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Apple Watch

Update Date: 02/12/2026

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Use ideaShell on your Apple Watch to start recording anytime, anywhere—just raise your wrist to capture an idea. Recordings automatically sync to your iPhone and are transcribed, so you never miss an idea!

*Supports watchOS 9.0 and above

Contents:

  1. Installing the App and Quick Recording

  2. Advanced Feature 1: Double Tap on the Watch

  3. Advanced Feature 2: Gesture Control via Accessibility

  4. Advanced Feature 3: Start watch recording on Apple Watch Ultra via the Action button

  5. What to do if the first sync fails?

Installing the App and Quick Recording

Open the “Watch” App on your iPhone, then find “ideaShell” under My Watch and tap Install. Wait a moment for the installation to complete.

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● Open the app directly to record (tap the orange square in the center to stop recording)

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● Use the quick launch button on the watch face or the Smart Stack widget (supported on watchOS 10 and above)

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Advanced Feature 1: Double Tap on the Watch

On your phone, open the Watch App and select: General - Gestures - Double Tap, then enable this option.

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Next, set the “Select” option in the Smart Stack settings.

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Swipe up from the bottom of the Apple Watch face → long press the Smart Stack card → add and pin the ideaShell Smart Stack card to the top.

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Tip: Only S9 and above, and Ultra Series 2 support the double tap feature.

Advanced Feature 2: Gesture Control via Accessibility

For models without the double tap feature, you can use this method to enable gesture control.

Step 1: Enable and configure gestures

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  1. Tap Accessibility
  2. Tap AssistiveTouch and enable it
  3. Tap Gestures and enable it
  4. Tap Start Gesture and set it to “Double Tap” to activate AssistiveTouch (you can also set it to “None” so that raising your wrist directly activates Assistive Control, which skips a step but may cause accidental triggers)

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Step 2: Enable Wake on Wrist Raise
  1. Tap Display & Brightness
  2. Tap Wake on Wrist Raise and enable it

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Step 3: Watch Face Setup

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Advanced Feature 3: Start watch recording on Apple Watch Ultra via the Action button

*This feature is only supported on Apple Watch Ultra.

Step 1: Add a Shortcut
  1. Tap here to add the shortcut
  2. Once added, you’ll see the shortcut shown in the images below.

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Step 2: Set up the Shortcut
  1. On your iPhone, open the Watch app and go to: Action Button - Choose Action - Shortcut
  2. On the Action Button screen, set the shortcut and select: Open ideaShell on Watch

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Step 3: Enable Auto Record on Launch (on Watch)
  1. On your watch, open ideaShell, swipe up on the home screen to find the settings entry, then tap: Settings - Enable Auto Record on Launch

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What to do if the first sync fails?

If the first sync does not succeed, try these two methods:

  1. On the watch’s list page, swipe right on a recording to reveal a green button; tap it to resend to your phone
  2. Record another note to see if it syncs

Once successful, subsequent syncs will happen automatically.

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