What is quickest, least number of taps possible on Apple Watch to “check-in” with somebody?

I am looking for a way to contact my spouse when I am at work and too busy to text. I want to use my Apple Watch in the quickest way possible, ideally just 1 or two taps, to send an automated text or whatever, just so that my spouse gets some sort of signal that I am busy but "checking-in". I have dangerous job that sometimes goes 12+ hours later than expected, so being able to very briefly "check-in" with a few watch taps would be very helpful.

Solution 1:

Turns out that the Workflow (iTunes link) app can indeed do this!

Workflow supports showing a workflow as a complication, with one tap to trigger that workflow.

A workflow can be as simple as "using this text, send a message to this person".

Putting those two together, you can have a two-tap system to send an iMessage or SMS to someone: activate the complication, and push "send".

Here's the workflow I used to test this:

• Text: This block holds the text you want to send, and passes it to the next block
• Send Message: Takes text and sends it to a predetermined recipient

The Workflow widget is the GPS marker icon on the top-left.

Nota bene: If you have multiple workflows visible on your watch, the complication cycles through them throughout the day. If you only have one, it only shows the one.

Solution 2:

Take a look at the Do Button by ifttt

https://ifttt.com/products/do/button

You can create a button/recipe that sends an e-mail or sms to your significant other saying 'I'm Alive' or something.

Then all you ever have to do it just tap the button and the program will do the rest :) So at most it should be 2 taps,

1. Open App
2. Click button to start recipe

I do not have an Apple Watch but it might be possible to do it in 1 if it allows you to add a shortcut in glances or something.