Hi all,
I have an Apple Watch Series 10 but am increasingly frustrated with it when trying to record outdoor runs. So I'm wondering if the Apple Watch Ultra, with its action button, might help.
When I'm at Parkrun or at a race, and so amongst a crowd at the start waiting for the 'Go', it is very difficult to use the touch screen with VoiceOver to start the outdoor run workout. To get around this, what I've tried doing is to start the run in advance and immediately pause it by pressing the digital crown and the side button together. However there are some issues with this:
1. Afterwards, it displays two times, the overall workout time which includes when it was paused, and the active running time. Not the end of the world but not ideal when reviewing stats either.
2. It doesn't work reliably. I keep finding that it didn't pause or resume when I tht I had pressed the buttons, or something else has gone wrong.
So, if I had the Ultra, with an action button, can I set the button to simply start and end an outdoor run workout?
Alternatively, can anyone recommend any other watches or fitness bands that are accessible and will sync with the likes of Apple Fitness and Strava?
Cheers,
Dave
By Dave Nason, 14 February, 2026
Forum
watchOS and Apple Watch Apps
Comments
Apple Watch Ultra action button might help
I changed the action button on my watch to activate the voice recorder, and pressing it makes the watch start recording immediately. I would hope that a workout would behave the same way. I used to have mine set up for workouts when I first got the watch, but for my needs, immediate access to voice recorder is a lot more important. I hope others will be able to answer your question more accurately with actual workout info.
@Missy Hoppe
Thanks for that. Can I ask; does the button also stop the voice recording, or just start it?
Action button
Dave,
This is one of the reasons I own an apple watch altra. I have mine to open the work out app on first press, double tapping starts an in door walk. Very handy.
To stop the workout, is a bit more of a problem.
@Geo
Thanks Geo. sad though if you have to open the Workouts app first. I was rather hoping you could just start the chosen workout using the action button, even from the watch face; maybe even start it with a single press and end it with a double press if separate actions were needed.
But still, this might be a viable option for me.
Cheers,
Dave
Dave Nason
Siri? Did you ask her to start it? Thought you could. Long live cats and down with apple.
Customizations
I too have my Action Button set to start a Voice Memo recording, but it can be configured to enable other actions and even switch between actions by long-pressing. Shortcuts may be another option, as the Action Button can also be used to activate them. Since the Start Workout and Stop Workout are available from the Fitness app on iOS, it might be possible to create a script to toggle between these two actions that can be assigned to the Action Button on Apple Watch, but I am not entirely sure exactly what is and is not possible to do with Shortcuts on Apple Watch since not all shortcuts are compatible with it and Shortcuts is a feature that I only use very lightly and sporadically (on macOS I use AppleScript directly when I need that kind of automation).
Personally I agree with Holger Fiallo here, in that this is one situation in which just asking Siri gets the job done, as I confirmed completely by accident while searching fork a Workout app on iOS which is in fact called Fitness.
Siri
Thanks Holger and João. I don't think Siri is the answer here for me though. I don't fancy trying to get Siri to do what I want as I stand in a crowd of 250 people waiting for someone to shout "Go". I'm really after a tactile button press.
Perhaps the Shortcuts route.
Dave