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watchOS 27.2 Code Hints at iPhone-Style Screenshot Previews

watchOS 27.2 could introduce a feature that lets Apple Watch screenshots be previewed with options to share or delete, similar to how screenshots work on the iPhone.

watchos 27 2 screenshot
Signs of the feature were found in watchOS 27.2 by code explorer pdfu. The option is hidden behind a feature flag that's not enabled, but it could be introduced in a later watchOS 27.2 beta.


Right now, taking a screenshot on the Apple Watch sends it directly to the iPhone Photos app with no confirmation screen. It's easy to accidentally take a screenshot since it only requires pressing the Digital Crown and side button at the same time.

On the iPhone, taking a screenshot shows either a full-screen preview or a thumbnail preview depending on your settings, but both options let you save, share, or delete the screenshot with a couple taps.

Screenshots on Apple Watch are disabled by default but can be turned on through the Settings app on the watch or the Apple Watch app on iPhone. An option to save or delete screenshots would add more control than a simple on or off toggle.

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Top Rated Comments

mattkally Avatar
1 week ago
Useless.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
awshucks Avatar
1 week ago
I have the screenshot feature turned off anyways. They’re not really useful on my watch.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rychiar Avatar
1 week ago
I've never taken a screenshot of my watch that wasn't accidental....
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
fj_doebz Avatar
1 week ago
Hell no. What a stupid feature. It’s not “easy to accidentally take a screen shot” as you describe. No one accidentally presses both side buttons at once. This just adds an extra step to an already awkward process. Apple clearly doesn’t believe in “if it ain’t broke…”
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Radeon85 Avatar
1 week ago

I wish Apple would do a pass on watchOS design to remove all of the scrolls required to reach buttons. So much scrolling in the OS, it drives me bananas. I feel like they could get more creative.
It used to be so much better with 3D Touch until they made the stupid decision to remove it. Instead of scrolling to reach the "clear all" button, I could tap on the screen anywhere in the list and tap clear. So many other things were quicker with it.

They need to bring this back to the watch and the iPhone.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarlJ Avatar
1 week ago

Hell no. What a stupid feature. It’s not “easy to accidentally take a screen shot” as you describe. No one accidentally presses both side buttons at once. This just adds an extra step to an already awkward process.
Sure they do. I have screenshots turned on, on my Watch, because I want to take them occasionally, and I get accidental screenshots from time to time.

Totally agreed though on the extra steps. The "automatic full screen preview of screenshots" is one of the first things I turn off on iPhone and iPad - frequently I want a screenshot of something that's happening in real time (like layout of pieces in a real-time game), and I DO NOT WANT the screen taken over by the "here's your new screenshot, what would you like to do with it" "feature" - great, now you pulled me out of the game for 5 seconds and I lost the round - I wanted that screenshot to look at LATER, not now.

It's already infuriating that if I take a screenshot on the Watch of my current stats in the fitness app while exercising, it "helpfully" pauses the workout. 🤬 I've had once or twice where I'll exercise for 30 minutes and find that the last 15 minutes wasn't recorded, because I took a screenshot and the app decided to pause the workout for some ****ing reason. I don't want any extra "help" from Apple with screenshots on the Watch. There better be a way to turn this off.

ETA: going on a clue from elsewhere in this thread, I worked out that pausing the workout is an intentional overloading of this combination press by Apple. Fortunately, in Settings > Workout it's possible to switch off what they call "Press to Pause".

(Related, when they added the buttons for asking AI about the screenshot, to the full-screen screenshot UI, they seem to have removed the button for OCR - you can still select and copy text from a screenshot, but it tries much less hard when not in OCR mode, so it doesn't always work now. I've been in the habit for a while now, of if an app puts text on the screen I want to copy, and it doesn't make it selectable, I'll hit screenshot, tap the thumbnail to go fullscreen, then select and copy the text from there, and dismiss the fullscreen UI with "X" so it doesn't add the screenshot to my photo library.)
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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