Since I updated to watchOS 10, Music and Podcast librairies seems to have merged with the ones on my iPhone. It's very complicated to select the music (or podcast) that is actually downloaded on my watch. Does anyone know how to solve this?
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Apps Music is a mess in watchOS 10
- Thread starter Mr Bungle
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With WatchOS 10, there are a lot more interactions needed to find your music. Previously, there was just a list of album covers and you could easily start playing an album.
Now, I ofter need 6 steps to get to my albums stored on the watch which used to be available without drilling down.
My use case is that I want to be able to go on a jog while listening to music on my watch via bluetooth headphones. I leave my iPhone at home. I do not subscribe to Apple Music and I don't want to be streaming data via cellular to the watch while I am out running (battery life of the Watch is low enough already).
Apple Watch Series 5 with cellular data plan
WatchOS 10.0.1
Now, I ofter need 6 steps to get to my albums stored on the watch which used to be available without drilling down.
- If "Now playing" is automatically selected, press the left arrow in the upper right corner to return to the top-most level of menus in the Music app.
- Scroll down and select Library.
- Scroll down and select Downloaded.
- Scroll down and select Albums.
- Scroll down and select a particular album.
- To play the album, you have to scroll down yet again to reveal the list of songs on that album and then select a song to play.
My use case is that I want to be able to go on a jog while listening to music on my watch via bluetooth headphones. I leave my iPhone at home. I do not subscribe to Apple Music and I don't want to be streaming data via cellular to the watch while I am out running (battery life of the Watch is low enough already).
Apple Watch Series 5 with cellular data plan
WatchOS 10.0.1
I don't use Apple's Podcast app but on the Music app, there is a Downloaded selection in the Library. This allows you to sort by Artist, Album, Playlist, etc.
This will however play what’s downloaded on your iPhone if it’s nearby.
There are two options, either move away from your iPhone, or put it on airplane mode, and this will then just show you music/podcasts on your watch.
Or on your watch:
1. Open Music or Podcasts
2. Press the ‘Now Playing’ button in the top right
3. In ‘Now Playing’ press the 3 dots menu in the top right
4. Press ‘Airplay’
5. Scroll to the bottom and press ‘Control other speakers and TVs’
6. Press ‘Apple Watch’
I know it’s sounds bonkers but this is how you switch between displaying what’s on your iPhone or what’s on your watch.
I complained about it during the betas, they really need an easy to use top menu to clearly switch source similar to what they had before, but this is what they went with.
Sure, because Apple wants to reduce battery wear where possible. I don't see any need to play from my watch if my iPhone is nearby. But I also have no problem if Apple makes it easier to play directly from the watch if the user wants to.
In my case, I want to choose my Music before I go for a run, and it's annoying to have to put my phone on airplane mode to do this. Another bad impact of this mess: my watch never knows where my playlist stopped the day before, and it's over again. I make long playlists to make sure I don't listen to the same music day after day.
Maybe I'm missing something but I would go to Library>Downloaded on the watch and choose albums, songs or playlists from there. I don't see why you have to put the iPhone in Airplane mode.
Yep, there's one thing you're missing: the downloaded section shows me every album that is downloaded on my iPhone library.
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Hmm, mine doesn't. It just shows what's on the Watch. I checked for that before I posted. Series 9. Watch OS 10.0.2. iPhone 12 Pro iOS 17.0.3.
Weird that it works for me as I expect.
I totally agree that it is a mess and difficult to navigate... I also have the issue of starting music as I leave for a run and it actually playing from my phone and not my watch... Then when I get out of range I have to start it again... Maybe switching to Spotify is a good decision for now
Looks like WatchOS 10.1.1 removed the need for step 6 above. Once you drill down to the album, you can just tap the play button in the lower right corner and it starts playing the first song on the album without first needing to drag up on the screen.
Once you are in the list of downloaded albums, playing a different album is fairly easy, but for some reason the watch keeps popping back to the "Now Playing" section requiring the above 5 levels to drill back down to play a downloaded album.
Maybe I'll try running far enough away from my house and iPhone before starting the music to see if that helps. For me the whole point of the watch with cellular is to be able to go on a jog without needing to carry along my iPhone.