Is there any way to re-enable App Shortcuts Siri opt-in on watchOS after it has been declined?

Question

Created 11h

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On watchOS, once the "Turn on [App] shortcuts with Siri?" prompt has been declined for an app, is there a user-facing way to turn it back on?

On iOS I found the per-app Siri toggle, and re-enabling it restored voice invocation immediately. I cannot find any equivalent on watchOS, in the watch Shortcuts app, in watch Settings, or in the paired iPhone's Watch app. If one exists I would appreciate a pointer. If it does not, I would like to know whether that is expected.

What I am seeing

I have an iOS app with a companion watchOS app. Each declares its own AppShortcutsProvider and App Intent. Modern App Intents only, no SiriKit, no Intents extension.

On one Apple Watch, saying the trigger phrase transcribes correctly on screen, then falls through to a generic Maps business search. The intent is never invoked. On that same watch the App Shortcut appears in the watch Shortcuts app and runs correctly when tapped, and Siri is otherwise healthy. The same phrase works on the paired iPhone.

Why I believe the app is fine

On a second iPhone and Apple Watch on a different Apple Account, the phrase spoken to the watch returned my intent's own dialog from perform(). Two control apps also behave correctly, including one with an iOS host plus embedded companion watch app matching my production structure, which prompted and worked on both devices. Reading Metadata.appintents/extract.actionsdata from the built watch app shows the provider registered and all phrase templates well formed.

The state survives deleting the app. I deleted it from both devices, power cycled both, and reinstalled. The iPhone worked immediately without re-prompting. The watch continued to fail without prompting. Both retained their prior opt-in state.

The app's bundle identifiers changed during a rename several months ago. I believe the prompt appeared on the watch then and was dismissed.

Environment

Apple Watch Ultra, watchOS 26.6. iPhone on iOS 18.6. Xcode 26.1.1. Deployment targets iOS 18.6 / watchOS 11.6. Companion watch app, WKRunsIndependentlyOfCompanionApp = NO.

Already ruled out on device, each with a clean install and watch restart:

CFBundleSpokenName, one word and spaced
Watch PRODUCT_NAME / CFBundleName matched to the spoken app name
Removing updateAppShortcutParameters() from the watch App.init()
Adding the com.apple.developer.siri entitlement to the watch target
Phrase collision between phone and watch providers, a watch-only phrase also failed
Siri domain collision on the trigger words, a neutral phrase also failed
Intent identifier collisions between the phone and watch bundles
A brand new, uniquely named intent with canonical syntax and no gating was also ignored

Questions

Is there a user-facing setting on watchOS, or in the paired iPhone's Watch app, to re-enable App Shortcuts for a specific app after the prompt has been declined?
If not, is there any supported recovery short of erasing the watch and setting it up as new? Restoring from backup appears to bring the state back.
Is there any API for an app to detect that its App Shortcuts opt-in is off, so it can show guidance instead of a silently dead feature? INPreferences.siriAuthorizationStatus() is not a valid proxy, it reports authorized on the affected device.

Happy to provide a sysdiagnose with the App Intents logging profile, or either control project.

Answer 1

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

9h

Thanks for the great post. Very interesting, I’m curious of your target is watchOS 26.6. iPhone on iOS 18.6. Xcode 26.1.1. Deployment targets iOS 18.6 / watchOS 11.6? App Intents framework was introduced back in watchOS 9, however there have been many improvements in watchOS 27 as well as iOS 27.

Is there any reason you are targeting those versions?

One comment about your question, the prompt you declined is backed by the system's Transparency, Consent, and Control. While deleting the app theoretically clear this. Let me know if that’s not the case?

You can clear this state without a full device wipe by resetting the TCC on the watch. Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy? The prompt may change depending on the version of watchOS. If is different I believe on the Watch app on iPhone, go to General > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy? This will reset all location and privacy permissions for all apps on the watch.

INPreferences.siriAuthorizationStatus() checks the legacy SiriKit authorization status. Because your app is technically authorized to use Siri in a general sense, it returns .authorized.

Albert  WWDR

Answer 2

PreSwing OP

7h

Thanks Albert, this is helpful.

Two corrections from testing.

Reset Location & Privacy does not appear to exist on watchOS 26.6. On the watch, Settings > General > Reset offers only Erase All Content and Settings and Reset Home Screen Layout. In the iPhone's Watch app, General > Reset offers Erase Apple Watch Content and Settings, Reset Home Screen Layout, Reset Sync Data, and Remove All Cellular Plans. No privacy reset on either surface. Screenshots attached.

Deleting the app does not clear the state. I deleted the app from both the iPhone and the watch, power cycled both, and reinstalled. The iPhone worked immediately without re-prompting, and the watch continued to fail without prompting. Both devices retained their prior opt-in state across a full delete and reinstall.

On deployment targets, we are on iOS 18.6 / watchOS 11.6 to keep support for existing users on older hardware, and we have not yet moved to 26. That raises a question I would like your read on: could building against a watchOS 11.6 deployment target, while running on watchOS 26.6, put the app on older App Intents behavior for phrase matching or the consent prompt? If bumping the deployment target would change this, that is useful for us to know.

Thanks also for the clarification on INPreferences.siriAuthorizationStatus(). That matches what we saw, it reports authorized on the affected device, so it is not usable as a signal.