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Your Apple Watch Has a Simple Yet Useful Feature You Probably Didn’t Know About

It’s off by default. But that can change with a quick adjustment in Settings.

Apple Watch screenshotsPhoto by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

By Tucker Bowe

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You likely take screenshots on your iPhone and Mac all the time. It’s a quick and dirty way to document things like emails, error messages or photos. That way, you can reference them later or use them to help someone — or them help you — resolve an issue.

You probably don’t take as many screenshots on your Apple Watch — or maybe you didn’t know you could. But you can, and, like on other devices, taking screenshots on your Apple Watch is an easy way to capture notifications, workout information, or just the look of specific watch faces.

There is a catch, however. While taking a screenshot on your Apple Watch requires you to press down a combo of buttons, similar to taking a screenshot on iPhone or Mac, it’s actually turned off by default. So you have to turn the feature on to enable it.

Apple Watch screenshots
Apple Watch screenshots are off by default. So you’ll have to turn the feature on.
Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

How to take screenshots on Apple Watch

Turning on Apple Watch screenshots is easy — it just takes a quick settings change and can be done on your iPhone via the Watch app or directly on your Apple Watch.

On your iPhone:

  1. Open the Watch app on your iPhone.
  2. In the My Watch tab, select General.
  3. Scroll down and toggle on Enable Screenshots.

On your Apple Watch:

  1. Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch.
  2. Select General.
  3. Scroll down and select Screenshots.
  4. Toggle on Enable Screenshots.

Once turned on, you can take a screenshot on your Apple Watch by pressing the Digital Crown and the side button simultaneously. Admittedly, it’s a bit awkward finger placement, but it’s easy.

Apple Watch screenshots
Taking a screenshot on your Apple Watch requires you to press the Digital Crown and side button simultaneously.
Apple

Once the screenshot is taken, the screen will flash similarly to how it does when taken on an iPhone or Mac, and it’ll be sent to your iPhone’s Photos app. To see it, open the app, select the Albums tab, and then tap Screenshots.

Try it out. If you find that you’re taking too many unwanted screenshots, you turn it off by following the above steps and toggling off Enable Screenshots.

For additional information, check out Apple’s Support page.

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