Apple to Release watchOS 10 on Monday, September 18

[webbuzz]

I couldn't tell from the presentation, but does the Ultra Watch get the new Ultra watch face(s), or is it reserved for the Ultra Watch 2 for marketing reasons?

People have posted pictures of Ultra 1st gen with the new modular face after they updated to the new beta.

eta: @denleschae

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread....1872015/page-996?post=32455561#post-32455561

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread....1872015/page-996?post=32456421#post-32456421

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread....1872015/page-996?post=32457154#post-32457154

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread....1872015/page-996?post=32457649#post-32457649

 

[JulianL]

Why the hell did they remove the swipe gesture to change the active watch face? Now you have to press and hold, then swipe (often times swipe twice since swipe area has been reduced). To add insult to injury, the old swipe gestures don’t even do anything on watchOS 10.

Also, why remove recent apps from side button and put the control center there? If you can open widgets board by scrolling the crown, why did the need to also open widgets with swipe from the bottom of the screen?

Finally, app updates with prettier graphics but showing less glanceable information (fitness activity, etc).

Overall it now takes a lot more swiping and scrolling to do a lot of the same tasks that were very intuitive before.

I actually hate this update and resent installing it. The only cool feature is the widgets board. Many of the other changes have been unnecessary and provide worse user experience (for me at least).

I agree on the swipes stuff. A watch has a small screen and few physical controls to interact with so every swipe and gesture that can be used by a user to get to their most commonly used functions quickly is valuable. Given this I find it baffling that Apple would leave 2 very convenient gestures (swipe-left and swipe-right) unused.

I also find it frustrating that the side button isn’t customisable. I never used the Dock and I almost never use the control centre so for me the ability to use a single-press on the side button to get to something I use often like workouts is simply available to me. Again, frustrating to have a quick and convenient user interface element not anything useful for my particular use case.

On control centre and gestures I wish WatchOS would adopt something from iOS. iPhones support two downward swipes from the top of the screen, the one on the right brings up the control centre and the one on the left shows notifications. OK, a watch screen is smaller, but I’ve done some imaginary swiping on my 41mm watch and it seems perfectly natural to me to be able to do both left and right swipe without any risk of doing the wrong one by mistake, made easier by the fact that many of the watch faces have a 12-o-clock marker that gives a clear visual indication of the left/right dividing line on the screen.

 

[surfzen21]

I couldn't tell from the presentation, but does the Ultra Watch get the new Ultra watch face(s), or is it reserved for the Ultra Watch 2 for marketing reasons?

A few people who have updated to the RC candidate said the new modular watch face introduced on the Ultra 2 is available on the Gen 1.

So that's good news.

 

[Sir_Macs_A_Lot]

Until WatchOS 9.x I could press the side button to access my recently open apps and for example check a timer I had set. Now how do I get to it?

I'm on 9.6.2 and I can still get my recent apps by clicking the side button. What version are you on, again?

 

[Chiromac81]

Anyone know how to reliably use the double pinch button now? I tried accessibility and can't get it to reliably even Lise and unpause what's playing...

 

[AppleDave2]

Is the new resp. updated watch face für UW2 also included?

 

[DTphonehome]

Anyone running is 10 on an SE gen 1? How’s the performance?

 

[WeatherWeasel]

I broke my resistance and bought the 9. in bright red no less. Just a thought the temperature sensor, can that be used to monitor body temp at night. I am type 2 diabetic and sometimes I have woke up to a wet head and pillow. it is the diabetes, no ceiling leaks or wife pouring water on my head, but being able to monitor the temperture would be nice. Just a thought. of course when I was teaching many a time a student told be to go f myself maybe I am expecting?

 

[andreagrandi]

I'm on 9.6.2 and I can still get my recent apps by clicking the side button. What version are you on, again?

Now = once they release WatchOS 10 (have you seen the video?)

 

[whelmedjedi]

I am an iPhone 8 user. iOS 17 is not compatible with my device so i'm on iOS 16. Should i upgrade my series 8 watch to watchos 10? I think it will become not peerable or compatible. Am i right? Thanks.

 

[sgreen314]

I am an iPhone 8 user. iOS 17 is not compatible with my device so i'm on iOS 16. Should i upgrade my series 8 watch to watchos 10? I think it will become not peerable or compatible. Am i right? Thanks.

Theoretically iOS 16 shouldn't even allow you to upgrade the watch to version 10, without iOS 17. Even on a device capable of iOS 17 a prompt should tell you to upgrade your phone first before allowing the watch update.

Though I have seen someone on here complaining a while back that their upgraded watch no longer worked with their iOS version. Though they admitted they updated their watch on a completely different phone, then tried to use their newly updated watch on their actual (unsupported iOS version) phone; ignoring all posted Apple warnings about version compatibility. 🤷‍♂️

I have the option, with a developer account, to update my watch to 10. Though I’m holding out for the actual public release in case of any last minute problems, knowing I can’t downgrade a watch.

 

[allenvanhellen]

NOT upgrading until I know that Stopwatch for example won't have that bright white background at night or in a dark theatre if I accidentally activate it.

 

[whatgift]

Why the hell did they remove the swipe gesture to change the active watch face? Now you have to press and hold, then swipe (often times swipe twice since swipe area has been reduced).

Also, why remove recent apps from side button and put the control center there? If you can open widgets board by scrolling the crown, why did the need to also open widgets with swipe from the bottom of the screen?

I tend to think these changes are a precursor to future changes to the interface. I suspect the switching watch faces gesture was causing issues with the new widgets gesture, so they've removed it, hopefully temporarily. If enough people complain about it formally, they may bring it back.

You can still access the dock (recent apps) by double clicking the crown - I use the dock all the time so hoping that slightly less convenient option becomes second nature over time.

 

[chabig]

You can still access the dock (recent apps) by double clicking the crown

Double-clicking the crown used to take you to the previous app.

 

[whatgift]

Double-clicking the crown used to take you to the previous app.

Yeah true, but don’t imagine most people were aware of, or using that. I didn’t even know about it until this year, and I consider myself a knowledgeable user!

 

[chabig]

I'd be ok if there is no replacement for that. If a double-click opens the recents, the most recent app should be on top.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

I am an iPhone 8 user. iOS 17 is not compatible with my device so i'm on iOS 16. Should i upgrade my series 8 watch to watchos 10? I think it will become not peerable or compatible. Am i right? Thanks.

@sgreen314 is correct, it won't let you upgrade to Watch OS10 unless your phone is on iOS17 first.. I'm in the same boat (iPhone X). I can't update to Watch OS10 until I get my 15 ProMax in December

 

[TechFann]

Right now I push the side button to get to all my running apps. With that becoming the Control Center, how do I access my running apps on the watch then?

 

[whatgift]

Right now I push the side button to get to all my running apps. With that becoming the Control Center, how do I access my running apps on the watch then?

Double clicking the digital crown will bring up the dock (replacing the “open last app” function).

 

[svish]

Good to know. Will be updating my watch soon

 

[WeatherWeasel]

I let the wife know I ordered a new watch. So far I am still alive.
I am having mine delivered and that will be here toward the end of the month. Perhaps by then all the software issues will be fixed with updates. the trade inon my old watch was $15 I will keep it for an emergency. OK it goes into a drawer. I wanted the red one, GPS and cellular.