Add the Sentinel Lock Screen widget

What this does

Adds a Sentinel shortcut to your iPhone Lock Screen. Tapping it opens VEXA straight into Sentinel and starts a session, so you can begin monitoring as you sit down rather than after you have already taken the first trade.

This widget exists on iPhone only. iPad has the VEXA widgets but not this one, and tapping a Sentinel link on an iPad opens the Sentinel page without starting a session.

Before you start

Sentinel needs a Pro plan. During your first week of Full Access it is open, and after that it needs Pro.

Sentinel also needs a heart rate source: an Apple Watch paired to this iPhone, or a Bluetooth chest strap or armband. Without one, a session starts and has nothing to read.

The widget starts a session. It does not ask first, which is the point of it.

Steps

What you should see

A small shield on your Lock Screen reading “Tap to start”. The widget comes in three shapes: a circular one, a wider rectangular one, and an inline one that sits above the clock.

Tapping it unlocks the phone, opens VEXA on the Sentinel screen, and starts a session. The session card goes live and your heart rate begins streaming within a few seconds of the watch or strap connecting.

If it doesn’t work

No VEXA widgets in the Lock Screen picker. Open the VEXA app once and sign in first, then try again. If they still are not listed, restart the iPhone.

It opens Sentinel but no session starts. Sentinel is locked on your current plan, or the app was signed out. Open Sentinel from Home and check whether you are looking at a paywall.

The session starts but the heart rate stays blank. The watch or strap is not connected. Start the session with the watch on your wrist, and check that no other app is holding the strap, because most chest straps pair with only one app at a time.

You added it and now want it gone. Touch and hold the Lock Screen, tap Customize, tap the widget area, and use the minus badge on the widget.