Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Seeds Second Beta of New watchOS 4 Operating System to Developers

Have been completely unable to download this. Just says it cannot connect to the Apple Watch...even though they are connected just fine. I haven't been able to download updates smoothly on my AW in months. The first beta, I had to reboot both devices dozens of times, reinstall profiles for no reason whatsoever. The same thing for the last version I downloaded.
 
jdoll021 said:
Anyone have any experiences to share with the Siri Watch Face? It looks like something that could be useful, and, if so, I'm cautiously optimistic about something similar being the new home screen for iOS (12 or 13 maybe?).
Click to expand...
I’ve found it mostly useless so far.

It tries to be helpful by showing articles from the News app, but they’re usually ones I’ve already read or don’t particularly care about.

It’s quite handy when it shows events, but I don’t really have enough going on in my life to not know what I’m suppose to be doing - probably can’t blame Siri for that.

It could be promising in a few betas time when it starts to show more relevant information though.
 
Zorn said:
Have been completely unable to download this. Just says it cannot connect to the Apple Watch...even though they are connected just fine. I haven't been able to download updates smoothly on my AW in months. The first beta, I had to reboot both devices dozens of times, reinstall profiles for no reason whatsoever. The same thing for the last version I downloaded.
Click to expand...
Had to stop the update and then when I tried rebooting both the watch and the phone I got this message many times. It suddenly decided to work however and now I'm back to the Downloading to Watch phase. Very frustrating and flaky.
 
PhyrePhox said:
Yes.
[doublepost=1498090701][/doublepost]And you won't be able to downgrade to a prior watchOS version without sending the watch in to Apple. Be warned.
Click to expand...

I had heard about that but I'm not too worried. Is there honestly that much of a risk to try WatchOS 4 besides having to deal with buggy software? I'm just really anxious to try it.
 
iAdamator said:
I had heard about that but I'm not too worried. Is there honestly that much of a risk to try WatchOS 4 besides having to deal with buggy software? I'm just really anxious to try it.
Click to expand...
You do risk bricking your watch, but that's a worst case scenario. Mostly it is just a royal PIA to even get it installed at the moment.

That said - there's not THAT much new to get excited about in 4. The Kaleidoscope face is a nice addition, as is the revamped workout app and the fact that you can choose a list instead of the honeycomb for that app screen you never use anyway. The real game changer is how whenever you play media the watch always have the media controls handy. OK, maybe it is worth it after all. Go for your life.
 
I just want to see those Toy Story faces. Seriously though I just watched 9to5Macs walkthrough of beta 1 and was impressed by all the features. Especially how improved getting music onto your watch from your phone seems to be!

I like the now playing always showing when you turn your wrist but can’t that be turned off? Having recently discovered Overcast, I prefer that to the now playing screen to be the thing I see most when I look at my watch.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ErikGrim
I'm glad finally got the toy story watch faces I had a look through the annimations and I am glad to see something new on my watch face even get to see a couple extra characters than advertised seen rex pop up and the aliens and bullseye
 
  • Like
Reactions: ErikGrim
Im stuck in the same mode of "Could Not connect to Apple Watch". I've tried rebooting both devices several times, deleting and adding the profile back. I know the iPhone is talking to it because I was able to change faces. Just can't get it to talk to it when trying to software update.
 
ortiz3m said:
Im stuck in the same mode of "Could Not connect to Apple Watch". I've tried rebooting both devices several times, deleting and adding the profile back. I know the iPhone is talking to it because I was able to change faces. Just can't get it to talk to it when trying to software update.
Click to expand...
I put watch in airplane mode waited a minute and reconnected to phone and this worked but found the progress bar stuck at 0% saying processing for about 30 minutes did airplane mode again and this updated the progress bar
 
Mr_JTown said:
I’ve found it mostly useless so far.

It tries to be helpful by showing articles from the News app, but they’re usually ones I’ve already read or don’t particularly care about.

It’s quite handy when it shows events, but I don’t really have enough going on in my life to not know what I’m suppose to be doing - probably can’t blame Siri for that.

It could be promising in a few betas time when it starts to show more relevant information though.
Click to expand...

Going off of what you said, it sounds like it has some potential but it needs some polish. Would you say that's a fair assessment?
 
Have been using the Siri watch face. In b1, if you touched the time, it switched from just the next two items to a scroll-able list. That is not happening in b2. Hopefully it will come back.
One of the sources is Workout, but I haven't seen how it manifests as yet.
 
I have a Gen1 watch and have to say steer clear of this beta! Beta 1 was laggy and battery life was bad. This beta is a tad faster (still choppy and very laggy) but so buggy and my battery life is terrible. My watch used to last the whole entire day and now I’m lucky to make it past 3pm. Also many times the watch doesn’t respond to touch at all. Also noticed my watch feeling warm for the first time ever...

Hoping beta 3 is better! I’m sure they will get there. How is it for GEN 2/3 ers?

iOS 11 Beta 2 is quite good for me, seems watchOS team has some catching up to do at least with Gen1 watches.
 
mistafro said:
I have a Gen1 watch and have to say steer clear of this beta! Beta 1 was laggy and battery life was bad. This beta is a tad faster (still choppy and very laggy) but so buggy and my battery life is terrible. My watch used to last the whole entire day and now I’m lucky to make it past 3pm. Also many times the watch doesn’t respond to touch at all. Also noticed my watch feeling warm for the first time ever...

Hoping beta 3 is better! I’m sure they will get there. How is it for GEN 2/3 ers?

iOS 11 Beta 2 is quite good for me, seems watchOS team has some catching up to do at least with Gen1 watches.
Click to expand...
I have a series 2 watch...
Beta 2 is not that buggy... but it eats the battery like crazy... I was out for a quick drive last night... I took off my watch from the charger... it went from 100% to 92% battery in less than 1h30. I essentially did nothing with the watch... I was in my car driving and listening to a podcast from approximately 20 Minutes.

This battery drain is really weird... at lot worst than beta 1
 
andybno1 said:
I put watch in airplane mode waited a minute and reconnected to phone and this worked but found the progress bar stuck at 0% saying processing for about 30 minutes did airplane mode again and this updated the progress bar
Click to expand...

Awesome thanks I’ll try that this morning.
 
jdoll021 said:
Anyone have any experiences to share with the Siri Watch Face? It looks like something that could be useful, and, if so, I'm cautiously optimistic about something similar being the new home screen for iOS (12 or 13 maybe?).
Click to expand...
That would be super cool! I hadn’t dared hope for it on the phone, but that would be really interesting—perhaps replacing/joining the “widgets” screen? I love the Siri watchface so far. It adds stopwatch, timer, calendar, and reminders all at once. In this beta, scrolling up even pulls up recently played music. I use the “now playing” complication (instead of the default “Siri” one because “hey Siri” and the Digital Crown can just as easily access it), and that’s it. So good!
[doublepost=1498231435][/doublepost]
mistafro said:
I have a Gen1 watch and have to say steer clear of this beta! Beta 1 was laggy and battery life was bad. This beta is a tad faster (still choppy and very laggy) but so buggy and my battery life is terrible. My watch used to last the whole entire day and now I’m lucky to make it past 3pm. Also many times the watch doesn’t respond to touch at all. Also noticed my watch feeling warm for the first time ever...

Hoping beta 3 is better! I’m sure they will get there. How is it for GEN 2/3 ers?

iOS 11 Beta 2 is quite good for me, seems watchOS team has some catching up to do at least with Gen1 watches.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Holy cow, I lost 20% battery in an hour! It’s that bad. I haven’t even been using it. I was making breakfast!
 
I’ve found that putting the watch in air plane mode “fixes” the battery problem on beta 2... but that’s not that interesting for a connected watch
 
mudflap said:
My Series 1 lasts more than a full day. Maybe something is up with your watch? Have you taken it into the Apple Store and asked?
Click to expand...

1st gen and series 1 are not the same watch... series 1 is a little bit better. That said, for my series 2 on beta 2, the battery doesn’t last a full day like it did on watchOS 3
 
I was having massive battery issues on my series 0 watch (fully draining in under 6 hours! What?), but found this tip on Reddit that seems to be fixing the issue (although I haven't employed it long enough to know for sure my battery life will be fully back to normal):

Right after updating to watchOS 4 b2, my battery life was pretty crappy. I was getting maybe 5-6 hours. Did a clean install, didn't seem to help much, battery seemed to still be depleting quickly but I found a new feature setting - Detect Gym Equipment - that was turned on by default. It's in the watch app on the phone under the Workout setting.

Turned that off and battery seems back to normal now, at 87% after 6 hours off the charger.

Update: about 9 hours now off charger and at 75%
 
WaterOz said:
I was having massive battery issues on my series 0 watch (fully draining in under 6 hours! What?), but found this tip on Reddit that seems to be fixing the issue (although I haven't employed it long enough to know for sure my battery life will be fully back to normal):

Right after updating to watchOS 4 b2, my battery life was pretty crappy. I was getting maybe 5-6 hours. Did a clean install, didn't seem to help much, battery seemed to still be depleting quickly but I found a new feature setting - Detect Gym Equipment - that was turned on by default. It's in the watch app on the phone under the Workout setting.

Turned that off and battery seems back to normal now, at 87% after 6 hours off the charger.

Update: about 9 hours now off charger and at 75%
Click to expand...

Did you reboot your watch or iPhone after disabling this option?

I’m asking because before removing my watch from the charger earlier today, I’ve disabled this option... went out for 5 hours and I’ve lost like 58%. I did not do anything special with my watch... I didn’t start any app...
I went out for my archery training and I did some work around my house. I moved a lot... battery was way better on watchOS 3 or even on 4 beta 1
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back