Apple WatchOS 10, why oh why?

[sundialsoft]

I'm expecting a future update to change the interface back. It's a very poor 'update'. Not updating is not an answer. We are forced to update.

 

[snerkler]

I'm expecting a future update to change the interface back. It's a very poor 'update'. Not updating is not an answer. We are forced to update.

I'm not so sure, this thing was beta tested so I'm guessing some people like it?

 

[TracerAnalog]

Why don't apple give us the users the ability to use the products how we want?

My ultra watch auto updated to OS 10 last night and I'm deeply disappointed. I don't like how I can't access night mode via the crown, I don't like the widgets and in their infinite wisdom they've now made it so that you can access it in three ways, i.e. rotating the crown, swiping up from the bottom of the screen and swiping down from the apps screen. So they've given me a function I don't want,.... three times, and in the meantime taken away a function I do want.

I also don't like that from the apps screen it's too easy to activate widgets, and I prefer the old apps screen where you're favourite apps are central and then you can scroll around. I also don't like that there's no quick access (that I've found) to fully closing apps. Lastly, a very minor point, I don't like the way the timer now displays when on the watch face corner.

Now I know there's going to be people that prefer the new functionality, but that brings me back to my initial question at the top, why don't apple give us the choice? These are not cheap products, if they're going to make changes at least give us the option to change it if we don't like them.

How did your watch auto update to watch OS10? It’s an upgrade as far as I know, and they are not automatically pushed.

Anyway, I like 10 way better than 9. The button and scroll wheel have much better function assignments than before, and I especially like the widgets. It saves me from having 4 watch faces for all the apps I want to have quick access to. I do think they have to rethink some of the watch faces, as some were designed with the old button functionality.

As to OP’s question: giving the user certain choices like you propose would be nice, but it introduces interface complexity to Apple and the app developers. It also introduces backwards compatibility for Watch OS going forward, and that is one thing Apple just will not do. ‘Don’t ask the customer what they want’ - Steve Jobs, probably

 

[snerkler]

How did your watch auto update to watch OS10? It’s an upgrade as far as I know, and they are not automatically pushed.

Anyway, I like 10 way better than 9. The button and scroll wheel have much better function assignments than before, and I especially like the widgets. It saves me from having 4 watch faces for all the apps I want to have quick access to. I do think they have to rethink some of the watch faces, as some were designed with the old button functionality.

As to OP’s question: giving the user certain choices like you propose would be nice, but it introduces interface complexity to Apple and the app developers. It also introduces backwards compatibility for Watch OS going forward, and that is one thing Apple just will not do. ‘Don’t ask the customer what they want’ - Steve Jobs, probably

Yeah I get there's always some that prefer it, but a choice would be nice. I'm not sure how being able to assign button and crown functionality would affect backwards compatibility? You're not changing the function of apps, and you can't go back to and older OS. You've got to agree though it's daft having two quick accesses to the smart stack?

My OS definitely updated itself overnight.

 

[ssledoux]

I’ve been super frustrated too. Is there a video anywhere that explains all the new stuff In watchOS10? I haven’t even had time to mess with it, but it’s really annoying - I can’t even get mine to wake up without going through several steps that were totally unnecessary before the update.

 

[Scubaman]

WatchOS 10! If it ain’t broke don’t bother fixing it! “Glance-ability” is the key feature of a watch - quick glance for the time / is it going to rain in the next 30 mins / how much charge is left?

All this has gone!! PLUS my S8 watch battery is discharging more quickly!

Apple - this version of watchOS is a dog…

 

[ginkobiloba]

i agree with everything that’s been said. I’ve been using the Watch since version 1 and this is by far the worse OS update. Everything that made the Watch so useful in accessing information faster than using the iphone has deteriorated, to the point where it is now faster to access the info from the iphone than the watch.

Lots of “solutions” for problems that never existed in the first place.

 

[MisterSavage]

Can’t change watch faces with swiping

If you hold down on a watch face for a few seconds you can still change to others with swiping. I much prefer the old way though.

 

[TracerAnalog]

Yeah I get there's always some that prefer it, but a choice would be nice. I'm not sure how being able to assign button and crown functionality would affect backwards compatibility? You're not changing the function of apps, and you can't go back to and older OS. You've got to agree though it's daft having two quick accesses to the smart stack?

My OS definitely updated itself overnight.

Indeed, we all have our own preferences 😊. I didn’t know about the third way to get to the Smart Stack (via the app list), and that does puzzle me (why is it there??). The other two ways (scroll wheel and finger) feel intuitively the same to me.
Complexity: more permutations to handle in the OS and apps, and once you decided to provide backwards compatibility to users, you have to start to carry old functionality forward. Apple hardly ever does that, because they want to freely change their products.

 

[Ethosik]

All their efforts now are on Vision Pro which is sad. Their better and mature products get the low quality focus.

This is why I hate Vision Pro. All products now are bad. I have 7 Mac’s an iPhone an Apple Watch and two iPads. The last two years software wise have been horrible.

 

[Larsvonhier]

WatchOS 10! If it ain’t broke don’t bother fixing it! “Glance-ability” is the key feature of a watch - quick glance for the time / is it going to rain in the next 30 mins / how much charge is left?

All this has gone!! PLUS my S8 watch battery is discharging more quickly!

Apple - this version of watchOS is a dog…

wOS 10 on my Watch S4 is draining battery in a way that limits the span of my usage to around 8-10pm daily. Whereas the same watch lasted to well after midnight on wOS 9.x.
I sent bug reports to Apple during beta test phase (and hoped that the debug code bloat during beta would be optimized for the release). Nothing in that direction happened. Still a draining mess now. Wish I could downgrade (despite I really like the new look & feel contrary to others posting here).

 

[toobravetosave]

If you hold down on a watch face for a few seconds you can still change to others with swiping. I much prefer the old way though.

That is called changing the watch face by not swiping sorry

 

[metapro]

I actually quite like the weather apps new screen with current weather and all data in one go - what I don't like, is the OS think that if I press a temperature complication, I want to look at only temperature - What the f*? I never want to look at only temperature! I run every day, so for me it's always a matter of what to wear and when to run - with the new app it thinks I never really want to look at that

Like most of you, I don’t like that I can’t change watch faces by swiping anymore and the widgets. What I do for your weather situation is have a temperature complication, but not tap it. In the Weather app, I leave it on Condition. That way, whenever I say to Siri, “Open Weather“ it opens to the Weather Condition, and I can always see the temperature on my complication. Hope that gets you what you want!

 

[Rychiar]

I wish they’d do away with widgets altogether. I just want more complications. Even on the minimalist watch faces. Just make them invible til ya tap it or something. I have about 5 complications I’d want access to at all times.

 

[missingar]

One of the features I use the most is to check the weather forecast for today as my kids are leaving for school to make sure they have the right equipment. In 10, it feels like you need a PhD and a very tenacious tapping finger to make use of the weather app...

Which part of this process is causing you grief?

 

[neuropsychguy]

I like the new OS more than previous versions. 🤷‍♂️ Anything that wasn't clear how to do just took a little reading and learning. WatchOS 10 seems to provide faster access to a lot more functions than previous versions. Some things take a little more time (changing watch face) but on average I can get to apps or data or whatever else more quickly.

 

[jonblatho]

The widgets is the biggest fail of the new WatchOS. I have had it on my ultra since the betas and in all seriousness not used it once

Strongly disagree; I used to constantly use the Infograph face because it was the only one with enough room to look at things I wanted to look at frequently but maybe not constantly. Offloading that to widgets has allowed me to use simpler, more aesthetically pleasing watch faces and instead nudge the crown when I want to check the weather or my next calendar event.

 

[missingar]

Strongly disagree; I used to constantly use the Infograph face because it was the only one with enough room to look at things I wanted to look at frequently but maybe not constantly. Offloading that to widgets has allowed me to use simpler, more aesthetically pleasing watch faces and instead nudge the crown when I want to check the weather or my next calendar event.

I’m in the same boat. I didn’t like the changes at first because they were changes. It did require me to adjust how I used the watch, which I understand presents some friction for people. But now I love it. I can use really nice watch faces and tuck useful information and app shortcuts into the widget screen, and rearrange my app view to put my most common apps at the top for quick access.

 

[ShiftHappens]

Which part of this process is causing you grief?View attachment 2301871

Opening the app is not the issue - I actually have it as a corner widget. The issues are:
1) While going "your way" takes you directly to the 12 hour view (interesting), going via the widget takes you to the "temperature right now" view (which is what's also shown by the widget, so probably not why I go there). So first step (coming from the widget) is to scroll down to the 12 hour view.
2) Instead of, like before, toggle between temperature and chance/risk of rain (which are my two main concerns) when tapping, you have a bunch of other predictions that took me a while to figure out what they were, and most of them don't interest me on a daily basis (like visibility, humidity and UV index (not very exciting in Swedish fall/winter)). So if I tap once to much, I need to go full circle to get to what I wanted - more often than not clicking once to many again 🙃

 

[missingar]

Opening the app is not the issue - I actually have it as a corner widget. The issues are:
1) While going "your way" takes you directly to the 12 hour view (interesting), going via the widget takes you to the "temperature right now" view (which is what's also shown by the widget, so probably not why I go there). So first step (coming from the widget) is to scroll down to the 12 hour view.
2) Instead of, like before, toggle between temperature and chance/risk of rain (which are my two main concerns) when tapping, you have a bunch of other predictions that took me a while to figure out what they were, and most of them don't interest me on a daily basis (like visibility, humidity and UV index (not very exciting in Swedish fall/winter)). So if I tap once to much, I need to go full circle to get to what I wanted - more often than not clicking once to many again 🙃

By widget do you mean complication? Cuz my way was widget, and it’s significantly more efficient than going in via complication.

Tap the icon in the top right corner of the weather app and you can switch to whatever view you want without cycling through them

 

[OrenLindsey]

Apple really should have shipped this update years ago. It makes watchOS more like a mini version of iOS. So as a heavy Apple Watch user, I really like it.

 

[ShiftHappens]

By widget do you mean complication? Cuz my way was widget, and it’s significantly more efficient than going in via complication.

Tap the icon in the top right corner of the weather app and you can switch to whatever view you want without cycling through them

Widget - Shmidget 🤪 You're right of course - Complication (interesting term for it...).

Thanks - tapping that icon is a step forward, but it's still two taps instead of one and it takes some focus to hit that little thing...

 

[missingar]

Widget - Shmidget 🤪 You're right of course - Complication (interesting term for it...).

Thanks - tapping that icon is a step forward, but it's still two taps instead of one and it takes some focus to hit that little thing...
View attachment 2301951

The word complication with respect to watches far precedes Apple Watch by probably hundreds of years

 

[T4t3r]

10.1 is now available

 

[Unami]

I have to agree with everything said here. It's the worst update since Version 1, essentially a downgrade of software functionality (e.g. usability) and hardware (e.g. battery life).