Where this stands
KeptNote for iPhone and Apple Watch is coming to the App Store. It is not there yet. This article describes how recording on the watch works.
When the watch records
The watch records by itself in two cases. Your iPhone is out of reach when you press Record. Or you chose This watch under Record on in the watch’s Settings, which makes it record on the watch every time.
The label beside the clock on the Ready screen tells you which: iPhone or Watch. The watch records the room with its own microphone. It cannot record phone calls.
Start, discard and stop
Press Record. The first time, watchOS asks for the microphone. Allow it. After that, a press of Record starts at once. There is no question first. A soft chime and a tap on your wrist tell you it has started. The chime plays before the microphone starts, so it is not in your recording. You can turn it off with Start chime in the watch’s Settings.
You can also start with one touch: the Action button on Apple Watch Ultra, the KeptNote control, or Double Tap on the Ready screen. Because one touch is easy to do by mistake, the watch then shows Discard in the place of Mark for the first 10 seconds. Press it to throw away everything recorded so far. After 10 seconds Mark takes its place. A start with the Record button does not show Discard.
Turn the Digital Crown for the second page with Pause or Resume, and Stop. Stop asks Stop and write the note? first. If a call or Siri interrupts the recording, the watch says Paused by a call and offers Resume.
A recording on the iPhone cannot be discarded from the wrist. It may already hold other people’s words. The iPhone has its own delete, with a Recently deleted list.
How the audio gets to your iPhone
The watch saves its recording in short pieces of 30 seconds each, so a stop or a crash loses almost nothing. When you stop, the watch shows Kept., then Sending to your iPhone with a line that fills as the pieces go, then On your iPhone.
- The pieces travel over the link Apple provides between your paired watch and iPhone. KeptNote on the watch makes no internet request of its own.
- Each piece is checked on arrival. A damaged piece is asked for again.
- The watch keeps its copy until the iPhone has written the meeting and checked it. Only then does the watch delete its audio.
- The iPhone joins the pieces into one meeting, transcribes it, and writes the note, the same as for a recording made on the phone. On Home, a row says From your watch, sending 3 of 12, and then From your watch, writing the meeting.
When the iPhone is away
The watch keeps recording and keeps the pieces. It sends them when the iPhone is back in reach. Ready shows 2 still sending while recordings wait. The row on the iPhone says Keep your watch near your iPhone.
If some pieces never arrive, the iPhone offers Make a note from what arrived? It explains: Anything that did not arrive is silent in the recording. If the rest arrives later, it becomes its own meeting. Press Make the note to go ahead.
Limits
- A watch recording can run up to 4 hours. A gentle line appears at 3 hours 45 minutes.
- The watch needs room to record. If it is too full it says This watch is too full to record. Free some space and try again. If it fills during a recording, it stops and keeps everything so far.
- The watch stops cleanly when the battery is almost empty, and says The battery is almost empty. Everything so far is kept.