The Apple Watch remote
Your Apple Watch is a remote for ShowRecorder on your iPhone. From your wrist you can start a Take, add Markers and stop. You see whether the iPhone is Ready or recording, and for how long.
The watch records nothing itself. The audio stays on the iPhone.
The watch remote is part of Free. See Pricing.
What you need
- An iPhone running ShowRecorder. The watch remote works with the iPhone, not the iPad.
- An Apple Watch paired with that iPhone, on watchOS 26 or later.
- ShowRecorder on the watch. It comes with the iPhone app. If it isn't on your watch, install it from the Watch app on your iPhone.
What the watch shows
- Ready: the iPhone is Ready to record.
- Not Ready: the iPhone isn't Ready, so the watch can't start a Take.
- Recording: the time since the Take started, the Take's name and how many Markers it has.
If something needs attention on the iPhone, the watch shows it in orange and taps your wrist. For example: iPhone low on space, A Copy stopped or Mixer Link lost.
Start a Take
When the watch shows Ready, tap Record once.
It starts the Take the same way the Record button on the iPhone does, with the same Pro and Trial rules.
If the watch shows Not Ready and Open ShowRecorder on your iPhone, open the app on the iPhone and make sure it's Ready. The iPhone can't start recording from the background, so it has to be Ready first.
Add a Marker
While a Take runs, tap the big yellow Marker button.
On a watch with double tap, you can also double tap your index finger and thumb to add a Marker.
Your wrist gets a light tap when the Marker is in. On Free, a Take holds up to 3 Markers. After that, the watch says 3 per Take on Free. See Markers and Pre-roll.
Stop a Take
Press and hold the red stop button for about 1 second, until the ring around it fills. Then the Take stops.
A tap does nothing, on purpose. A stray tap in the middle of a song should never end a Take. If you let go before the ring fills, the Take keeps going.
The iPhone doesn't ask again. The hold is your confirmation.
With VoiceOver, select Stop and double-tap to stop the Take.
When a command doesn't go through
- Sending…: the watch is waiting for the iPhone to answer.
- Not confirmed: check the iPhone: no answer came back. The command may or may not have worked, so look at the iPhone.
- Too late: the link dropped: the command reached the iPhone too late, so the iPhone didn't run it. A tap from before a dropout never lands minutes later.
- Anything else is the iPhone's reason it didn't run the command, such as Not recording.
No link
If the watch has nothing from the iPhone yet, it shows Connecting… for a few seconds while it reaches the iPhone.
No link to iPhone means the watch can't reach the iPhone right now. It also says The recording on the iPhone carries on. A lost link never stops a Take.
If the watch heard from the iPhone before the link dropped, it shows that last status instead, dimmed. A No link line under it says how old that status is. The buttons are off until the link is back, so you never act on a status that may have changed.