watchOS 10.2 Beta Reintroduces Option to Change Apple Watch Faces With a Swipe

[MrGimper]

Agree with others .... pointless change and glad it's back.

And also agree with changing side button back to a dock and swipe up for CC .... absolute numpty changes!

Also noticed today that when you are using the Siri face, scrolling the crown to get widgets doesn't work as it just scrolls the Siri suggestions. Also swiping up from the bottom of the screen just scrolls the Siri suggestions.

 

[robbietop]

Because it was too easy to accidentally switch watch faces. Many of us were frustrated to look down and find the wrong watch face showing as a result of a casual brush against something. I frequently had to change my watch faces after putting on a coat. In Watch OS 10, Apple changed it to require a long press before you could swipe to change the face. That seems to have been a problem for some. Now they have created a setting that lets users choose one or the other behavior to satisfy both groups of users.

Oh, I had that happen too....but again....slight inconvenience fixed by swiping back to the right one.

 

[Tagbert]

Oh, I had that happen too....but again....slight inconvenience fixed by swiping back to the right one.

It was always at an inconvenient time. My normal Watch face shows my next appointments. The alternate faces do not. I would be in a hurry and look at my watch and there would be nothing there. Having to switch was annoying.

They switched it to requiring a long-press to switch but some people complained that that was in inconvenience because they…. switch faces on a minute by minute basis? Anyway, now that there is a configuration to set your watch to use either fast switching or slower switching, it gives both sets of users the behavior that they want.

 

[WU27f1xcCs]

Yes, very much absurd, especially the fitness summary. Instead of sticking with information rich and data dense, they went with information poor and data minimalism.

I have issues with podcasts too on the Watch. Instead of playing downloaded podcasts sometimes, the Watch might play podcasts from the phone even when I select episodes specifically in the Download section.

Also they took away the weekly steps and distance summary

 

[manu chao]

How about they let give us our side button back. Why they moved control center (something I don’t even use) to the side button and removing the ability to have a favorites dock is beyond me. Feels like this years OS’s updates have been worse.

Maybe they thought that swiping up opens the “app switcher” on iPhones and iPads? The Watch screen is unfortunately too small to have two downwards swipe options like on iPhones and iPads.

 

[manu chao]

It was always at an inconvenient time. My normal Watch face shows my next appointments. The alternate faces do not. I would be in a hurry and look at my watch and there would be nothing there. Having to switch was annoying.

They switched it to requiring a long-press to switch but some people complained that that was in inconvenience because they…. switch faces on a minute by minute basis? Anyway, now that there is a configuration to set your watch to use either fast switching or slower switching, it gives both sets of users the behavior that they want.

I treat watch faces as I treat homescreen pages on an iPhone and in some sense like (a horizontal swiping) app switching on an iPhone, with each face representing a custom app. Imagine having to long press, swipe, tap to switch home screens or quickly switch between apps.

 

[Tagbert]

I treat watch faces as I treat homescreen pages on an iPhone and in some sense like (a horizontal swiping) app switching on an iPhone, with each face representing a custom app. Imagine having to long press, swipe, tap to switch home screens or quickly switch between apps.

I would find little use of that but it if works for you, then this new option to enable that mode should be helpful for you.

I’m just glad not have have Watch faces that seem to change themselves at random.