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spinedoc77

macrumors G4
Original poster
Jun 11, 2009
11,488
5,413
I'm not finding the dock at all on Watch OS 10, did Apple really just completely get rid of it? I can get to recently used apps, but that's much different than having shortcuts of my favorite apps. Widgets doesn't really help either, for example I can't get to multi timers easily and have to make a widget for each timer. I routinely use a lot of different timers when working out. I don't get why clicking the button was easier than just swiping up for control center. You also can't "widget" any app, only those who have made widgets, which means almost all my old favorites in the dock can't be made widgets.

F'en Apple, again making things more complicated by making them more simple.
 
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I'm not finding the dock at all on Watch OS 10, did Apple really just completely get rid of it? I can get to recently used apps, but that's much different than having shortcuts of my favorite apps. Widgets doesn't really help either, for example I can't get to multi timers easily and have to make a widget for each timer. I routinely use a lot of different timers when working out. I don't get why clicking the button was easier than just swiping up for control center. You also can't "widget" any app, only those who have made widgets, which means almost all my old favorites in the dock can't be made widgets.

F'en Apple, again making things more complicated by making them more simple.
Double tapping the crown will bring up recently used apps, kind of like swiping up on the iPhone. Not the same as the dock but kinda gets you part of the way there.
 
Noticed this morning that when you bring up the application switcher on the watch (double click of the crown), you can swipe away apps you don't want in there. Swipe right to left on an app window and a big red X will appear. Tap it to close the app and it disappears from the application switcher.

They come back of course next time you open them, but at least you can keep the recently used ones you want in there until you open something else. Not sure if it stops any background tasks, too, like closing an app on the iPhone from the application switcher. But seems to function similarly to the iPhone otherwise insofar as the app switcher.
 
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Swipe up to enter Widgets mode. There you'll find a Favorites palet with 3 slots, that resembles a Dock.
That is, at least, how I use it. HTH


incoming-797CE7AE-FB30-44BA-808E-5F694E24D215.PNG
 
Swipe up to enter Widgets mode. There you'll find a Favorites palet with 3 slots, that resembles a Dock.
That is, at least, how I use it. HTH


View attachment 2280496
I’m doing the same. I removed all the Widgets and put useful apps in those three spots. I wish photos could be one, but using the grid view for that. I also wish that the grid had a favorites only mode.
 
Noticed this morning that when you bring up the application switcher on the watch (double click of the crown), you can swipe away apps you don't want in there. Swipe right to left on an app window and a big red X will appear. Tap it to close the app and it disappears from the application switcher.

They come back of course next time you open them, but at least you can keep the recently used ones you want in there until you open something else. Not sure if it stops any background tasks, too, like closing an app on the iPhone from the application switcher. But seems to function similarly to the iPhone otherwise insofar as the app switcher.
This is not something new, it has been like this for years.

The only difference between iOS 10 and before is that before iOS 10 you entered the dock (app switcher) with one press on the side button and since iOS 10 you do it with a double press of the crown.
 
This is not something new, it has been like this for years.

The only difference between iOS 10 and before is that before iOS 10 you entered the dock (app switcher) with one press on the side button and since iOS 10 you do it with a double press of the crown.
Not really. The side button used to bring up the dock, which included both recent apps and any pinned apps that you wanted. The "replacement" app switcher just shows recent apps with no way to pin apps.

The widget screen can pin widgets, and one of the built-in widgets has a place to pin three app icons, but not all apps are eligible to be pinned at the bottom for some reason; only apps that otherwise support widgets, even if you're not using one if its widgets. For example, I cannot pin the Peloton watch app to one the three little icon spots since the app doesn't support widgets. But I can pin, say, Music or Carrot, since those apps do support widgets. Perhaps Peloton will update their watch app, but we'll have to see.
 
It isn't great, but I use the grid view (one crown tap) and have my most used/favorite apps at the top of the grid, so no scrolling to get to them. I still liked the dock better, but this works until some of my most used apps update with a widget.
 
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Double tapping the crown will bring up recently used apps, kind of like swiping up on the iPhone. Not the same as the dock but kinda gets you part of the way there.

Yeah it's the best that can be done for now, but it's not even close to the functionality of the old Dock. Just today I realized you can't swipe up to access widgets while inside an app.
 
Swipe up to enter Widgets mode. There you'll find a Favorites palet with 3 slots, that resembles a Dock.
That is, at least, how I use it. HTH


View attachment 2280496

Yeah I wish that was able to accept apps, it only accepts widgets. But it's better than nothing at least I can put 3 different timers on there. The only issue is you can't access widgets when an app is open.
 
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There is no Dock in Apple Watch now but why Apple support article still mentions you can rearrange apps in your Dock???

Choose between Recents or Favorites
The Dock can show your most recent apps or up to 10 of your favorite apps. When you choose Recents, your apps appear in the order that you opened them. When you choose Favorites, you can choose the apps that appear, but your most recently used app still appears at the top of the Dock. If it's not already a favorite, you can tap Keep in Dock to add it.
Here's how to choose what appears:
Open the Watch app on your iPhone.
Tap the My Watch tab, then tap Dock.
Tap Recents or Favorites.


 
It seems like WOS 10 was just change for the sake of change and not really useful.
After about a week I’m going to disagree. The watch seems more useful with watch faces that host few (or no) complications. My two favorite new faces are exactly this: Snoopy and Solar Analog. Snoopy has no complications and Solar Analog has just one small one and the date. Having the stack on the crown scroll means that I can use these faces and not miss out on functionality.
 
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