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Two watch app icons do nothing?
- Thread starter Easttime
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Thank you. I was able to identify them by seeing their proper icons in the Watch app on my iPhone under App Layout. Then fixed it by installing them in the iPhone app. But why would those two show up that way on the Watch when there are several other apps I have chosen not to install and do not have those spider web icons?
That's a bug in WatchOS that I've found. If an app updates on your phone to add a Watch extension, when it does the update it automatically adds it to your watch. To me that's a big bug. I don't want apps automatically showing up without me telling it to install to my Watch.
It's not a bug but a setting you can toggle. In My Watch app, General > Automatic Downloads.
I have that turned off, but I've still dealt with the issue of apps automatically showing up on my Watch without me installing them.
I think this feature (Automatic Downloads) might work correctly when I download new apps from the App Store, but not when an app updates itself on my Phone which includes a new Watch App (where it didn't have the Watch App before).
This is correct and annoying af.
The "Automatic Download" of app installation on iPhone option will only target new apps installed on the phone. If an older app is updated with WatchKit support, its Watch App will always be automatically installed. While it seems like a bug (and I would classify it as a UI bug), I'm pretty sure it's intended behavior.
In the beginning when apps were often getting updated with WK support, I'd look an have a handful of new apps installed! Annoying. At the same time, I noticed some apps that were "stuck" in the download process, like they started and then I walked away and broke the connection in the middle of something important. Flipping the toggles around for the apps in Watch settings on the phone, then restarting my watch (and sometimes my phone) seemed to fix the issue.
Yeah, I don't see why this should be considered a bug rather than intended behavior. If you have your iPhone apps set to update automatically, wouldn't you want the same thing on your Watch? Otherwise, turn off automatic update on the iPhone's side and you can always update manually as you see fit.
I consider it a "UI bug" because by disabling the automatic download toggle, the wording suggests that the Watch won't automatically download software at all. It's very inconsistent since there is an edge case in which apps _are_ installed automatically, and often at times when we're not presently attentive of it. Most people want our apps to be up to date, but not the ability install extensions that directly impact UI without our knowledge.
IMO it'd be like if an app made a Today Widget; I'm happy to be prompted to add that Widget as available at the bottom of NC, but I don't want it inserted just to have to remove it if it adds no value (because then, as a general user, I'd leave them as clutter and none of them would be used).
Edit: Bah, even if you were to disable automatic updates on your phone and then manually update an app, the Watch App will install itself anyway (requiring you to disable it from Watch app). While I still consider it intended behavior, I think it's a pity that the option doesn't cover applications that update from the phone.
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It's not intended behavior. It's listed as fixed in one of the newer watch version (Beta.) The installing of watch apps on the watch at update that you have turned off is a bug.
That's good to know.
What would be nice is if my phone would give me a notification saying "such-and-such an app just added a Watch app. Open the Watch app on your phone to install it on your Watch" or something that sounds less repetitive.