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WatchOS is beyond stale at this point (OS27)

DMG35

DMG35

Contributor
Original poster
WatchOS is honestly an embarrassment at this point. I don't know who's running that department at Apple, but we've had essentially the same OS for about the past 5 years. I've been running OS27 beta 2 for about a week now and its easily the most underwhelming OS update I think the watch has ever had (the beta is rock solid from a stability standpoint btw).

Nothing new for health, workouts are exactly the same, OS looks exactly the same, a couple of new gestures and a new AI screen when you push the crown. I'm honestly shocked at how weak this update is and Apple is just on autopilot right now with WatchOS. There is literally nothing new in workouts except the stupid workout buddy (which most people will never use outside of hardcore Apple watch users). I've asked co-workers, family, friends, if they use workout buddy on their watch and not one person knew what I was talking about.

Maybe we'll get something new in September that they just haven't shown us yet but so far this is as underwhelming as it gets, at least in my opinion.
 
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So no "changes for change sake" - that's a good thing, while I'm not using the beta, the focus seems to be on bug fixes and UI improvements, works for me.
And give that Siri AI seems to be the primary focus of iOS/ipados/macos 27 this year, I'm glad it doesn't seem to be coming to watchOS, though we'll have to see what the Sep announcement brings.
Overall I'm happy with watchOS "as is", does everything I need.
 
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What would you like to see them add?

I'd like to see more training detail. I suspect it will come and it will be paywalled, and people will complain that it's killing third party app, but something more focused would be great. "Here's my target distance and date, let's go".
 
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It kinda reflects that the Apple Watch unit itself hasn't changed that much either. Rewind back to 2015 and the original AWs, I don't think many people would have believed it if someone would have said that the Series 11 is going to look close to identical
 
frou said:
It kinda reflects that the Apple Watch unit itself hasn't changed that much either. Rewind back to 2015 and the original AWs, I don't think many people would have believed it if someone would have said that the Series 11 is going to look close to identical
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And how has the iPhone 17 changed from the original? Still a rectangular slab.
How have laptops changed over 40 years? Still a foldable screen over a keyboard.
And I can go on ...

AW has an iconic look, if you don't like it, you have options.
 
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Fr. Guido Sarducci said:
Please point out exactly where I said that, then re-read exactly what I did say.
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“It’s a tool that works well for me, I have nothing to cry about.”

The watch works fine for you as is and me saying its stale is me crying about it. So what exactly were you saying if not that the watch is fine as is and doesn’t need improvements? I never said it didn’t work well I just said the OS was stale, because it is.
 
DMG35 said:
“It’s a tool that works well for me, I have nothing to cry about.”

The watch works fine for you as is and me saying its stale is me crying about it. So what exactly were you saying if not that the watch is fine as is and doesn’t need improvements? I never said it didn’t work well I just said the OS was stale, because it is.
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I said what I thought about it. Don’t read more into it. I would welcome improvements, but I’m not unhappy with it as it is.
 
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Here are the key changes in OS27:
1. Siri AI and Siri App
2. Dynamic App Grid and New Gestures
3. Smart Stack Enhancements
4. Workout Buddy Improvements
5. Health and Fitness Upgrades
6. UI and Design Updates

I would really like to see some additional digital faces that have seconds, but otherwise I don't see any of these changes affecting my use of the watch. And it's no doubt a lack of imagination on my part, but I struggle to think of any changes that would have an impact.

It does drive me crazy that some days my AirPods connect instantly and Audible works immediately, while other days I have to restart the watch to get that to work; but that's probably a hardware bug.

My question is the same as Howard2K's - what could Apple add or change to make the watch more useful?
 
For me there is one feature, glucose tracking. Apparently they are working on it. Otherwise, I'm in the "don't confuse me with unnecessary change" category, not your "wish they would add more stuff in case it has something good that never occured to me" category.

Certianly the apps have improved. I use 50+ features overall across one main watch face and from there more useful features be it within notifications, calendar, weather, activity (speed, splits, heart rate, elevation, etc), tides, world clock (to know when to not text), airline, music control, Find-My, etc. That 50+ feels like a minuscule fraction of features available across hundreds if not thousands of apps.
 
AppleForeverandEver said:
My only issue is that I find the new Siri to be underwhelming and still lacks intelligence.
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I find it be brilliant on the iPhone but useless on my Watch. Turns out I dont need an LLM to set a timer or add a reminder. If they don't add an option to turn it off I'll likely sell my S11 come September and buy an older model just for the older dumb Siri.
 
Ctrlos said:
I find it be brilliant on the iPhone but useless on my Watch. Turns out I dont need an LLM to set a timer or add a reminder. If they don't add an option to turn it off I'll likely sell my S11 come September and buy an older model just for the older dumb Siri.
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To be fair, this is the first beta with Siri AI on WatchOS and it’s currently very buggy. I expect it to catch up with the iPhone experience by the end of the development cycle.
 
I just think it's hilarious that nobody from Apple has ever thought to put a "Number of Steps" widget on the watch face. You know, like every single fitness tracker on the planet has had for the last 20+ years. I really wish Garmin and Apple would collaborate on a watch, because Apple *still* seemingly has no clue what people want when it comes to fitness tracking.
 
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RichP74 said:
I just think it's hilarious that nobody from Apple has ever thought to put a "Number of Steps" widget on the watch face. You know, like every single fitness tracker on the planet has had for the last 20+ years. I really wish Garmin and Apple would collaborate on a watch, because Apple *still* seemingly has no clue what people want when it comes to fitness tracking.
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Or an Apple Watch face with the digital time front and CENTER like every other digital watch on the planet would have. (I do not have an Ultra so no Modular Ultra face for me). I salivate when I look at the Garmin watch face store.

1783615803981.png
 
throAU said:
Less info than even the basic watch modular digital face iirc.
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Ok? Different people like different styles. We should have an abundance of choices for digital watch faces and a non-zero number of them with the time in the center like that. The number of digital watch face choices we have is pathetic.
 
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