Making Dictation Input the Default Option in an Apple Watch Shortcut
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Making Dictation Input the Default Option in an Apple Watch Shortcut
I’ve already started working on updates to S-GPT, the shortcut for ChatGPT I released earlier this week on MacStories. Among the (many) features I wasn’t able to add in time for version 1.0, there is one that is surprisingly tricky to figure out in Shortcuts, and which deserves a mention here: how to ensure that text input for a shortcut running on the Apple Watch defaults to voice input rather than keyboard.
I’m not sure when Apple made this change but, at some point over the past two years, the company changed the Apple Watch’s text input method from dictation to keyboard (previously, it was scribble), with the ability to optionally toggle dictation mode – just like on iOS. At the very least, that’s how my Apple Watch Ultra works in watchOS 9: when I have to enter some text, it defaults to the QWERTY keyboard and I have to press a microphone button if I want to dictate text instead. Personally, I find this behavior a regression since, most of the time, if I’m entering some text on the Apple Watch, I’m likely in a hurry and prefer the speed and efficiency of voice input rather than typing on a small keyboard.