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Lack of WatchOS 2 3rd Party Apps

B

Bob190

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 21, 2015
447
164
A bit disappointed (and surprised) by the lack of WatchOS 2 apps available.

Especially, in the fitness arena ... Running, Cycling, etc.

I would have expected the major players like Strava, Nike+, etc. to have their WatchOS 2 apps ready at the time of the launch since they had months and months to get those ready. Especially given that they could now take advantage of the watch sensors.

Oh well, guess I just need to patient.
 
maybe there are a bunch of apps that are watchOS 2 ready but are just being hung up for being released because they are still being reviewed by apple.
 
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mattburley7 said:
maybe there are a bunch of apps that are watchOS 2 ready but are just being hung up for being released because they are still being reviewed by apple.
Click to expand...

Possibly .. you would have thought Apple would have moved them to the front of the queue.
 
They'll come slowly, it seems like every dev was in a rush to have a terrible app day 1 now that they can make it native they're taking their time
 
A lot of the developers still have issues to fix with their apps since apple discovered that "critical" bug that delayed OS2. I believe that bug has caused many developers to have to adjust their apps as well. Within a week I'm sure the trickle will turn into a flood of apps.
 
Give it a little time. Apps are just coming out with iOS 9 support it was out last Wednesday.

Runtastic is already os2 ready and has its own complication. It actually has access and uses the sensors.
 
D
BlueMoon63 said:
Give it a little time. Apps are just coming out with iOS 9 support it was out last Wednesday.

Runtastic is already os2 ready and has its own complication. It actually has access and uses the sensors.
Click to expand...

Does the running included in Activity ring?
 
I'm concerned Apple made a strategic mistake when they decided to launch the Apple Watch *WITHOUT* native apps. So many developers made launch window Apple Watch non-native "apps" (3000-5000!) but as we all know the vast majority were simply terrible because of being non-native. The excitement over apps on the Watch is now muted and many, many of those developers are likely taking a wait and see attitude because they don't want to use more development time. I hope I'm wrong but the difference is stark... day 1 of Apple Watch you had 3000+ apps and day 1 of native apps you have what... 20? The SDK has been out a while now and these Apps aren't super complex so I don't know that time explains why there are so few. Hope I'm wrong but I'm uneasy.
 
BlueMoon63 said:
Give it a little time. Apps are just coming out with iOS 9 support it was out last Wednesday.

Runtastic is already os2 ready and has its own complication. It actually has access and uses the sensors.
Click to expand...


Well, just tried the Runtastic Pro WatchOS 2 app and it was a nearly complete failure. The app froze on the watch at about the 7:45 minute mark, and then would update every now and then, but it never showed current data nor did it update continuously. The phone app did continue to update at least. At the end of the run, I tried to end it from the watch as per the instructions, it was completely unresponsive. Had to end the run on the phone and the HR data wasn't saved.

Waste of time and $4.99 ... I won't use it again.
 
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Bob190 said:
A bit disappointed (and surprised) by the lack of WatchOS 2 apps available.

Especially, in the fitness arena ... Running, Cycling, etc.

I would have expected the major players like Strava, Nike+, etc. to have their WatchOS 2 apps ready at the time of the launch since they had months and months to get those ready. Especially given that they could now take advantage of the watch sensors.

Oh well, guess I just need to patient.
Click to expand...
Maybe with the "Bug" the major players had to go back and re-code for the OS2? I don't know but it seems most of the apps are being delayed for some reason.
 
canyonblue737 said:
I'm concerned Apple made a strategic mistake when they decided to launch the Apple Watch *WITHOUT* native apps. So many developers made launch window Apple Watch non-native "apps" (3000-5000!) but as we all know the vast majority were simply terrible because of being non-native.
Click to expand...
So far my experience has only been somewhat better with the few native apps available now....
 
I'd rather not see them rushed and have the developers really work hard on them to keep them small in size and have great features. Work that code and amaze us!
 
Seem to be a lot of people who have never tried to develop any software before. "App, work!" is not how it goes. This is especially true with watch apps since it's a platform that didn't exist six months ago. You can test on simulators all you want, but it's not the real thing. Apple delayed the final OS by a few days for a bug, so why be shocked that apps aren't ready on day two?

Have patience. I just updated 30 apps on my iPad. There's a lot of crap getting reviewed now.
 
Apple (and some fan site) put so much emphasis on how native apps will be much faster than non-native apps on the Watch but so far I haven't seen any significant difference on the speed. Most of the so called native apps are still quite slow.
 
haruhiko said:
Apple (and some fan site) put so much emphasis on how native apps will be much faster than non-native apps on the Watch but so far I haven't seen any significant difference on the speed. Most of the so called native apps are still quite slow.
Click to expand...

I just checked out WebMD and Wink because I'm pretty sure they're now native. I could definitely tell a speed difference.

A lot of issues still may be due to communication lag. I think The Weather Channel is native, but it still took a few seconds to load.
 
Michael CM1 said:
I just checked out WebMD and Wink because I'm pretty sure they're now native. I could definitely tell a speed difference.

A lot of issues still may be due to communication lag. I think The Weather Channel is native, but it still took a few seconds to load.
Click to expand...
I think my bad experience was exactly from The Weather Channel app. Not only the app loads slowly, the temperature sometimes jumps between Fahrenheit and Celcius (the TWC app on my phone uses Celcius). The complication is not that useful too.
 
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