Everything New in watchOS 4.3: iPhone Music Controls, Portrait Orientation Nightstand Mode and More

[DynaFXD]

Wow! I am totally psyched about being able to control my music from my Apple Watch.

Just so I can save myself the agony of doing it on my iPhone. Which is in my pocket.

Dunno if that was /s or what, .... don't knock it 'til you try it. Waze isn't supported by CarPlay. I can use my watch to control music and podcasts (skip ahead, etc) w/o having to switch from the waze screen while driving. All sorts of other times using the watch to control the music and volume play back on the phone is just super convenient. Sometimes, I _want_ to keep my phone in my pocket or back pack or what-have-you.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Hmmmm, not working for me and many others. Any suggestions on how to make them work? Are they working for you?

They are working for me. I haven’t done anything special for it to work. Must be a bug you and some others are experiencing.

 

[Saipher]

I was hoping Watch OS 4.3 supported iMessage in iCloud the way 11.3 does on the phone. The phone syncs to iCloud but the watch does not yet sync. Or is the plan to never sync with the watch?
When I say sync, I'm primarily talking about deleting messages on one carries over to the other. I currently still have to delete them in both places.
If not, it would be nice to get a "delete all messages" option. Deleting them off the watch one by one is tedious.

^This Apple, please.

 

[satchmo]

How they can allow us to download offline music but not podcast is seriously annoying. How hard can that possibly be?

Probably saving this for watchOS 5. Gotta have some 'big feature' to sell Watch series 4.
Truly sad.

 

[DoctaSfink]

Is there any way to stop my series 3 from calling siri whenever the crown is pressed? I've tried different band sizes and watch orientation with no success. Every time my wrist goes at a 90 degree angle or further, siri pops up. Is this a feature Apple will implement, or am I missing something?

 

[Tech198]

The orientation in the watch is just silly....

On a Phone, that feature is ok because you are holding it most times anyway, on a watch it makes little sense expect when charging..

I guess Apple likes these small "unique" style things, but sometimes i wish they didn't.

Users may have wanted it, but how often do you charge while on the nightstand and can't read the time ?

 

[IJ Reilly]

I want Night Stand Mode to always be on when plugged in... otherwise whats the point of it?

Good point. I'd like the nightstand display to be more customizable. Why do the numerals need to be green?

 

[NeuralControl]

I'm really glad they included the Activity Rings as part of the Siri Watch face. I use that face a lot, with the rings as the upper left complication. Now I can replace it with something else.

Hope to see even more improvements to the Siri Watch face in further updates - especially third party sources for the cards.

 

[redneckitengineer]

But still no Podcasts.....ugh

 

[iGeek2014]

Is there any way to stop my series 3 from calling siri whenever the crown is pressed? I've tried different band sizes and watch orientation with no success. Every time my wrist goes at a 90 degree angle or further, siri pops up. Is this a feature Apple will implement, or am I missing something?

The only way I've found of stopping this is by turning off Siri altogether I'm afraid.

 

[pcorrado]

^This Apple, please.

If I recall, this worked in the initial iOS 11/ watchOS 4 beta cycle (until they took it away). I expect it will return. Unless the watch syncing was a problem area?

 

[The Game 161]

Air power must be close if they are making Apple Watch charge in portrait

 

[msew]

Progress. I hope I get Breathe Reminders

response from support.

"We have new requirements for Breathe Reminders in watchOS 4: - user must be sedentary for a period of time - user must not have an event scheduled in their Calendar - if a user does a workout or another Breathe session, the next Breathe reminder will be rescheduled."

 

[Abazigal]

My boyfriend recently bought one of these. Really the only feature he wanted was a pedometer that stayed on the screen at all times. How is this not an out-of-the-box feature? How about they add THAT feature in one of these new versions of the software?

There’s a free app, pedometer++, for that.

 

[Abazigal]

How they can allow us to download offline music but not podcast is seriously annoying. How hard can that possibly be?

Space could be one concern. If you don’t listen to those podcasts, they could accumulate over time and take up a lot of space. This is unlike your music library where the content largely remains unchanged.

I suspect there are a lot more considerations going on behind the scenes than simply adding a podcast app and calling it a day.

That’s my guess at least.

 

[pcorrado]

Air power must be close if they are making Apple Watch charge in portrait

Good point. Also the changed charging animation.

 

[WilliamG]

I wish there were a way to switch from BlueTooth to wireless when the phone is jut far enough away for BT to see the phone but not transfer any data.

PLEASE YES. This drives me nuts. Watch is essentially useless when I go downstairs in my house without my phone, but of course... it still maintains the connection to the iPhone X.

 

[justiny]

I want Night Stand Mode to always be on when plugged in... otherwise whats the point of it?

Good point. I'd like the nightstand display to be more customizable. Why do the numerals need to be green?

With the WATCH screen being OLED, wouldn’t it be prone to burn-in? I always thought that was the reason Apple never implemented the green nightstand mode to be always on while charging, unless it shifts the pixels the way other OLED “always-on” displays do.

At any rate, the fewer lights while I sleep, the better. I actually like making a slight tap anywhere on my nightstand and seeing the watch wake up with the time.

But having the consumer make the choice for themselves is something Apple needs to acknowledge.

 

[siddavis]

Still no podcasts

Really. What the hell is do hard about implementing podcasts? I have sent numerous requests to Apple about it.

 

[s15119]

response from support.

"We have new requirements for Breathe Reminders in watchOS 4: - user must be sedentary for a period of time - user must not have an event scheduled in their Calendar - if a user does a workout or another Breathe session, the next Breathe reminder will be rescheduled."

I thought of several replies but the mods would probably spank me. I'll just sigh and live without the breath reminders

 

[xpxp2002]

The only way I've found of stopping this is by turning off Siri altogether I'm afraid.

What about wearing the Watch "upside-down"? You can set the orientation in Settings so that the crown is on the elbow side of your wrist. Perhaps that may help?

 

[Rochy Bay]

I don't miss the "iPhone" Watch at all. they don't know what else to add to it in order to sell more. I still like the Fitbit Ionic. So much thinner and lighter in weight. It does what I need it to do and holds a charge for 5 days. Apple is **whatever** now a days.

 

[Aston441]

Does anyone know if Apple is forbidding companies like TuneIn and iHeart and Google and SoundCloud from streaming to the Watch?
[doublepost=1517026918][/doublepost]

I want Night Stand Mode to always be on when plugged in... otherwise whats the point of it?

It could be an OLED burn-in issue?

 

[IJ Reilly]

With the WATCH screen being OLED, wouldn’t it be prone to burn-in? I always thought that was the reason Apple never implemented the green nightstand mode to be always on while charging, unless it shifts the pixels the way other OLED “always-on” displays do.

At any rate, the fewer lights while I sleep, the better. I actually like making a slight tap anywhere on my nightstand and seeing the watch wake up with the time.

But having the consumer make the choice for themselves is something Apple needs to acknowledge.

Another good point. Always on could be an option. Personally I would not want it on all the time but I would prefer red to green for the nightstand display.

 

[Lerxt]

Why don’t they put a Bluetooth based proximity alarm so you don’t leave your phone somewhere accidentally...?