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Is watchOS 3 b1 stable?

JerTheGeek

JerTheGeek

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 15, 2014
1,993
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Hey all. I'm wondering how stable the beta 1 of watchOS 3 is. Good enough to be a daily driver? I don't mind occasional bugs, (I'm running iOS 10 now and both my iPhone and iPad cause I love testing out new software), but since it is irreversible, I want to be sure that it is stable/decent enough for daily use without too many issues.
Thanks!
 
JerTheGeek said:
Is battery decent?
Click to expand...

It's alright. If you need it to last the entire day, you may want to consider not running it, but if you have access to a charger early evening (depending on when you take it off the charger), you should be fine. It's definitely a bit less than 2.2.1, but if you're able to use a charger as it gets later on in the day, you'll be fine. It's bearable... for me at least. YMMV.
 
Excellent for me. After a 10 hour workday I was still at 72% when I got home.
 
Battery is good for me as well without a re-pair. It's "worse" than 2.2.2 but I blame some of that on the dock choices.

7/10 would be my rating but 5/10 for iOS 10 beta. The new features and speed make the Apple Watch great to me. Add GPS would attract more buyers.
 
JerTheGeek said:
Is battery decent?
Click to expand...
I have had mine on since 7:45AM this morning. It is now 10:45. Battery currently at 94%. Received bunches of notifications, showed my wife all the new features and sent a few scribbles replies. Checked weather a handful of times, rearranged apps and deleted some. Added a few new ones to the dock. HR checked every 10 mins.

I would say 6% over 3 hours given the above is good.
 
StophMac24 said:
I have had mine on since 7:45AM this morning. It is now 10:45. Battery currently at 94%. Received bunches of notifications, showed my wife all the new features and sent a few scribbles replies. Checked weather a handful of times, rearranged apps and deleted some. Added a few new ones to the dock. HR checked every 10 mins.

I would say 6% over 3 hours given the above is good.
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That's good! Seems like it's a pretty good beta overall. Think I might take the plunge sometime soon!
 
You've had your AW since launch, right? Hope you have AC+ if you do take the plunge because wOS 3 beta isn't downgradable and would need to be serviced by Apple if something goes wrong.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
You've had your AW since launch, right? Hope you have AC+ if you do take the plunge because wOS 3 beta isn't downgradable and would need to be serviced by Apple if something goes wrong.
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Yes Ive had it since launch; I don't have AC, and yeah I think I'll hold off. Just not worth it if something goes wrong. I can wait till September. And I want something to look forward to when all the new software gets released, since I'm already using iOS 10 and will probably get macOS when the PB comes.
 
It's pretty darn stable. I've had one respring (just took a few seconds so definitely not a reboot) and experienced a bit of stutter/jitter here and there (but not in the new dock) but overall it's a great improvement.

Other people have pointed it though; consider the risk you're taking by using the beta. It's much more of a weighty decision than the iOS or macOS betas because there's a marginal chance of a bricked watch and no way back.
 
One thing I notice on my beta watch using the Activity Analog watch face is the delay when raising my wrist. There is actually a one second pause when you think it didn't notice the wrist raise before the screen lights up. Not sure others have experienced that or not... It doesn't happen all the time, but it isn't a rare thing.

The complication icons for some native apps are far too large to look good while others are the perfect size. Reading from WWDC it appears developers will have more flexibility with the complications so I expect that to be better. Apple complications like Activity and Battery are too large while Alarm and Workout are a better size. Some third part apps - even in my dock have a delay while others are instant like Carrot while Fantastical was slower. All in all, the dock is great and very fast.

The watch OS3 beta 1 is far superior than the iOS10 beta 1 - that is for sure.
 
BlueMoon63 said:
One thing I notice on my beta watch using the Activity Analog watch face is the delay when raising my wrist. There is actually a one second pause when you think it didn't notice the wrist raise before the screen lights up. Not sure others have experienced that or not... It doesn't happen all the time, but it isn't a rare thing.

The complication icons for some native apps are far too large to look good while others are the perfect size. Reading from WWDC it appears developers will have more flexibility with the complications so I expect that to be better. Apple complications like Activity and Battery are too large while Alarm and Workout are a better size. Some third part apps - even in my dock have a delay while others are instant like Carrot while Fantastical was slower. All in all, the dock is great and very fast.

The watch OS3 beta 1 is far superior than the iOS10 beta 1 - that is for sure.
Click to expand...

I have noticed the same issue with the wrist raise.
 
For anyone out there is running 3.0 beta, could you do me a huge favor? Can you download the free app (Seattle Transit) and see if it loads on the Watch? It's the only app I depend on for daily use outside of Apple's built in apps. If it works, I think I would jump into the beta.
 
DribbleCastle said:
For anyone out there is running 3.0 beta, could you do me a huge favor? Can you download the free app (Seattle Transit) and see if it loads on the Watch? It's the only app I depend on for daily use outside of Apple's built in apps. If it works, I think I would jump into the beta.[/QUOT

Seems like its working.
Click to expand...
 
JerTheGeek said:
Hey all. I'm wondering how stable the beta 1 of watchOS 3 is. Good enough to be a daily driver? I don't mind occasional bugs, (I'm running iOS 10 now and both my iPhone and iPad cause I love testing out new software), but since it is irreversible, I want to be sure that it is stable/decent enough for daily use without too many issues.
Thanks!
Click to expand...

My son was curious if the iOS 10 and watch OS3 work with snapchat? Anyone use that app on iPhone? I was also informed that Apple OS can send notifications on to the watch.
 

Appreciate you giving it a try! After two days with iOS 10, I think I'm feeling confident enough to try WatchOS 3.0. No going back to iOS 9 for the whole summer if I make this move. Well unless I have my Watch serviced by Apple etc. Ha, new software and features are an addiction. I'm sure I'll be swearing at myself sometime this summer regretting my decision, but I've been doing it for years now. Don't ever remember an iOS beta 1 being this good. Makes me wonder if they will release the new iPhone a little earlier this year of if they are just shooting for a higher quality with the 10.0 release. Hopefully the later.
 
DribbleCastle said:
After two days with iOS 10, I think I'm feeling confident enough to try WatchOS 3.0. No going back to iOS 9 for the whole summer if I make this move. Well unless I have my Watch serviced by Apple etc. Ha, new software and features are an addiction.
Click to expand...
Haha I agree, I LOVE testing out new software and features, so fun. I'm on iOS 10 too and am enjoying it as well. Don't see myself needing to go back at all. So I don't see any reason why I shouldn't go to watchOS 3! Well except for the non revertable thing .
 
It's worth it for the more intuitive UI and new watch faces alone. I was hoping for better faces around the activity rings and they didn't disappoint. Being able to swipe to change faces is nice (as someone who regularly switched). I agree that some complications need refining for size but there are more that can act as shortcuts now.

The improved speed claim is a work in progress. Some apps load quicker, or appear to, like weather, whereas other third party apps still have load times. I'm not sure if apps load the same information quicker or just less information to start with (weather seems to layer information more so may be pulling info depending on usage or predicted usage - still optimised I guess).
 
What are the chances of actually bricking the watch running the beta? I don't think it's likely but in reality should it be of any concern? Cause if not I'll probably just run the beta.
 
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