Set on Apple Watch
The watch app is included with Set, not a separate purchase. It shows today’s plan on your wrist and works whether or not your iPhone is with you, because it syncs through iCloud on its own rather than relying on a connection to your phone.
When your iPhone is nearby, the two go one better: changes travel directly between them in about a second, in both directions. Star, rename, reschedule or reorder on either device and the other follows almost immediately, with iCloud carrying the same changes underneath as the durable record. Out of range, everything still works and catches up the moment the devices see each other again.
Today on your wrist
Your timeline appears in order, with priority colours, the next task highlighted, and your finish time under the list. Overdue start times show in red, exactly as they do on iPhone.
- Tap a task to complete it. You get haptic feedback, and the completion counts towards your stats and streaks like any other. Finished tasks drop into a Done section.
- Drag to reorder: press and hold a task, then drag it to a new slot. Every start time follows the new order, locked tasks keep their slots, and the change shows on your iPhone straight away.
- Reschedule rebuilds the rest of your day from now, chirp and all, the same as the button on iPhone. Locked tasks keep their slots.
- Tap a duration in a task’s detail to change it, and the rest of the day’s times move with it.
Breaks on the wrist
Breaks are first-class on the watch, wearing your chosen break colour:
- Add one by holding the + button. Slots appear between your tasks; tap one and a break lands exactly there, timed into your day.
- Tap a break to change its length or remove it. The day’s times follow either change.
- Drag breaks to move them, just like tasks.
- Start a break’s timer with the play button on its row, and complete it from the timer page. Completed breaks count in your stats.
Break minutes are part of your finish time, so the wrist’s “done by” agrees with your iPhone’s on days that have them.
Calendar events
Today’s calendar events appear on the wrist alongside your tasks, slotted into the timeline at their real times, in quieter styling with a calendar glyph. They are read-only here: no completion circle, no editing.
The watch reads your calendar itself rather than waiting for your iPhone to pass the events across, so they are there even when your phone is switched off or out of range. The first time you open Today on the watch it will ask for calendar access. Decline and the list works exactly as before, just without events.
Events Set created for your own tasks are shown as the task, not twice.
The timer
The Timer page is one big, readable time with the small progress ring above it, matching your elapsed-or-remaining preference from iPhone. Past your estimate the time turns red.
- Tap the time to swap the buttons between run controls (play, complete, stop) and skip controls (previous, play, next), which step through your tasks and breaks.
- Long press the time to flip between elapsed and remaining, on the watch and your iPhone together.
- Long press play (or the previous button) to reset the current task’s time, just like on iPhone.
With your iPhone in range, the page mirrors whatever is running there, and completing from the watch runs the same completion your iPhone would, so the real timer minutes land in the task and in your stats.
Without your iPhone, the timer still works. Start one from a task or a break on the watch and the wrist runs it itself: pause, resume, reset, complete, and a notification when time is up. When your iPhone comes back into range, it takes the session over at the right elapsed time, seamlessly. The only controls that wait for the phone are skipping between tasks on a session the phone is running.
Complications
Two complications, each in rectangular, inline and circular sizes:
- Next Task: what is next, when it starts, how many are left, and when the day finishes
- Stats: completed today, completed this week, and your current streak
Tap one and it opens the right page rather than wherever the app happened to be last: Next Task lands on Today, Stats lands on Stats.
Your calendar events are included, so the next thing shown really is the next thing, whether it is a task or a meeting. The complication refreshes in the background too, so the face is current in the morning without opening the app, and in the Smart Stack both cards wear the colour of your next task.
The running timer also appears in the watch Smart Stack as its own card. Tap it and the watch app opens on the timer, or on Today if the timer has since finished.
Adding tasks by voice
Tap the + and dictate. The task joins the end of today’s plan. Say a duration in the sentence, like “email Sam 15m”, and Set reads it out of the text. You can also say “Add a Set task” to Siri, on the watch or on your iPhone. See Siri and Shortcuts for more.
On the free plan, once today is full the task is still saved, into your Inbox rather than today, and the watch tells you so.
Stats
Swipe left from Today for proof you showed up: today’s count, the last four weeks as an activity grid in the same intensity colours as the iPhone’s calendar, this week’s total and your streak. Once you have taken a break today, a breaks count appears too.
What the watch does not do
The watch is built for running your day, not for setting it up. Projects, stages, notes, settings and sync configuration all live on iPhone, iPad and Mac. If something is missing from the wrist, that is where to look for it.