Installation

RequirementsCopy Anchor Link

• Expo SDK 57 or later (React Native 0.86+)
• iOS 16.4 or later
• A companion watchOS app to talk to

The library is iOS only. On other platforms, its methods fail with ERR_UNSUPPORTED_PLATFORM and watchActivationState is "unknown".

InstallationCopy Anchor Link

npm install rn-watch-connect

The library has native code, so rebuild the native app after installing or upgrading it, for example with npx expo run:ios or a new development build. A JS reload isn't enough, and it doesn't run in Expo Go.

Quick startCopy Anchor Link

Send a Message when the Watch is reachable, and listen for Messages from it:

import { useEventListener } from "expo";
import RnWatchConnect from "rn-watch-connect";

export function WatchPing() {
  useEventListener(RnWatchConnect, "onMessageReceived", (message) => {
    console.log("From the Watch:", message);
  });

  async function ping() {
    if (!RnWatchConnect.isWatchReachable) return;
    const reply = await RnWatchConnect.sendMessage({ ping: Date.now() });
    console.log("Reply:", reply);
  }

  return null; // Call ping() from a button.
}

When something fails, the error has a stable code, such as ERR_WATCH_NOT_REACHABLE. Match on it, never on message. See Error codes.