be problematic. One trick I've heard of is to switch the orientation of the watch so that the side buttons are on the side not likely to get pressed by wrist movement.

For each of my workouts, I've made shortcuts to start workouts AND turn on water lock. I also find it easier to start those shortcuts from the iPhone rather than the watch. I wish there was a way to create shortcuts to end workouts, but for some reason, that option doesn't seem to exist. I have no idea why -- it would be useful for a variety of purposes.

I turn on water lock quite frequently, especially during the winter when I find that long sleeves inadvertently activate the watch. Being able to lock/unlock using shortcuts from the iPhone has been really useful for this.
 
Analog Kid said:
What I'd like to be able to do is program it to lock the watch to avoid accidental touches sometimes, but "lock" isn't a shortcut action available on the watch as far as I can tell...
Click to expand...
This. Great idea! The only complaints I have about the Ultra are 1) Siri thinking I am talking to Siri when I am talking on the phone and 2) accidental touches starting complications. I really, really need an easy way to lock/unlock it.
 
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rstark18 said:
Since watchOS 10 eliminates the dock button I now have the action button running a shortcut that opens a “dock”(list of apps or functions).
Click to expand...
Which shortcut action is that? I’m on iOS 17 and I don’t see a shortcut for the dock on AW. currently not on watchOS beta though so could be that?
 
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