Take control with Apple Watch

Use your watch to control everything from soundtracks to your smart home

- CARRIE MARSHALL

REQUIRES Apple Watch, watchOS 8 or later

YOU WILL LEARN How to control devices with your Apple Watch

IT WILL TAKE 10 minutes

THERE’S A SAYING: the best camera is the one you have on you. It’s a similar story for remote controls: the best controller is the one that isn’t somewhere down the back of the couch when you’re trying to change the channel. Your Apple Watch is that controller, and it can do more than control your TV. You can use it to control your Mac, your HomePods, your iPhone camera and your smart home tech too.

Your Watch makes it easy to stream Apple Music to smart speakers located around your home.

Being able to control your various devices with your Apple Watch is a genuinely brilliant thing. It means you can be in the picture when you take a group photo, using your Watch to check that everybody’s in the frame before the photo is taken. It enables you to trigger smart home scenes or control individual smart home devices.

GENIUS TIP

Shortcuts enable you to control all kinds of things via Complications or Siri. You can create your own in the iPhone Shortcuts app.

One of the best things Apple Watch can control is music. Not only can you choose playlists or Apple Music stations, but you can also choose which devices to play them on. With a tap you can switch from AirPods to HomePods, and the music carries on from where you left off — so, if you’re coming home from a run, you can switch to your speakers when you get back home.