See watchOS 4.1's Music Streaming and New Radio App in Action

[BaltimoreMediaBlog]

it's not Radio people! It's Timmy's radio. Dick Tracy still says, "My radio was better."

Why doesn't the radio chip in the watch actually play the FM radio in it? Baffles my mind why Apple ignores that.

Calling it a radio at all is false advertising in my opinion. If it actually worked as a Bluetooth FM radio to your earpiece, that would be mind boggling technology.

 

[Jdd8]

So will the Apple Watch with GPS (no LTE) be able to stream Apple Music over WiFi without the phone nearby?

 

[PaulRustad007]

I cannot even get 4.0! Keeps telling me that 3.x.x is current. Have no idea what to do....rebooted, re-paired, removed beta profiles, update to 11.1...still no luck.

 

[YeetMan56]

Is the LTE model worth the update from the original 2015? Also is the stainless steel model worth the extra price over the aluminum?

 

[JRoDDz]

Will the Series 3 GPS (non-LTE) work for Apple Music?

 

[Mtmspa]

it's not Radio people! It's Timmy's radio. Dick Tracy still says, "My radio was better."

Why doesn't the radio chip in the watch actually play the FM radio in it? Baffles my mind why Apple ignores that.

Calling it a radio at all is false advertising in my opinion. If it actually worked as a Bluetooth FM radio to your earpiece, that would be mind boggling technology.

Actual live radio is commercials, blowhards talking about nothing and about 20 minutes of music per hour. Who want to go back to that BS when there is commercial free, continuous Apple Music?
[doublepost=1506570780][/doublepost]

So will the Apple Watch with GPS (no LTE) be able to stream Apple Music over WiFi without the phone nearby?

Nope.

 

[ersan191]

it's not Radio people! It's Timmy's radio. Dick Tracy still says, "My radio was better."

Why doesn't the radio chip in the watch actually play the FM radio in it? Baffles my mind why Apple ignores that.

Calling it a radio at all is false advertising in my opinion. If it actually worked as a Bluetooth FM radio to your earpiece, that would be mind boggling technology.

There are tons of crappy wristwatch FM radios - go look on Amazon, that's very old technology and isn't impressive at all.

 

[BaltimoreMediaBlog]

There are tons of crappy wristwatch FM radios - go look on Amazon, that's very old technology and isn't impressive at all.

Apparently you know nothing about HD Radio and non-commercial radio with many digital stations on air. Tesla recently removed all streaming and radio from its cars. You'll only get what they want you to get.
Is that what you support?

ALSO the APPLE WATCH cannot give you local Emergency radio alerts from your local radio station.

Despite what the fanboys here might say, the FCC is looking at making FM reception on cell phones and possibly this device suggested or mandatory simply for safety reasons.

Your playlist is not going to let you know the tornado is about to kill you.

As it is now, you're relying on your cell phone provider or Apple or Google to tell you the tornado is coming, not any local forecast. How much do you trust them?

 

[ersan191]

Apparently you know nothing about HD Radio and non-commercial radio with many digital stations on air. Tesla recently removed all streaming and radio from its cars. You'll only get what they want you to get.
Is that what you support?

ALSO the APPLE WATCH cannot give you local Emergency radio alerts from your local radio station.

Despite what the fanboys here might say, the FCC is looking at making FM reception on cell phones and possibly this device suggested or mandatory simply for safety reasons.

Your playlist is not going to let you know the tornado is about to kill you.

As it is now, you're relying on your cell phone provider or Apple or Google to tell you the tornado is coming, not any local forecast. How much do you trust them?

All Tesla's have FM Radios, I don't know what you're talking about.

Apple Watch and iPhone both have emergency notifications, and if you're paranoid about your cell service not working for some reason, and you don't have a car stereo AND getting hit by a freak tornado (and that listening to an FM radio broadcast will somehow save your life) you're free to go buy a pocket/wristwatch FM radio for <$10 and walk around with it 24/7

Cell Phones have FM radio hardware but not antennas, and asking companies to try and cram another antenna into an already insanely cramped space for a feature nobody really cares about is unreasonable.

You're relying on an FM transmitter functioning in emergencies the same as you're relying on a 3G/4G tower functioning, one isn't necessarily more reliable than the other.

Besides, my point was only that it isn't impressive technology, as you said, not that it wouldn't be (mildly) useful

 

[FelixDerKater]

A bizarre novelty.

 

[BaltimoreMediaBlog]

All Tesla's have FM Radios, I don't know what you're talking about.

Apple Watch and iPhone both have emergency notifications, and if you're paranoid about your cell service not working for some reason, and you don't have a car stereo AND getting hit by a freak tornado (and that listening to an FM radio broadcast will somehow save your life) you're free to go buy a pocket/wristwatch FM radio for <$10 and walk around with it 24/7

Cell Phones have FM radio hardware but not antennas, and asking companies to try and cram another antenna into an already insanely cramped space for a feature nobody really cares about is unreasonable.

You're relying on an FM transmitter functioning in emergencies the same as you're relying on a 3G/4G tower functioning, one isn't necessarily more reliable than the other.

Besides, my point was only that it isn't impressive technology, as you said, not that it wouldn't be (mildly) useful

All Teslas current on the road currently do, but the Model 3 is not yet on the road.
Tesla announced the radio equipment for the Model 3. That's where I got the info. You will only have Tesla's own streaming packages and one article said FM radio was removed compared to previous vehicles.

I would trust a local radio station with a tower about to be destroyed than to trust Google or Apple in California or my cell phone company. Sorry.
People owning cell phones and Apple Watches erroneously think that NOAA or NASA is sending them warnings. Nope. It's not the REAL weather service. It all relies on not only the towers, but people at Apple, Google, and Verizon, ATT, T-Mobile, & Sprint. I personally would like another option.

As for antennas, there's a lot of new tech there too. The new DTV antennas for ATSC 3.0 will be tiny, maybe as small as a dime like the Aereo antennas. Using the same tech, Digital FM radio could easily use a watch band as an FM/TV antenna. It would require the brilliance of Jonny Ive to take credit for it, but he's too busy on this THINNESS problem that nobody cares about.

But I digress and risk turning this discussion into a style over function category. But as you can tell I'm in the function category over style.

 

[Apple Bite]

ok... does this mean that the AW LTE can be a phone? in other words... I can buy just an AW and use it like a phone or it needs an iPhone anyway?

 

[ersan191]

All Teslas current on the road currently do, but the Model 3 is not yet on the road.
Tesla announced the radio equipment for the Model 3. That's where I got the info. You will only have Tesla's own streaming packages and one article said FM radio was removed compared to previous vehicles.

I would trust a local radio station with a tower about to be destroyed than to trust Google or Apple in California or my cell phone company. Sorry.
People owning cell phones and Apple Watches erroneously think that NOAA or NASA is sending them warnings. Nope. It's not the REAL weather service. It all relies on not only the towers, but people at Apple, Google, and Verizon, ATT, T-Mobile, & Sprint. I personally would like another option.

As for antennas, there's a lot of new tech there too. The new DTV antennas for ATSC 3.0 will be tiny, maybe as small as a dime like the Aereo antennas. Using the same tech, Digital FM radio could easily use a watch band as an FM/TV antenna. It would require the brilliance of Jonny Ive to take credit for it, but he's too busy on this THINNESS problem that nobody cares about.

But I digress and risk turning this discussion into a style over function category. But as you can tell I'm in the function category over style.

Any article claiming the Model 3 doesn't have an FM radio has been modified or rescinded at this point - they aren't being delivered to end users yet and don't have the final software on them. They said there will be an update that enables FM radio, and they all come with FM antennas and hardware.

WEA (Wireless Emergency Alerts) have been around since 2012 and have proven to be extremely effective, even more effective than radio since you don't have to already be listening to it to receive the information, and yes they require the cooperation of mobile service providers but there are already agreements in place that do so - there isn't some guy sitting in a room at Verizon or Apple typing up the alerts and sending them, they are issued by US Government agencies and automatically forwarded to relevant devices (with higher priority than SMS/Voice/Data) with no intervention by carriers or device makers.

Something 'as small as a dime' is an absolutely massive amount space in a phone or especially a watch - FM radio is a problem "nobody cares about", significantly more people are more interested in having a thinner watch (me included) than enabling a 75 year old technology that is all but obsolete.
[doublepost=1506576366][/doublepost]

ok... does this mean that the AW LTE can be a phone? in other words... I can buy just an AW and use it like a phone or it needs an iPhone anyway?

As of right now you still need an iPhone to get it activated and working, but I can see this requirement going away eventually.

 

[MacOG728893]

Here I am at the gym today thinking this is the only compelling reason for me to upgrade.. Apple plays it smart. There's nothing in this Watch I want except this feature.

 

[chochazel]

The watch has WiFi, what are you referring to?

When Apple first announced the iPod 16 years ago, there was a famous comment on slashdot that said, "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame." and it has gone down in history as a particularly ridiculous comment and a demonstration of how much better Apple is at understanding the market than random know-it-all commenters on the internet.

https://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-ipod

It's a reference to this beast of a device:

https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Labs-NOMAD-Jukebox-Player/dp/B000068OJM

Other references:

https://www.macworld.com/article/1053500/consumer-electronics/ipodreax.html

https://gizmodo.com/5846133/the-best-ipod-prediction-ever-made

http://www.chriscoldewey.com/2010/01/27/no-wireless-less-space-than-a-nomad-lame/

 

[ersan191]

When Apple first announced the iPod 16 years ago, there was a famous comment on slashdot that said, "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame." and it has gone down in history as a particularly ridiculous comment and a demonstration of how much better Apple is at understanding the market than random know-it-all commenters on the internet.

That quote is so popular (and hilarious) because CmdrTaco is Rob Malda - a co-founder and at the time editor in chief of Slashdot.

 

[BaltimoreMediaBlog]

Any article claiming the Model 3 doesn't have an FM radio has been modified or rescinded at this point - they aren't being delivered to end users yet and don't have the final software on them. They said there will be an update that enables FM radio, and they all come with FM antennas and hardware.

WEA (Wireless Emergency Alerts) have been around since 2012 and have proven to be extremely effective, even more effective than radio since you don't have to already be listening to it to receive the information, and yes they require the cooperation of mobile service providers but there are already agreements in place that do so - there isn't some guy sitting in a room at Verizon or Apple typing up the alerts and sending them, they are issued by US Government agencies and automatically forwarded to relevant devices (with higher priority than SMS/Voice/Data) with no intervention by carriers or device makers.

Something 'as small as a dime' is an absolutely massive amount space in a phone or especially a watch - FM radio is a problem "nobody cares about", significantly more people are more interested in having a thinner watch (me included) than enabling a 75 year old technology that is all but obsolete.
[doublepost=1506576366][/doublepost]
As of right now you still need an iPhone to get it activated and working, but I can see this requirement going away eventually.

I guess that puts you firmly in the camp of the poor do not deserve tornado warnings.

Screw free radio and TV. It's not chic enough. If you can't pay, you die.

Meanwhile, you use MY airwaves? Hmm.

Oh, and Tesla promises they might add it back huh? Well I think I won that argument.

And wrong, the government sends no warnings directly to your cell phones or Apple Watch. I follow the FCC. I know this is not true. They are only now forcing Cable TV companies to start complying. But this has always been true of broadcast radio and TV. I got no warning from Comcast when my house was damaged by a direcho storm. The Weather Channel issued alerts, but the cable company dropped the ball. Too many chefs in the kitchen. The warnings from EAS to broadcast radio & TV are DIRECT. Broadcast companies have to have an automatic EAS system by law that requires no person to do anything. NOAA issues the warning and all stations systems automatically comply or they are FINED by the FCC! Cell phone and cable companies are not required to have this, at least not yet. The FCC is considering requiring FM radios in Cell phones to be unlocked for this very reason. There are hearings on this going on. You clearly do not understand this.

Disclaimer: Not true in many countries, but in the US, free TV and radio is by law guaranteed or has been since the 75 years he's talking about. He doesn't care if it goes away for the poor that can't afford to pay for this nice new technology. Technological advances apparently are only for the rich. Thank You.

 

[Fatboy71]

Streamed for about 45 minutes to the AirPods over LTE with some texting and news reading. Used about 5-6% battery.

Not scientific but I would say expect about 10% drop per hour of streaming. This was on a strong Verizon LTE signal.

That's really useful to know, thanks for that info. I was wondering earlier, how battery would be streaming via LTE. Mostly my gym sessions last for an hour, so it's good to know roughly how much battery will be lost during that period. I don't have the AirPods, but I would expect most Bluetooth earphones would be roughly the same on the Apple Watch's battery.

Thanks again
[doublepost=1506580011][/doublepost]

It's not yet clear just how much streaming music over an LTE connection will affect battery life

See post #4 on how much battery was lost streaming via LTE

 

[Ritte]

All I want to be able to do is to plug in my 3.5mm headphones to my iphone 6s+, and place my iphone in my jacket/backpack and be able to control the music from the watch. I want to choose playlist,album, artist or song. Just like in WatchOS 3.

This morning, I listened to music and pressed "next" on my apple watch s3 to play the song I wanted by a certain artist. I accidentally skipped too far twice (missed the song), and finally gave up searching for it by skipping. Had to take out my phone to play the song.

 

[DeepIn2U]

A very interesting debate about FM Radio in phones or not going on.

Understanding both sides ... would be nice the machine learning Apple proposes had Siri & iMessage push emergency broadcast association alerts to our smartphones. I’ll bet Google Now and Amazons Alexia just might already.

Given August’s crazy triple Hurricane sweep affecting a Texas, Florida, the Caribbean as well as Puerto Rico ... some nations have users ONLY with smartphones now - newer generations probably don’t even have a home stereo or boom box portable connected to receive traditional broascasts. Yes economics may say they would but we don’t know. Regardless many of us could still benefit from early warning systems to our new aged devices. Safety is a good thing we shouldn’t ignore.


Back on topic where is true sync for iMessage? Why do BT 4.2 headphones keep cutting out with WatchOS 4 STILL? Grrr.

 

[Shoju]

It's not like before. It doesn't have a library that points to your phone's library and data. It shows apple music.

Well, that's annoying if you want to listen to music from your library that hasn’t been added via Apple Music.
That’ll be like in the old days where we had to sync our phones with iTunes manually. I’m not feeling overly nostalgic about that..

 

[ilyakapitan]

Guys, probably a stupid question but..

Since 4.1 gives you ability to stream over WiFi... Will I be able to use my watch and stream music without the phone?
Apple doesn't even officially sell watches in my country, so there's not going to be any LTE soon. Even if I'll get myself an LTE version it's just because steel model doesn't come in any other option.

 

[ersan191]

A very interesting debate about FM Radio in phones or not going on.

Understanding both sides ... would be nice the machine learning Apple proposes had Siri & iMessage push emergency broadcast association alerts to our smartphones. I’ll bet Google Now and Amazons Alexia just might already.

Given August’s crazy triple Hurricane sweep affecting a Texas, Florida, the Caribbean as well as Puerto Rico ... some nations have users ONLY with smartphones now - newer generations probably don’t even have a home stereo or boom box portable connected to receive traditional broascasts. Yes economics may say they would but we don’t know. Regardless many of us could still benefit from early warning systems to our new aged devices. Safety is a good thing we shouldn’t ignore.


Back on topic where is true sync for iMessage? Why do BT 4.2 headphones keep cutting out with WatchOS 4 STILL? Grrr.

I live in South Florida and was hit by Irma and even I bought a small battery powered AM/FM radio as part of the emergency supplies (which I never even turned on), but I don't feel that this is something that needs to exist in phones and watches. During the storm, WEA allowed the NOAA to issue us a number tornado warnings with extreme precision (I mean literally 1/4 mile areas were targeted, because they send it to a specific cell tower and everyone in range receives the notification) which I got on my phone the instant they occurred, FM radio can't even come close to that.

I also don't have cable, and even though I lost power I was still easily able to stream the weather channel, CNN, and local news to my phone which anyone watching broadcast or cable TV couldn't do without power (unless they had a battery operated television, I suppose, which I would consider a more egregious luxury than a mobile phone - though from what I understand the signal isn't very great when there's a hurricane outside anyway). Things like this are making us safer and better informed in disasters, I don't really understand the logic of forcibly relying on obsolescing technology instead of baking emergency services into new technology like they have been (and it has been working great).

I have no idea where this "poor people won't get emergency information" because they don't have a high-end iPhone logic is coming from, I'm not advocating that FM be killed off - I just see no need for it to be in modern electronics where society is headed, it's inefficient.

 

[bigandtasty]

Tell us how you really feel. I love Apple Music.

I don't like it. I don't LOVE Music

Feelings, by Jack Handy...

 

[Mike MA]

It's some amazing features currently added to the Apple Watch, still I just wonder who is actually streaming music over LTE. I tend to stream music only when a wireless connection is available, though using downloaded music when being not in reach of any connection. Saying this, I own a rather big data plan with 10GB, but it seems more and more people are using unlimited data plans.