Watch settings

The exact keys the phone hands to the watch app, and the AppleWatchDevice properties they come from.

When the watch app calls AWWCSessionManager.shared.applyiPhoneSettings, the phone answers with the dictionary below. Every value comes from the AppleWatchDevice in the deployed study protocol, produced by AppleWatchDevice.toWatchSettings().

Use this page when you write your own watch app, extend the example watch app, or debug why a setting did not take effect.

Settings dictionary

Key	Type	Applied automatically by AWARE	From `AppleWatchDevice`
`label`	String	✓ `sensor.set(label:)`	`label`
`db_host`	String	✓ `dbEngine.config.host`	`awareServerUrl`
`debug`	Bool	✓ `syncConfig.debug`	`enableNativeLogging`
`motion_sensor_hz`	Int	—	`motionSamplingRate`
`watch_motion_enabled`	Bool	—	`motionEnabled`
`watch_motion_accelerometer_enabled`	Bool	—	`accelerometerEnabled`
`watch_motion_device_motion_enabled`	Bool	—	`deviceMotionEnabled`
`watch_battery_enabled`	Bool	—	`batteryEnabled`
`watch_device_enabled`	Bool	—	`deviceInfoEnabled`
`watch_healthkit_enabled`	Bool	—	`heartRateEnabled`
`watch_location_enabled`	Bool	—	`locationEnabled`
`watch_heading_enabled`	Bool	—	`headingEnabled`
`watch_bluetooth_enabled`	Bool	—	`bluetoothEnabled`
`watch_audio_enabled`	Bool	—	`audioEnabled`
`watch_audio_ambient_noise_enabled`	Bool	—	`ambientNoiseEnabled`
`watch_audio_classification_enabled`	Bool	—	`audioClassificationEnabled`
`watch_audio_duty_cycle_enabled`	Bool	—	`audioDutyCycleEnabled`
`watch_audio_active_duration`	Double (seconds)	—	`audioActiveDuration`
`watch_audio_rest_duration`	Double (seconds)	—	`audioRestDuration`
`file_transfer_interval_seconds`	Double (seconds)	—	`fileTransferInterval`
`watch_background_session_type`	String	—	`backgroundSessionType`
`watch_transfer_mode`	String	—	`transferMode`
`watch_delete_after_transfer`	Bool	—	`deleteAfterTransfer`

Applied automatically by AWARE means the framework applies the value to every registered sensor on its own. The watch app has to read and apply everything else, because only the watch app knows which sensors exist. That is what apply(settings:) does in the example controller.

Note

The last two keys, watch_transfer_mode and watch_delete_after_transfer, are added by carp_aware_package. The plain AWARE framework does not know about them, so they are forwarded to the watch verbatim.

Phone-side only

One setting never reaches the watch:

Key	From `AppleWatchDevice`	Effect
`save_to_local_aware_database`	`saveToLocalAwareDatabase`	Whether the phone also writes received records into its own AWARE database

Adding a setting of your own

A custom setting takes two small changes, one on each side:

Send it from Dart
Add the key to AppleWatchDevice.toWatchSettings(). Keys the native AppleWatchSensor.Config does not recognize are forwarded to the watch unchanged, so no native change is needed on the phone.
Read it on the watch
Pick it up in apply(settings:) in your watch controller and apply it to the sensor configuration it belongs to.
if let threshold = settings["my_custom_threshold"] as? Double { mySensor.CONFIG.threshold = threshold }

When settings take effect

Settings are pulled by the watch, not pushed to it. The watch app requests them:

on startup;
whenever it calls applyiPhoneSettings(), for example from the Reload settings button in the example app.

After applying them, the controller restarts the sensors, so a changed configuration takes effect as soon as it has been fetched. A protocol update therefore reaches the watch within one watch-app launch, not instantly.

Settings dictionary

Phone-side only

Adding a setting of your own

Send it from Dart

Read it on the watch

When settings take effect