It’s no surprise that Apple Watch can’t capture screenshots on its own. You need iPhone to do that. But if your Apple Watch is not taking or saving screenshots, you have come to the right place. In this post, you will know how to fix the Apple Watch screenshot not working. Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
1. Turn on Screenshots on Apple Watch
To take screenshots on Apple Watch, you must first enable the screenshot feature in settings. So if you are unable to take screenshots on Watch, ensure that the screenshot setting is enabled as shown below:
1. Open Settings on your Apple Watch.
2. Go to General followed by Screenshots.
3. Turn on the toggle next to Enable screenshots. If it’s already on, turn it off and then turn it on again.
Note: You can enable the screenshot feature from the Apple Watch app on your iPhone as well. Go to Settings > General. Turn on the toggle next to Screenshots.
2. Restart Devices
If the screenshot setting is already enabled, then you must restart your Apple Watch in order to fix the screenshots not working on Apple Watch.
To restart your Apple Watch, you must first turn it off. For that, press and hold the side button on your watch until you see a menu. Tap on the Power icon. Then, drag the Power off slider to the right to turn off the watch. After the watch has turned off, long press the side button again to turn on the watch.
Similarly, you should restart the paired iPhone as well. First, turn off the iPhone and then turn it on.
3. Follow Right Method to Take a Screenshot
To take a screenshot on your Apple Watch, you must press the Digital Crown and the side button at the same time with two fingers. The screen will flash indicating that a screenshot has been captured.
Note: If you use the Workout app, pressing both the Digital Crown and the side button will pause the workout. Press the button again to resume.
4. Look for Screenshots in the Right Place
By default, the screenshots that you take on your Apple Watch will not show on the watch. You must open the Apple Photos app on your iPhone and check for the screenshots in the Library.
Tip: If you want watch screenshots to show on the Apple Watch, open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, and go to Photos. Enable the toggle next to Photo syncing. Scroll down and tap on Sync Album. Select Recents album. Then, open the Photos app on the watch and you will see the screenshots.
5. Check iPhone Storage
Since the screenshots captured from an Apple Watch are stored on your iPhone, it must have some free space to store the screenshots. On your iPhone, go to Settings > General > iPhone storage to check the available storage. If the storage is full and you don’t know what’s taking up the storage, learn how to free up storage on your iPhone.
6. Change Side Button Accessibility Setting
As you know, you need to press both the Digital Crown and the side button at the same time to take a screenshot. Many users report that their Apple Watch only registers the pressing of Digital Crown, which in turn opens the App view. Thus, Apple Watch fails in capturing screenshots.
If you are facing a similar problem, you might have accidentally changed the click speed of the side button to slow or slowest. To restore it to the default behavior, follow these steps:
1. Open the Apple Watch app on your paired iPhone.
2. Go to Accessibility. Scroll down and tap on the Side button click speed.
3. Choose Default from the list.
Note: If you want to keep the side button click speed to slow or slowest, then press the side button first while taking a screenshot followed by pressing the Digital Crown.
7. Update watchOS
If you are still unable to take screenshots on your Apple Watch, it could be due to bugs in the WatchOS. You must update it to the latest version to fix the issue.
On your Apple Watch, go to Settings > General > Software update. Wait for your watch to check for available updates. Install the update, if available.
8. Update iOS
Similar to watchOS, you must check and update your iPhone’s software to the latest version. There are chances that you are unable to take or save screenshots due to a problem in the iOS version.
To update your iPhone’s software, go to Settings > General > Software update on your iPhone. Install the available update. If you are unable to update, learn how to fix iPhone not updating to the latest software.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to edit Apple Watch screenshots?
Open the screenshot in the Apple Photos app on your iPhone. Tap on the Edit button to get the available editing tools. Or, you can use third-party photo editing apps to edit the screenshot.
How to set a picture as a clock face on Apple Watch?
Open the picture in the Photos app on your iPhone. Tap on the Share icon and select Create watch face from the share sheet.
How to stop syncing photos from your iPhone to your Apple Watch?
In the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, go to Photos and turn off Photo syncing to stop iPhone photos from showing on the Apple Watch.
Make the Best Use of Apple Watch
After the screenshot not working issue is sorted on your Apple Watch, you can start using it to its full power. Learn how to get sound notifications on both Apple Watch and iPhone. Also, know how to put multiple pictures on the Apple Watch face.
