Question about how the Apple watch works

Armen · Mar 20, 2015

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

Gav2k · Mar 20, 2015

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

As per the keynote any notification that your phone gets is available to your watch

Armen · Mar 20, 2015

Gav2k said:
As per the keynote any notification that your phone gets is available to your watch

I know that!

I'm talking about what actions you can take on that notification. Where are those defined?

troop231 · Mar 20, 2015

Armen said:
I know that!

I'm talking about what actions you can take on that notification. Where are those defined?

They're defined in the app extensions, so yes, devs will need to update their iPhone apps.

Armen · Mar 20, 2015

troop231 said:
They're defined in the app extensions, so yes, devs will need to update their iPhone apps.

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.

troop231 · Mar 20, 2015

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.

Yup.

8CoreWhore · Mar 20, 2015

http://www.imore.com/apple-watch

This is a great, easy to read and understanding article about the Watch. It has everything - a great reference.

Armen · Mar 20, 2015

8CoreWhore said:
http://www.imore.com/apple-watch

This is a great, easy to read and understanding article about the Watch. It has everything - a great reference.

Thanks I'll check it out.

Lennyvalentin · Mar 20, 2015

Armen said:
For example you could not call for an uber car unless you had the uber app installed on the watch itself.

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...

Armen · Mar 20, 2015

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...

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.

troop231 · Mar 20, 2015

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.

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.

Armen · Mar 20, 2015

troop231 said:
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.

Ah Ok.

KauaiBruce · Mar 20, 2015

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...

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)

zaneliu94 · Mar 20, 2015

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?

Armen · Mar 20, 2015

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?

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.

zaneliu94 · Mar 20, 2015

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.

That'd be great. Fits Apple's simplicity of use and makes my life easier

Defender2010 · Mar 20, 2015

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.

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

Armen · Mar 22, 2015

Defender2010 said:
uber app on iPhone- uber app watch kit extension on Watch. Not technically an app. Those are coming later this year.

If that's the case good. What differentiates the need for an app or just an extension from the phone app?

Defender2010 · Mar 23, 2015

Armen said:
If that's the case good. What differentiates the need for an app or just an extension from the phone app?

No idea on that at the moment. I guess Apple will let us know at WWDC.

Question about how the Apple watch works

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