Apple Releases watchOS 4.1 With LTE Apple Music Streaming and New Radio App

[Xavier]

Thank you for your input.

You're welcome.

I get 2.5 days of use out of mine, so Battery life has improved greatly. Mind you, this is also while using an Android phone, with my iPhone left at home. In this situation the watch is using it’s cellular radio more, or, wifi connection through my Android phone.

With the iPhone in tow, I Easily get 3+ days of battery life out of mine, including a couple of workouts and a bit of Cellular time away from my phone.

Hoping battery life improves more, as it did in the case of my Series 0.

Very nice to hear it has improved! I would use it more so for activity tracking (runs mostly) while listening to music. One device with wireless headphones all in the Apple ecosystem is pretty appealing.

Interesting that it is getting 3+ days for you. I wonder how it would fair for a longer run. I will have to dig and find out more.

 

[JohnDoe98]

Okay so immediate issues with Apple Music streaming: it takes ages to start playing a song, a good delay of about 30 seconds for me (over WiFi), also no way of seeing 'Recently Added', also if you go into album view and select an album it'll immediately start playing the first song from the album rather than bringing up all the songs in that album for you to view.

This is all seems a bit confusing. Particular as there's no iCloud Music Library settings for Watch, as far as I can say. So my Watch still states no music has been synced with it, but I can see all my music by selecting Library.

No delay on mine but I agree with the rest of your post

 

[Mic2904]

Any changes in re to podcasts at all?

 

[AZ63]

FINALLY! Grr, now I'm going to have to go to the gym tonight to test LTE music!

Just another way Apple forces you to do what is "good" for you. /s

 

[newellj]

Do you actively avoid charging at night because of this? My S3 goes on charger before bed every day, even though it's still on about 80%. I know that can't harm the battery, but my biggest worry would be running out of juice half way through day 3 or something.

I don't know how well or poorly this might fit other people's day, but my charge routine is that I put it on the charger when I take a shower in the morning. I get dressed, eat breakfast (overall about an hour) and put the S3 AW back on before I leave and it's fully charged. In theory, you're right about leaving it on the charger, but I'm happier reducing that time. This routine also allows me to wear the watch while sleeping, which I think is useful if not exactly compelling information to let the Health app collect.

 

[convergent]

Add Spotify streaming and I'll order right now

This looks like a nice update for AW. I will be curious to see how battery life fairs when streaming Apple Music over LTE. I have moved on to a Gear S3 which streams Spotify over LTE. I like the option to stream at the gym or running, but it does really hit the battery a lot harder vs. just listening to playlists I've downloaded to the watch. I would be surprised if the same isn't the case for AW. Great feature though.

 

[FasterQuieter]

I hope it fixes the long delay in the series 0 between lifting my wrist and seeing the now playing screen. I think raise to wake has failed every time it takes so long.

 

[dearfriendx]

I still have the original Apple Watch. Installation of any update is very slow and most times verification taps out where I have to press install again.

People with newer models: How is installation? I wanna upgrade next year, this is one of my only gripes.

 

[musicpenguy]

Any changes in re to podcasts at all?

For now use the WatchPlayer app - you can download new episodes over LTE, you can browse a directory on your watch or use scribble or dictation to search the iTunes Podcast Directory to add new shows directly on your watch, a pretty great solution until Apple rolls out their own.

 

[ipedro]

My Series 0 would take up to an hour to update. How long is it with a Series 3 LTE? I don't know if I want to give up my Watch for that long during the day today.

EDIT: I risked it and updated. Took about 25-30 minutes.

 

[cycomiko]

Is anyone ever mad when they don't receive a stand notification?

what about when you are standing, receive a stand notification, and then the standing doesn't even get noticed or count?

 

[noahc]

I didn't bring my charger to work today but I've been able to download the update. However, so far its taken well over an hour and still tells me that I've got "6 minutes remaining". SO slow.

 

[spurbs]

"Sign in to iTunes in the Apple Watch app on your phone to listen to Radio".

Where do I sign in? I don't see it in the Apple Watch app

thanks

 

[Robert.Walter]

This watch is starting to become a more interesting device to me now. I think in a couple years, when battery life has improved to a point that LTE doesn't drain it completely, and it can have a few days of life with usage, then I will pick one up. For now I am going to wait.

You could be dead in two years. Even if yo aren’t you are missing out in a bunch of utility if you wait. Three of us bought S0 when first available and have been increasingly happy with each software upgrade. We now bought S3 LTE replacements but will keep old watches for nighttime monitoring.

Do you actively avoid charging at night because of this? My S3 goes on charger before bed every day, even though it's still on about 80%. I know that can't harm the battery, but my biggest worry would be running out of juice half way through day 3 or something.

We are wearing our S3 during day and S0 to bed. Given S0 is probably only worth 100$ now, it’s not worth selling.
[doublepost=1509476719][/doublepost]SSID is not displayed next to WIFI symbol on my S0 watch.

 

[tangfish]

Nothing to be excited about if you're not an Apple music subscriber.

Spotifyyyyy.

 

[ipedro]

Do you actively avoid charging at night because of this? My S3 goes on charger before bed every day, even though it's still on about 80%. I know that can't harm the battery, but my biggest worry would be running out of juice half way through day 3 or something.

Which is why I don't get people who say they want their Watch to give them 3 or 4 days of battery. Either you're taking the Watch off before bed and never thinking about charging the battery because you just put it in its place as a nightly habit or it lasts 3 or 4 days and you're constantly wondering when you have to charge it every few days.

I think that the battery is just about perfect now. It runs me through the day with more than enough juice left over and if I happen to not go home one night, it still lasts me well into the next day (the full second day if I have my iPhone with me and its not using LTE).

 

[Westside guy]

I don't see anything compelling for my Series 1, so I think I'll hold off to see what the reports are with regards to battery life.

... oh, wait, this includes the KRACK WPA2 fix. Guess I'll go ahead and install.

 

[wwooden]

Looks like they resolved the issues I was having: My series 0 would not charge when my charger puck was placed in my 3rd party stand. Worked for 2 years without issues before the update to 4.0. It charges fine if I remove the puck from the stand and place the watch on it.

They also resolved my issue with silent notifications not vibrating.

 

[PR.]

So the Radio App is purely for Series 3?

Not very impressed with the removing of all the streaming music stuff from WatchOS3 and forcing you to only have the synced playlists (which is also broken on my iPhone 6S/Series 2 as the automatic playlists are stuck with High Rotation only)

There's no technical reason why Radio can't be there, and there's no technical reason why I shouldn't be able to browse my iPhone library on my Watch

 

[musicpenguy]

So the Radio App is purely for Series 3?

Not very impressed with the removing of all the streaming music stuff from WatchOS3 and forcing you to only have the synced playlists (which is also broken on my iPhone 6S/Series 2 as the automatic playlists are stuck with High Rotation only)

There's no technical reason why Radio can't be there, and there's no technical reason why I shouldn't be able to browse my iPhone library on my Watch

The WiFi chip in the older model Apple Watches are much less power efficient and much slower - this would create a bad experience and makes sense for it to be omitted from the Series 2 for that reason. The WiFi chip in the Series 3 is dramatically better than the Series 2.

 

[riverfreak]

Yeah there is. You could become one. I'm once again considering it.

If you are an Apple Watch user, it makes a lot of sense to be a member. Despite all of the many weaknesses of AM, particularly if you get stuck in the insanity of iCloud Match, it works tolerably well.

 

[urnotl33t]

I just got back from a 25-min walk with just Apple Watch (LTE) and OS 4.1 [iPhone stayed in the office], streaming a Radio channel. I intentionally killed Wi-Fi from Control Center, too. Looks like it chewed through about 3-4% of battery on that walk. I was doing it as an Outdoor Walk workout, too, and streamed the music to my AirPods. I tried to use every bit of radio and element I could think of at once, to give it a test. Seems to work well.
[doublepost=1509478827][/doublepost]

Not true. I don't have an Apple Music subscription but I am excited because now I can stream my entire library of music via iCloud music match.

I couldn't do this today; I didn't see anywhere it was available in either the Music app or the (new) Radio app. Maybe I missed it somewhere, but I looked all around including Music on the iPhone (looking for some type of "hey tap here to enable this fanciness on your Apple Watch!") and in Settings on both iPhone and Watch. Nothing obvious jumped out at me. But if I missed it, someone please point me in the proper direction.

[and yes, i subscribed to Apple Music on my family account, and I also have iCloud Music Library enabled, and i also have/had iTunes Match]

 

[MacBird]

This must be the same version as beta 4? 15R846?

Yes, the build number is 15R846.

 

[urnotl33t]

Which is why I don't get people who say they want their Watch to give them 3 or 4 days of battery. Either you're taking the Watch off before bed and never thinking about charging the battery because you just put it in its place as a nightly habit or it lasts 3 or 4 days and you're constantly wondering when you have to charge it every few days.

I think that the battery is just about perfect now. It runs me through the day with more than enough juice left over and if I happen to not go home one night, it still lasts me well into the next day (the full second day if I have my iPhone with me and its not using LTE).

I charge mine when I'm in the shower, and sometimes in my car while I'm commuting. I wear mine to bed to use the Pillow app overnight. Even with Pillow running overnight, I still don't chew up a lot of battery on my Series 3 w/LTE. I've been extremely impressed with the battery on this tiny super-computer on my wrist!

 

[seatton]

I would love to know what fitness equipment that supports GymKit. Do they have any details?