Creating Apple Notes on an Apple Watch

Issue #55

Problem:

While it’s easy to create notes using Apple Notes on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac if you say: “Hey Siri, take a Note”, trying to do the same thing on your Apple Watch will get you this response:

You will get the same response if you try to create a Shortcut running on an Apple Watch to create an Apple Note.

While there are currently several Apple Watch “note-taker” apps, they all require an iPhone app with a storage location other than Apple Notes. It would be handy to have all notes stored in the Apple Notes app.

Solution:

While a Shortcut running on an Apple Watch can’t create an Apple Note, it can create an Apple Reminder. You then create a second Shortcut to run on your iPhone to copy that Reminder into an Apple Note.

The iPhone shortcut can be triggered when you open Apple Notes using a Personal Automation. This Shortcut also contains logic that ensures that once the Apple Note has been created, it won’t be created again the next time you open Apple Notes. This Shortcut can do some housekeeping by deleting the Apple Reminder after creating the Apple Note.

Note: Be sure you have the Apple Reminders app installed

Here is a YouTube video of it in action:

Setup Steps:

· Be sure Siri is enabled on your Watch.

· Open the Watch app on your iPhone

· Tap “Siri”

· Tap “Listen for” and make your choice

· Tap on the Apple Reminders app and complete setup if you haven’t previously used it

Here are two options for completing the setup:

Option 1: If you feel comfortable with Apple Shortcuts

· Create a “Watch Notes” List in the Reminders App on your iPhone.

o Open the Reminders app

§ Under My Lists, Create a “Watch Notes” list

· The Shortcuts require this specific list name

o Set it to the Default List

§ Settings-> Reminders (Apps first, if iOS 18 or greater)-> Default List = “Watch Notes”

You can use these two samples to create the needed shortcuts.

If you need some information on creating Apple Shortcuts see: Article #28 “How to Create Simple Apple Shortcuts for Your Elderly Parent’s iPhone or iPad”

· Take a Note Shortcut: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/4ad3e83428c1417d95f12b125daef976

· Add to Notes Shortcut: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/ca3e4f5a27af4a1893a5e6df97ceadde

· Create this Personal Automation

o Apple doesn’t allow the creation of Personal Automation samples

Option 2: If you prefer to use an app to create the Apple shortcuts

You can use my free app “WatchNotesOnPhone” to create the two Shortcuts. Beta testers will receive an email from Apple Test Flight

· Tap “Open Settings”

· Follow these on-screen instructions to create the Shortcuts

Note: When you see the following popup during the “1: Create Reminders List” step, be sure to complete all the following steps

You will also need to approve these actions.

· Manually create this Personal Automation- Click here if you need help with creating a Personal Automation

o Apple doesn’t allow the creation Personal Automation samples

Testing:

The first time you say to your watch, “Hey Siri, take a watch note”, you will have to approve certain actions

After you take a note on your watch, it will first appear in your Apple Reminders. If you need to troubleshoot, you can look in Apple Reminders under the “Watch Notes” List to see that your note first appears there and then gets transferred to Apple Notes when you view Apple Notes.

Note: If Siri has trouble understanding your “Hey Siri, take a Watch Note” command, you can try renaming that Shortcut to something like “Take a memo”.