Apple Watch Control Center May Support Third-Party App Shortcuts in watchOS 26

Apple's upcoming watchOS 26 update could introduce support for third-party shortcuts in Control Center, according to a report from 9to5Mac. This would allow settings from third-party apps to be accessed right alongside Apple's own Control Center options.

watchOS 26 Mock Feature
Right now, the Control Center on Apple Watch (accessed by pressing the Side button) is limited to Apple's built-in shortcuts for doing things like toggling on Wi-Fi, turning on Airplane mode, activating Do Not Disturb, and pinging the iPhone, but watchOS 26 could bring some of the same customizations that Apple added to the ‌iPhone‌ in iOS 18.

‌iOS 18‌ introduced a customizable Control Center that supports third-party shortcuts on the ‌iPhone‌, so it makes sense that the feature might also expand to the Apple Watch. Shortcuts could be useful for activating specialized workouts in third-party apps, launching streaming music apps, logging food and water intake, and more.

The Apple Watch Control Center could get new options for customizing the layout through the Apple Watch app, with Apple allowing users to add new shortcuts and remove those that aren't necessary.

watchOS 26 is set to debut at the Worldwide Developers Conference, which begins with a keynote event on Monday, June 9.

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Top Rated Comments

jimscard Avatar
4 days ago at 03:47 pm
The activities mentioned in the article are not appropriate for the control center, as they’re not controls. Things like media playback, logging water intake, setting workouts, etc. are what Live Activities are for.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tomtad Avatar
4 days ago at 03:40 pm
Can they please just put god damn media playback controls in there
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jz0309 Avatar
4 days ago at 05:17 pm


...and the ability hide apps I'm not using. I don't like scrolling for ever and wver to get to the workout app.
if you use the "grid view" for the apps, you can customize that and move most used apps to the 1st screen ...
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
svish Avatar
4 days ago at 08:15 pm
Should be a very useful change. Hoping to see this along with new watch faces with this year's update.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
alfonsog Avatar
4 days ago at 10:52 pm
Who else remembers when the side button brought up a watch contact screen. Except I was the only person with a watch back then.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jimscard Avatar
4 days ago at 03:48 pm

Can they please just put god damn media playback controls in there
Why? That’s not where media playback / any activity interacting with an app belong. Playback controls are in the Live Activity that automatically appears…
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)