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Tetherless Wi-Fi in 2.0
- Thread starter Tdadlani
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Do you mean the watch will be able to use the iPhone as a wifi hotspot when out of range of Bluetooth?
(something I was going to try to hack to get to work with 1.01 whenever the hell I receive my watch).
It should be the same as over bluetooth or on wifi when the watch is connecting to a WAP - full functionality (now, that being said - having the logic to not allow voice when the signal strength is light would be desirable).
(something I was going to try to hack to get to work with 1.01 whenever the hell I receive my watch).
It should be the same as over bluetooth or on wifi when the watch is connecting to a WAP - full functionality (now, that being said - having the logic to not allow voice when the signal strength is light would be desirable).
https://developer.apple.com/watchos/pre-release/
Now you can take advantage of robust device-to-device communication between the WatchKit extension on Apple Watch and the containing app on iPhone. WatchConnectivity enablesApple Watch to communicate directly with known wifi hotspots using the new Tetherless Wi-Fi feature in watchOS 2. This keeps your Apple Watch app up-to-date, even out of range of the iPhone. WatchConnectivity also saves battery life by allowing the WatchKit extension to transfer new information for the iPhone app to use when it’s next launched, allowing for seamless file transfers between the Apple Watch app and iPhone app.
Hmm. I'm guessing all that means is that they're giving the developers more access to the protocol stack. We'll see what that means in terms of application functionality, but that explanation really doesn't explain how it's any different than how watch behaves today.
Does this mean e-mail/text messages will be kept up-to-date even though your watch is out of range of the iPhone? This is important to me because my work is blocking the current method of the watch and iPhone communicating over the same wi-fi network. It sounds like the watch will now connect directly??
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No, I don't think it changes how the wifi connection works. It still tries to use local wifi with the same restrictions as before.
The difference now is more software specific. Because WatchOs2 allows apps to run natively, the WatchConnect stuff allows you to send data to the watch or the phone while the app on the other device isn't active. That data is supposed to be available for an app when it wakes up/is run again.
(At least that's my basic understanding from reading some of the beta docs.)
The difference now is more software specific. Because WatchOs2 allows apps to run natively, the WatchConnect stuff allows you to send data to the watch or the phone while the app on the other device isn't active. That data is supposed to be available for an app when it wakes up/is run again.
(At least that's my basic understanding from reading some of the beta docs.)
It's my understanding WatchOS already has this enabled in some form. In my limited testing, many data dependent features still work when my watch and iPhone are on the same WiFi network, yet not in Bluetooth range. I could make calls, check weather, send iMessages, etc.
IMO, I think this need to be clarified to say native WatchOS apps will have access to data even when the iPhone isn't available via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. In which case the watch will connect to preferred Wi-Fi APs. I think currently the iPhone need to connect to the watch via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi for data to get to the watch.
Anyone done any further testing and can confirm?
IMO, I think this need to be clarified to say native WatchOS apps will have access to data even when the iPhone isn't available via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. In which case the watch will connect to preferred Wi-Fi APs. I think currently the iPhone need to connect to the watch via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi for data to get to the watch.
Anyone done any further testing and can confirm?
People have reported leaving the phone at home and getting messages and such when on a known wifi network, so it seems like there's no change in what the watch will do. The change is that third-party devs will now be able to take advantage of that.
That's been my experience. I can shut my phone off completely and as long as I have a known wifi network available Messages and Siri have always worked properly on the watch.