Apps Weird Watch app behavior, this can't be how it works right?

[mobilehavoc]

So I just got an Apple Watch and think it's OK so far but have had some weird annoyances that I am attributing to a bug but wanted to check here to make sure this is not some bizarre expected behavior....

For many Apple Watch apps and glances they will be unable to load data/show info unless the iPhone app is essentially running in the background. At first I thought this had to do with logging in to the iPhone app but it turns out that's not it...examples:

- Fidelity : I have a glance for my portfolio and the app on the Watch. When I try to view glance or app it complains it can't load my portfolio. If I start the Fidelity app on my iPhone and hit home button (so essentially launch and close) the watch app/glance starts working again and will work until I'm guessing the Fidelity app on my phone is killed. This makes the Apple Watch app useless because I have to constantly go into the Phone to launch the app so what's the point of the watch?

- Discover: Exactly same behavior as Fidelity. Just launching Discover app on iPhone will make the watch app/glance start working. However again after some time the Watch app will stop working until I relaunch the iPhone app

- Starbucks: Stopped working and showing rewards unless I do same activity

- Capitalone - this one I gave up on because the watch glance/app would only work if I launched and logged into the iPhone app. Ridiculous

I don't have too many others but this seems a common theme. Is this normal (hopefully not) or some sort of bug? Anybody else experience this? Specifically these apps?

I'm on latest OS on both iPhone 6S and Apple Watch

 

[Beefburga]

I've noticed this with the "Words with Friends" app.

To view an opponents latest word on the AW I'd have to open the app on my phone for it to update the AW.

I had the same issue with Dark Sky in my glances but this was rectified in the latest update from the developer.

 

[nightcap965]

So I just got an Apple Watch and think it's OK so far but have had some weird annoyances that I am attributing to a bug but wanted to check here to make sure this is not some bizarre expected behavior....

For many Apple Watch apps and glances they will be unable to load data/show info unless the iPhone app is essentially running in the background. At first I thought this had to do with logging in to the iPhone app but it turns out that's not it...examples:

- Fidelity : I have a glance for my portfolio and the app on the Watch. When I try to view glance or app it complains it can't load my portfolio. If I start the Fidelity app on my iPhone and hit home button (so essentially launch and close) the watch app/glance starts working again and will work until I'm guessing the Fidelity app on my phone is killed. This makes the Apple Watch app useless because I have to constantly go into the Phone to launch the app so what's the point of the watch?

- Discover: Exactly same behavior as Fidelity. Just launching Discover app on iPhone will make the watch app/glance start working. However again after some time the Watch app will stop working until I relaunch the iPhone app

- Starbucks: Stopped working and showing rewards unless I do same activity

- Capitalone - this one I gave up on because the watch glance/app would only work if I launched and logged into the iPhone app. Ridiculous

I don't have too many others but this seems a common theme. Is this normal (hopefully not) or some sort of bug? Anybody else experience this? Specifically these apps?

I'm on latest OS on both iPhone 6S and Apple Watch

Sounds like poorly programmed apps.

But I have to wonder, why on earth would you want to check your Fidelity portfolio on your Apple Watch? It only updates once a day, and there's not nearly enough room on the watch to get any kind of vital information (like how much each of your investment choices is up or down YTD).

CapitalOne, ditto. I'm not sure why. (This is the only one I have, and I can confirm that it doesn't work.)

I think what we're seeing is programmers hastily adding a Watch view to their program, even if it's completely inappropriate to use the program on the watch.

 

[mobilehavoc]

Fidelity updates whenever I look at the glance as long as it works. I agree it might be poor apps. BofA glance updates consistently without having to launch app.

Oh well. I hope they fix this stuff soon. It takes a lot of the benefit away. Being able to look at the total balance of my Fidelity portfolio is a big use case for me and it doesn't work right now.

 

[nightcap965]

Mobilehavoc, your use case is your own business, of course. If you want to read the New York Times on your watch, that's up to you. Personally, I just use the Stocks app to track my investments, and the most important indicator to me is the S&P 500, which is a complication on my Modular face. I also have apps that I only look at on my iPhone, since there's more data than I can comfortably glance at on the watch.