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Glances ... what are they good for ... ?

NotSafeForWork

NotSafeForWork

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 9, 2015
249
95
I have been experimenting with Glances and come to the conclusion:-

1) They are a lot of swiping and waiting for not much value (if you want immediate status then stick a complication on your Watch face, if you need the full app it's quickest to just tap the complication itself or push the crown and launch the real app)
2) The only really useful Glance (for me at least) is the Now Playing in the car so I can easily control music/podcasts
3) I have removed all the other Glances so the swipe up always takes me straight to Now Playing (or at worst Settings and then one swipe to Now Playing)

Anyone found them more useful or am I missing something?
 
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You know I originally thought Glances would be my most-used feature and that I would rarely launch Apps; now that I've spent some time with the watch I think they should kill Glances entirely and just replace that part of the GUI with full-on apps. So instead of swiping between glances, you'd be swiping between your open Apps.

The glances are largely redundant, incomplete, non-functional (I'm looking at you "Now Playing") or just too slow to be usable.
 
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Glances will be much more useful when the speed issues are resolved. It would be nice if the device could keep a glance updated. That way it didn't need to pull new data.

They need to quickly add support for native apps.
 
NotSafeForWork said:
(if you want immediate status then stick a complication on your Watch face, if you need the full app it's quickest to just tap the complication itself or push the crown and launch the real app)
Click to expand...
To this point, my watch is not acting this way. My complications never update unless I look at that app in glances or in the full app.

i.e. I have the weather complication on my watch face. It is stuck at 55 degrees for about 6 hours now. If I swipe up and look at glances it says it's 62 degrees out. When I go back to the watch face the temp is updated. is this normal?
 
kevin86 said:
To this point, my watch is not acting this way. My complications never update unless I look at that app in glances or in the full app.
Click to expand...

Mine seem better than that, when I touch them the real app shows the same data (same temperature, stock price etc.).
 
One good thing is using it for 'app switching'. Setup up your most used Apps. It is a lot easer than trying to find and press the tiny app icon.
 
Alith said:
The fact that they went with this app extension thing makes me think that the phone is waiting on iOS9. I wouldn't be surprised if the watch SDK arrives in beta form along with iOS9 beta.
Click to expand...

That is what I am hoping for. If iOS 9 doesn't include some stuff for WatchKit I really fear for the platform.
 
Julien said:
One good thing is using it for 'app switching'. Setup up your most used Apps. It is a lot easer than trying to find and press the tiny app icon.
Click to expand...

I tried that but the problem then was when I needed to get to Now Playing I had to swipe UP from Watch screen then across from wherever I was Glancing previously.

Now Playing feels like a special case where you should be able to get to it immediately (like the Control Center on the iPhone) without digging through other apps/Glances.

Just my 0.02.
 
Anybody else nervous about glance journalism?

People who currently half-read the news will now be able to get their thoughts controlled in faster, bite-sized chunks.

Sounds like the perfect political weapon! :)
 
Very important for me, I only have a few important ones, so easy to swipe up swip left all the way to right get heart rate, swip all the way to left get runmeter app.

So for my most used apps I can get to information much easier then going to the home screen.

I think it's kinda like having a favorites list.
 
HarpuaPerk said:
Anybody else nervous about glance journalism?

People who currently half-read the news will now be able to get their thoughts controlled in faster, bite-sized chunks.

Sounds like the perfect political weapon! :)
Click to expand...

Most of these people already get their "news" from Twitter anyway :D
 
I actually use them quite often weirdly enough. I check Twitter, Instagram and the news.

But I agree that most are pointless. I removed most glances for the points you made. I think over time people will get smarted about what a glance should be used for. Not every app needs a glance as some feel forced or pointless.
 
NotSafeForWork said:
I have been experimenting with Glances and come to the conclusion:-

1) They are a lot of swiping and waiting for not much value (if you want immediate status then stick a complication on your Watch face, if you need the full app it's quickest to just tap the complication itself or push the crown and launch the real app)
2) The only really useful Glance (for me at least) is the Now Playing in the car so I can easily control music/podcasts
3) I have removed all the other Glances so the swipe up always takes me straight to Now Playing (or at worst Settings and then one swipe to Now Playing)

Anyone found them more useful or am I missing something?
Click to expand...

I wish the Heart Rate was a complication.

The only glance I use is the media controls. Rest are meh.
 
DISAGREE! Third party ones might not be useful but these certainly are:
- The "control center" with options for airplane mode, ping iPhone, silent
- Now Playing for controlling music in the car
- Battery status (i don't want that on my watch face - it's all I'll think about)

The calendar is useless though - only shows one appt!

Anybody know of a calculator app that works in glances?
 
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