Is Apple Watch's Home app supposed to be slow?

[wesley96]

I'm currently using Apple Watch Series 2 with watchOS 3.2.3, iPhone 7 Plus with iOS 10.3.3, and Apple TV 4th Gen with tvOS 10.2.2. The OS are on the latest non-beta versions as of this writing.

So far, device status update on the iPhone's Home app is manageable - a couple of seconds for Philips Hue (ZigBee-then-Bridge) and Koogeek (Wi-Fi), and about 5 seconds for Elgato Eve (Bluetooth LE) when accessed outside home from a cold launch.

But in the case of the Apple Watch's counterpart, all the updates are painfully slow. They generally take more than ten seconds to complete after a cold launch, and sometimes it just outright fails (no response). This is while being at home. I have to wonder if this is simply expected, e.g. a limitation of the AW's platform, or something not being right.

I also read somewhere that having too many Bluetooth LE devices may cause interference, so maybe having 13 Elgato Eve devices might be playing a role?

 

[BrettStah]

My watch is also noticeably slower for all homekit related things including Siri commands. I suspect it's because the watch has to communicate through the phone, so there's a middleman involved.

 

[Heiser]

I also experience this slowness on my AW3 w/ WatchOS 4.2, iPhoneX on 11.2, and a ATV Gen4 on 11.2.1. I use HomeKit for my Hue lights. I have about 24 lights now. At first I thought the slowness may be related to the number of devices, so I cleaned up the Home App so it only shows my favorite scenes and three light groups. No change, still slow as molasses.

Voice commands are acceptable on the Watch. Actually using the Home App on the Watch is painfully slow. I only use it when I don't care how long the change takes.

 

[cynics]

The watch is communicating through the phone. While the protocols use are fast there are software issues that need to be dealt with. For example, what state is the phone in? Does it need to be "woken up" for a low power mode? Does the AW leverage the iPhones home app data or just using its internet? Does the iPhone need to check for wifi or if on cellular? Etc etc.

The Home app can operate independently of the phone. I would suggest putting the iPhone in Airplane mode while you are home so the watch can connect to wifi then see if the delay is still there.

My device response times verify. Sometimes they are lightning fast, other times they are bit slower.

Something that is a problem is the lack of UI prioritization in the AW's Home app. While its updating devices the app is a laggy stuttery mess.

 

[xraydoc]

The watch is communicating through the phone. While the protocols use are fast there are software issues that need to be dealt with. For example, what state is the phone in? Does it need to be "woken up" for a low power mode? Does the AW leverage the iPhones home app data or just using its internet? Does the iPhone need to check for wifi or if on cellular? Etc etc.

The Home app can operate independently of the phone. I would suggest putting the iPhone in Airplane mode while you are home so the watch can connect to wifi then see if the delay is still there.

My device response times verify. Sometimes they are lightning fast, other times they are bit slower.

Something that is a problem is the lack of UI prioritization in the AW's Home app. While its updating devices the app is a laggy stuttery mess.

Mine is slow as well, even on my home WiFi on my series 3 watch. Definitely an area that can use improvement.

Just giving verbal commands to Siri, however, is much faster (fortunately) than using the Home app itself on the watch.

 

[JDShkolnik]

The Home app is useless on Apple Watch.

 

[itcrashed]

From my experience, when I am more than 30 or so feet away from my phone it can take up to 10 seconds for the requests to initiate. If I'm near my phone, its fairly quick. I'm using a Series 3 watch. It's pretty clear that the watch doesn't communicate directly with the home hub and performance is based on the watch's ability to communicate with your phone.

 

[JDShkolnik]

From my experience, when I am more than 30 or so feet away from my phone it can take up to 10 seconds for the requests to initiate. If I'm near my phone, its fairly quick. I'm using a Series 3 watch. It's pretty clear that the watch doesn't communicate directly with the home hub and performance is based on the watch's ability to communicate with your phone.

How many favorite scenes and accessories? I have 8 scenes and 15 accessories in favorites. On my Apple Watch 2, it can take a minute to load the app and become responsive to scrolling through the list (assuming it doesn't crash first.) If it does load, leaving and returning to the app right away will still require me to wait all over again.

I also just did a quick tally of my full setup. It's 14 scenes and...

• Native
  • Hue
    • Bridges: 2
    • Light Bulbs: 49
    • Go Lights: 3
    • Motion Sensors: 14
    • Taps: 1
    • Dimmers: 10
  • Leviton
    • Dimmers: 6
    • Switches: 1
  • Apple
    • TVs: 3
    • HomePods: 2
  • Koogeek
    • Power Outlets: 2
• Homebridge
  • Wemo
    • Switches: 1
    • Power Outlets: 2
  • Samsung
    • TVs: 1
  • TCL
    • TVs: 1
  • Alarm.com
    • Security Panels: 1
    • Locks: 4
  • A bunch of virtual accessories and flags

 

[Newtons Apple]

The watch IS slow.