*nsync peek

I have no idea if this is already a thing in the magic community, but if you have both an iPhone and an apple watch, you’ll be able to do this. For example, let’s say you got a random news article pulled up in your phone browser. You have a friend scroll down to somewhere (no force) and you get them to remember the first word nearest the top of the screen, then set the phone face down. In the process of getting them a piece of paper or something, you’re able to get a peek of the word they looked at.

Basically, you’ll need to make sure the “Sync Album” settings for your Apple Watch is set to “Recents”. And screenshots will need to be taken by either the side buttons combo or back tap. I believe iPhone model 8 or later are good for this. So when your phone takes a screenshot, your devices sync, and you can access that screenshot through the watch’s photos app. I don’t have an Android phone/smartwatch, but I would guess they have similar features? No idea.

So this means you can get a peek from your phone of basically anything. Online dictionaries, ebooks, articles, social media, calculator, notepad, etc.

So here’s an idea using Instagram in a social setting. You’re sat across the coffee table from your friend, and you have them go to an account that they would recommend for you to follow, follow it, but don’t show it to you. This justifies using your phone, I think. And they’ll scroll down to a post they think you’ll like. Avoid videos and quotes, and try to find a photo of something interesting. When they’ve got one, have them memorize as much of it as they can, and then set the phone face down. You’re gonna challenge them to recreate that photo on a piece of paper with one line- meaning they won’t lift the pen until they’re done, and with their non-dominant hand. And you’re gonna try to guess what the photo is.

You’re going to clear the space on the table in front of them. This will include your phone, or maybe it’s just your phone. As you move your phone (keeping it face down the whole time), you pick it up with your thumb and middle finger on the two side buttons and take a screen shot. Your other hand is also moving things, or if it’s just your phone, then your other hand is giving them the paper and pen.

To get the peek, you can drop your hands down into your lap and navigate to your photos app on your watch. Just make sure you position the photos icon close to the center for quicker access.

You can also have the pen and paper somewhere else. So you clear the table, get your screenshot, then go fetch the materials in another room, and you have ample opportunity to get the peek.

Or you’ve take then screenshot, given them to pen and paper, and you tell them to take a moment and think about how they’re going to do this. And you’ll get them some water from the kitchen, and you do the dirty work there.

There are many options here, so whatever works best for you. There’s no heat at this moment because nothing has happened yet, so it’s the easiest peek ever. Also you don’t even need to get the peek immediately. You’ll ask them to take their time so they can start drawing first. Then make some excuse like you gotta pee or get them some carrot juice from the fridge.

If your phone auto-locks, just make sure you take the screenshot before the screen locks. If you’ve set auto-lock to ‘never’, you can also get them to lock your phone too. I’m not sure this really matters, but it’s an option.

So they start drawing and you already know what it is. You can guess as they draw. And start way off and get closer and closer as they draw more. It’ll freak them out since the drawing is probably gonna suck, and somehow you end up getting it.

Then comes the kicker. Not only do you get the photo, you know the account. When you’re scrolling through an account’s feed, their name/handle will be at the top and in the captions. So, it’ll also be in the screenshot!

Dude, I mean, come on. I think this is pretty cool given it doesn’t require other apps. Another quick idea is you can also open up your notes app to show a list of words that you had guessed correctly before- and ask them to add the next word they think you’d be able to guess based on that list. Then phone gets sets down, you trigger the screenshot, get your peek, reveal.

One thing to remember is that when you take a screenshot, it’ll temporarily display a preview of the screenshot in the bottom corner. It goes away on it’s own quickly, so just a reminder in case you’re doing something where they are going to look at your phone again.

Anyways, I think this is a neat function to explore. To my three readers (haha), if you think of something, let me know. I’ll update if I think of anything else too. Or let me know if this is already a thing, and I’m just out of the loop.

*Update- I noticed that sometimes there’s a lag when syncing. So, have photos opened in the background and already be in your “recents” so it’s ready to go.