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.

Popular Stories

iCloud General Feature Redux

iPhone Users Who Pay for iCloud Storage Received a New Perk This Year

Sunday June 1, 2025 9:26 am PDT by
If you pay for iCloud storage on your iPhone, Apple introduced an additional perk for you this year, at no additional cost. The perk is the ability to create invitations in the Apple Invites app for the iPhone, which was released in the App Store in February. In the Apple Invites app, iCloud+ subscribers can create invitations for any occasion, such as birthday parties, graduations, baby...
carplay hero dashboard

iOS 26 to Upgrade CarPlay in Two Ways

Wednesday June 4, 2025 6:24 am PDT by
While the spotlight has been on CarPlay Ultra lately, the regular version of CarPlay is set to receive some enhancements alongside iOS 26. Apple will announce iOS 26 at WWDC 2025 next week, and the software update is expected to upgrade the CarPlay experience in at least two ways. The first iOS 26 beta should be seeded to developers shortly after Apple's keynote, and the update will...
iOS 18

What to Expect From iOS 18.6 as One of the Final Updates Before iOS 26

Monday June 2, 2025 12:33 pm PDT by
It has been three weeks as of today since Apple released iOS 18.5, and we are still waiting for the first iOS 18.6 beta to follow. Below, we outline everything we know about iOS 18.6 so far. Timing Apple's software engineers have been internally testing iOS 18.6 since late March, according to the MacRumors visitors logs. The first betas of iOS 13.6 through iOS 16.6 were all released...
iOS 26 Mock Rainbow Feature

iOS 26: All the New Features We Expect

Tuesday June 3, 2025 4:49 pm PDT by
The 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference is coming up quick, with less than a week to go before the big keynote event. We're sharing a series of rumor recaps this week, for those who want to get a sneak peek at some of the features expected in Apple's upcoming software updates. iOS 26 is definitely the OS that we've heard the most about, and rumors suggest that it's going to get a major...
sebastian de with living glass

Ex-Apple Designer Reveals 'Living Glass' iOS 26 Concepts

Wednesday June 4, 2025 4:17 am PDT by
Designer Sebastiaan de With has published an impressive preview of what Apple's rumored iOS redesign might look like, complete with detailed mockups and a design philosophy that he believes could reshape how users interact with their devices. With WWDC just days away, de With – co-founder of photography app maker Lux and former Apple designer – has created what he calls "Living Glass"...
macOS Tahoe Render

WWDC 2025: What to Expect From macOS 26 Tahoe

Monday June 2, 2025 4:17 pm PDT by
WWDC is less than a week away, and as we ramp up to the big announcement, we're going to share details on what we know about each operating system. We're starting with the next-generation version of macOS, which Apple is apparently going to call macOS Tahoe. Name Since the current version of macOS is macOS 15, it would normally be followed by macOS 16, but Apple is changing its naming...
WWDC 2025 Sleek Peek

Apple Shares New 'Sleek Peek' Teaser Ahead of WWDC 2025 Next Week

Monday June 2, 2025 8:22 am PDT by
WWDC 2025 is just one week away, with Apple's opening keynote scheduled to begin on Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. Ahead of the annual developer conference, Apple updated its WWDC page today with a new "Sleek peek" tagline, which replaces the original "On the horizon" tagline that it used over the past few weeks. The graphic for WWDC 2025 has also been updated. It is now a...
iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air ProMotion Rumors Disputed by Leaker

Tuesday June 3, 2025 3:16 am PDT by
A Chinese leaker with a mixed track record for accurate predictions has today disputed claims that the regular iPhone 17 and all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air will feature ProMotion displays. ProMotion has been limited to the Pro models since it debuted on the iPhone 13 Pro and the iPhone 13 Pro Max in 2021, but several sources have suggested that Apple will this year fit the 120Hz variable...

Top Rated Comments

jimscard Avatar
18 hours 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)
jz0309 Avatar
16 hours 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
13 hours 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
11 hours 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
18 hours 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)
eveluvsrainbows Avatar
17 hours ago at 04:39 pm

seems to be getting convoluted if true ...
Respectfully, how is that convoluted? I would think that it's a good thing for the Control Center on watchOS to support third-party controls like on iOS. watchOS in the past 10 years seemingly hasn't been very enticing for developers to develop for, hence the lessening support of the platform even by big companies like Meta, and even apps that are supported by watchOS aren't very capable or appealing to use. Adding more capabilities that developers can take advantage of is a good thing, as additional capabilities and customization is always a plus.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)