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WatchOS 5 on Series 3 - First Impressions

bodonnell202

bodonnell202

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jan 5, 2016
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Calgary, Alberta, Canada
After my first full day (yesterday) with WatchOS 5 on my Series 3, so far I'm impressed. Other than subtle tweaks nothing that I use really seems to have changed, but it felt a bit faster and more stable to me (especially using the workout app) compared to WatchOS 4. I guess time will tell if the same lag issues with workouts and music pop up, but so far so good.
 
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What’s the music app like? Does it still play the first track of a playlist automatically when you select the playlist? Does it allow scrolling through the playlist contents with the digital crown?
 
Duncan-UK said:
What’s the music app like? Does it still play the first track of a playlist automatically when you select the playlist? Does it allow scrolling through the playlist contents with the digital crown?
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Yes, it still starts at the beginning but you can click the icon in the bottom left corner and and select shuffle or scroll through the track listing (was that in WatchOS 4 too? I actually can't remember as I tend to just start my workout playlist when at the gym or out for a run and go). Starting a playlist and then starting a workout on the watch just felt a lot more fluid to me though.
 
Thanks for the response. On my s0 when playing a playlist from my phone all I get is the airplay icon bottom left and the stupid like/dislike/delete option on the right. No option at all to either shuffle or scroll through the track listing.

I’m semi interested in upgrading to s4 as at least there’s a chance under os5 of a decent music app being reinstated (ie the one we had prior to os4) but I’m not willing to buy blind. It just makes me incensed how Apple crippled the music app for no reason at all. They are so addicted to filling the watch with pointless gimmicks that they ignore key functionality. Given the size of phones these days it was brilliant to be able to leave it in a bag or jacket pocket and do everything to listen to music on a commute from the watch.

Also in England saying “hey Siri” in public just isn’t done. You’d not only feel stupid but look it too. And as my homepods have proven, choosing music via voice command is incredibly hit and miss.
 
Duncan-UK said:
Thanks for the response. On my s0 when playing a playlist from my phone all I get is the airplay icon bottom left and the stupid like/dislike/delete option on the right. No option at all to either shuffle or scroll through the track listing.

I’m semi interested in upgrading to s4 as at least there’s a chance under os5 of a decent music app being reinstated (ie the one we had prior to os4) but I’m not willing to buy blind. It just makes me incensed how Apple crippled the music app for no reason at all. They are so addicted to filling the watch with pointless gimmicks that they ignore key functionality. Given the size of phones these days it was brilliant to be able to leave it in a bag or jacket pocket and do everything to listen to music on a commute from the watch.

Also in England saying “hey Siri” in public just isn’t done. You’d not only feel stupid but look it too. And as my homepods have proven, choosing music via voice command is incredibly hit and miss.
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Well I'd say if my Series 3 has that functionality, the Series 4 should definitely have it.

With regards to Siri, I haven't tried Siri with WatchOS 5 (or iOS 12) yet, but I assume she is just as useless as always. As an aside I never use Siri for anything, as I have as yet to figure out anything that Siri is useful for.
 
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I use Siri for Homekit. My favorite usage is opening the garage door when I'm on my bike and didn't bring the garage remote with me.

Regarding WatchOS 5, so far it feels exactly the same as 4.
 
I just posted the following in a sticky thread:

Since installing WatchOS 5 on my AW3, the battery life has taken a significant hit. I usually got easily over two days on a charge, and now I'm down to 10 percent after a day and a half.

Also, the calendar app on the watch always shows "no upcoming events" even though there are scheduled events and the watch even gives me notifications of them.

Edit: I just tried disabling the calendar app by unchecking "mirror my iPhone" and then re-enabling it. It now shows upcoming events. Hopefully, it will stay that way.
 
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Smoothie said:
I just posted the following in a sticky thread:

Since installing WatchOS 5 on my AW3, the battery life has taken a significant hit. I usually got easily over two days on a charge, and now I'm down to 10 percent after a day and a half.

Also, the calendar app on the watch always shows "no upcoming events" even though there are scheduled events and the watch even gives me notifications of them.
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Hmmm, the calendar app on my S3 still seems to work fine and battery life was about the same for me yesterday (I usually finish a day with between 50-60% charge remaining and yesterday it was 52% when I put it on the charger when I went to bed). Hopefully your issues resolve themselves.
 
i’m happy so far with the update...making me take pause in upgrading to the SS gold 44m...i really like my SS black but that gold and bigger size is tempting but after downloading the update, i’m gonna chill. lol
 
Smoothie said:
I just posted the following in a sticky thread:

Since installing WatchOS 5 on my AW3, the battery life has taken a significant hit. I usually got easily over two days on a charge, and now I'm down to 10 percent after a day and a half.

Also, the calendar app on the watch always shows "no upcoming events" even though there are scheduled events and the watch even gives me notifications of them.

Edit: I just tried disabling the calendar app by unchecking "mirror my iPhone" and then re-enabling it. It now shows upcoming events. Hopefully, it will stay that way.
Click to expand...

Just picked up a Series 3 again (black stainless steel for $250 was good enough to skip S04, for now!) and also noticed reasonably poor battery life, though it could be that I'm using the device a good bit. Will try to reinstall if it doesn't improve over the next week!
 
I am happy with the update, but here are my personal observations: Raise to speak for Siri is cool, but a little difficult to use with how quickly you have to speak. Luckily "Hey Siri" still works well for all other times. The podcasts app is awesome, but it DRAINS my battery like crazy. The walkie talkie is cool, I've used it a few times, but several times it hasn't been able to connect with the person i'm talking with.
 
Maybe its just my imagination but my Move circle seems to be closing faster. Into my 2nd day so far so its too soon to tell perhaps but just a hunch. Anyone observe something similar?
 
mck88 said:
Maybe its just my imagination but my Move circle seems to be closing faster. Into my 2nd day so far so its too soon to tell perhaps but just a hunch. Anyone observe something similar?
Click to expand...

Going for my first swim with OS5, I noticed the active calories are higher than they were before the update.

Before the update, if I burned 650 total calories, the active calories would be much lower.
 
@hipsheik Similar experience on this end. Maybe we need to give it few days to get re-calibrated. Let's see if it settles back. Meanwhile I will increase my daily Move target to compensate. It is all relative after all. Appreciate your input.
 
bodonnell202 said:
Hmmm, the calendar app on my S3 still seems to work fine and battery life was about the same for me yesterday (I usually finish a day with between 50-60% charge remaining and yesterday it was 52% when I put it on the charger when I went to bed). Hopefully your issues resolve themselves.
Click to expand...
Try using one of the color faces and see if it works for you.
On my AW3 on WatchOS5, clock still works, but none of the complications work and the center area is a solid color.
I like the look, but it is not very functional.
 
I’ve noticed that the font in the workout app has gotten much smaller on my series 3, and it’s much more difficult to read while exercising. That’s been a very annoying change to me.

Other than that, everything seems to be good on mine.
 
I love the fact we now have a podcast app...that's what I have been looking forward to. the siri watch face? very disappointing. It's no different than the OS4
 
Noticed that too. I think the top animated icon is a little bigger taking up too much space. If you edit the data presented in workout app and remote 1 data element the rest will be increased in font size. I know its not the best solution but the only one I could think of

PaladinGuy said:
I’ve noticed that the font in the workout app has gotten much smaller on my series 3, and it’s much more difficult to read while exercising. That’s been a very annoying change to me.

Other than that, everything seems to be good on mine.
Click to expand...
 
James.K.Polk said:
Just picked up a Series 3 again (black stainless steel for $250 was good enough to skip S04, for now!) and also noticed reasonably poor battery life, though it could be that I'm using the device a good bit. Will try to reinstall if it doesn't improve over the next week!
Click to expand...
Before you go the full unpair / pair process, you might want to try a Force Restart of your Apple Watch, hold down the side button and the Digital Crown at the same time for at least ten seconds, until the Apple logo.

Dave
 
I like it so far but don’t see the animated stickers on my watch in messages. Did the update remove them?
 
Tofupunch said:
Are any of you guys noticing blurrier UI? Check out this thread and compare the screenshots. I'm curious to see what your findings are. I want to update my  watch 3 to watchOS 5 but am holding off bc of this.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/watchos-5-series-3-blurry-ui.2138976/#post-26513581
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Honesty I haven’t noticed any difference.
[doublepost=1537418887][/doublepost]
rojocrandall said:
Try using one of the color faces and see if it works for you.
On my AW3 on WatchOS5, clock still works, but none of the complications work and the center area is a solid color.
I like the look, but it is not very functional.
Click to expand...
I tried but I can’t reproduce that issue. It seems to work normally for me.
 
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My lte isn’t ringing when it’s stand alone. Only when it’s close to phone. Used to ring when I went on a jog without my phone but now just shows I missed a call. I can place calls but get no notification when someone is calling me
 
Leggee said:
Yes, they've been removed. Took me 30 minutes of trying to find them before Googling and finding out they were removed. Doh!
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Thank you! I thought I was doing something wrong. I really liked them
[doublepost=1537527011][/doublepost]I used to use Siri to start a workout & that’s no longer working. :(
 
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