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Question about how the Apple watch works

Armen

Armen

macrumors 604
Original poster
Apr 30, 2013
7,408
2,274
Los Angeles
I'm unclear about something and would appreciate some feedback.

The watch has 3 modes from my understanding:

You are either interacting with a (1)notification that has come from the iPhone or you are (2)initiating an action directly from the watch itself or (3) you are viewing information such as glances that don't require interaction.

Regarding #1 where are the actions to a notification defined? Does a dev need to update their iphone app to include quick interactions when notifications are sent to the watch? I hope this isn't the case because it's kind of silly to have identical watch apps for every iPhone app just to be able to reply or interact with a notification.

-Armen
 
Armen said:
I'm unclear about something and would appreciate some feedback.

The watch has 3 modes from my understanding:

You are either interacting with a (1)notification that has come from the iPhone or you are (2)initiating an action directly from the watch itself or (3) you are viewing information such as glances that don't require interaction.

Regarding #1 where are the actions to a notification defined? Does a dev need to update their iphone app to include quick interactions when notifications are sent to the watch? I hope this isn't the case because it's kind of silly to have identical watch apps for every iPhone app just to be able to reply or interact with a notification.

-Armen
Click to expand...

As per the keynote any notification that your phone gets is available to your watch
 
troop231 said:
They're defined in the app extensions, so yes, devs will need to update their iPhone apps.
Click to expand...

Ok, and in order to initiate anything from the watch itself an app needs to be installed I take it? For example you could not call for an uber car unless you had the uber app installed on the watch itself.
 
Armen said:
Ok, and in order to initiate anything from the watch itself an app needs to be installed I take it? For example you could not call for an uber car unless you had the uber app installed on the watch itself.
Click to expand...

Yup.
 
Armen said:
For example you could not call for an uber car unless you had the uber app installed on the watch itself.
Click to expand...
It's worth noting though (or so I believe anyway, heh), that if you have a Watch synched to your iPhone, it will automatically be updated with app extensions without need for further user intervention. Like you install an app on your iPad, it will also appear on your iPhone, assuming there is room for it that is...
 
Lennyvalentin said:
It's worth noting though (or so I believe anyway, heh), that if you have a Watch synched to your iPhone, it will automatically be updated with app extensions without need for further user intervention. Like you install an app on your iPad, it will also appear on your iPhone, assuming there is room for it that is...
Click to expand...

Hmm so if I installed instagram and it had a watch app it would install that as well? Not sure I'm ok with that because I may not want the watch app version but am ok with notifications from the iphone app.
 
Armen said:
Hmm so if I installed instagram and it had a watch app it would install that as well? Not sure I'm ok with that because I may not want the watch app version but am ok with notifications from the iphone app.
Click to expand...

It won't install it automatically. Think of it as the widgets in Notification Center. Instead of tapping the edit button in Notification Center, you'll 'install' the app extension by using the companion app.
 
Lennyvalentin said:
It's worth noting though (or so I believe anyway, heh), that if you have a Watch synched to your iPhone, it will automatically be updated with app extensions without need for further user intervention. Like you install an app on your iPad, it will also appear on your iPhone, assuming there is room for it that is...
Click to expand...

I HOPE not. I just cleaned up my phone and iPad last night to get rid of all of the extra unwanted apps that got installed. On the iTunes side I finally noticed the checkbox to install everything usable by the device when synching. I have apps that I want just on my phone and apps that I want just on my iPad.

I really do not want anything auto downloaded to my watch. It would be nice though if an app would know the difference of sending the notification to a watch or a phone screen and possibly format it for the device.

Now if I could just figure out how to permanently delete old apps from my iTunes so they never come back to any device. (never mind. just figured it out)
 
I Just thought of a question for  Watch.

So when I get a text and I'm not on my phone, does my watch haptic tap AND my phone vibrate? Do I need to manually adjust the settings or will iPhone automatically adjust when paired?
 
zaneliu94 said:
I Just thought of a question for  Watch.

So when I get a text and I'm not on my phone, does my watch haptic tap AND my phone vibrate? Do I need to manually adjust the settings or will iPhone automatically adjust when paired?
Click to expand...

Something tells me if your watch is on your wrist all notifications come to the watch and when you take the watch off your wrist it goes to the phone. It may also be customizable.
 
Armen said:
Something tells me if your watch is on your wrist all notifications come to the watch and when you take the watch off your wrist it goes to the phone. It may also be customizable.
Click to expand...

That'd be great. Fits Apple's simplicity of use and makes my life easier
 
Armen said:
Ok, and in order to initiate anything from the watch itself an app needs to be installed I take it? For example you could not call for an uber car unless you had the uber app installed on the watch itself.
Click to expand...

uber app on iPhone- uber app watch kit extension on Watch. Not technically an app. Those are coming later this year.
 
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