Getting started with Slopes on Apple Watch

Getting Set Up

To start using Slopes on your Apple Watch, make sure that you have the Slopes iOS app installed on your iPhone. Apps on your iPhone that have a companion Apple Watch app are usually automatically installed and appear on the Watch's home screen.

However, if you don't see Slopes on your Watch, you can install it manually by taking these steps:

Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone
Scroll down to Available Apps
Tap on Install next to Slopes

If you don't see Slopes in the list of available apps, try rebooting your phone, or deleting the Slopes iOS app and reinstalling it from the App Store entirely. One of these actions should usually make it show up.

The Slopes Apple Watch app requires watchOS 8 or later.

Starting a Recording

There's two ways to start a recording, either via the iPhone, or directly on the Apple Watch.

And, no matter what device you start from, there's no need to select the resort you're at. As long as you have cell reception when you start recording, Slopes will detect the resort and tag it in the activity.

Starting a recording via iPhone

If you have an Apple Watch with Slopes installed, when you start an activity via the iOS app's recording screen Slopes will automatically start recording on Apple Watch. You'll then be able to control recording from the iPhone app, such as pausing for breaks, managing location sharing, and checking out your live stats.

If you'd prefer to turn the automatic start on Apple Watch feature off, go to the Account tab → General → Toggle off Always Use Watch to Record

Starting a recording directly on Apple Watch

Open Slopes on your Apple Watch which will take you right to the recording screen. From here, just tap on your sport to start recording. If your sport isn't one of the three that show up on the recording screen, tap on More Activities to find it.

If you start recording directly on the Watch, you'll also be able to control recording via the iPhone app as if you had started it there.

During Recording

On iPhone

Head over to the Record tab on the iPhone app to manage recording, see where your friends are, check out your live stats and more.

On Apple Watch

To view your stats so far, open the Watch app and swipe to the left across the screen. From here you can turn the digital crown to expand on any one of those stats.

For example, see your current elevation and tallest run when checking vertical, your heart rate zone and max BPM when checking heart rate, or a mini-timeline breakdown of lifts vs runs when checking time.

Swipe left again to manage location sharing, or to the right to get to the recording screen to pause, resume, end, and enable Water Lock.

Viewing Your Recording

The recording should transfer over to your iPhone pretty quickly after you end it, and you can then look back on your day via the Logbook.

Occasionally there can be a short delay as the iPhone and/or Apple Watch can slow down transfers if your devices aren't on WiFi, or if they want to save battery after a long day of usage.

If you've been waiting a while and the recording still hasn't transferred over, check out these troubleshooting tips.

Watch App Settings

To get to the Slopes Watch app settings, make sure that you're on the main screen (where you would start recording) and scroll down a bit. Tap on Settings, and from here you can:

Log into your Slopes account if you need to (though if you're logged into Slopes on your iPhone you should be logged into the Watch automatically)
Set your preferred measurement units
Enable Smart Reminders on the Watch
Allow notifications for when a friend starts recording nearby
Set a resort for the Slopes Apple Watch complication
Enable automatic Water Lock when a recording starts
Turn on auto-pause which is a setting that pauses GPS while on lifts. This is intended to save a bit of battery, but it means that your recordings will be missing lift data.

A Few Tips

There's a few things that we'd recommend for getting the most out of recording with Slopes on Apple Watch.

As an Apple Watch user you probably want to keep tabs on your Fitness stats, so make sure that you allow Slopes to read and write Health data so it can contribute to your rings. You should have been prompted to allow permissions during set-up, or you can do this manually via the Health app → Profile in the top right hand corner → Apps → Slopes.
If you're using a Series 7 or earlier, we recommend keeping your iPhone with you when recording with your Apple Watch to improve battery life and GPS accuracy. You can read more about that here.
Enabling Water Lock is a good idea to stop gear or snow hitting your screen and stopping or pausing the recording by accident.