Where. Are. The. Apps?

[vlinkz]

Pong? On the watch? How would that work?

Use the Digital Crown to move the (very small) paddle like the old pong consoles.

 

[Aniseedvan]

I think this is very dependent on the app. I've used some native watch apps that are worse (slower, crash, freeze, etc) than when they were non-native. However, I have seen four apps in particular that make me think it's all in how the developer writes them. These 4 native apps run flawlessly in my experience and open very quickly (within about 2 seconds) on my 42mm SS.

These are:

OmniFocus - probably the fastest I've seen... Even faster than it's iPhone counterpart actually, complication works flawlessly

Carrot Weather - Also very fast to open and runs smoothly, great complication... probably my favourite at the moment

DataMan - Also works very quickly and flawlessly although I find the complication kind of useless

Fantastical - Again very quick to open though not as quick as the three above. Complication is better than the stock apple solution but I expected more from Fantastical for their watch face complication.

Some I've found that are absolutely terrible are:

The Weather Network - Crashes on start, complication never works

The Weather Channel - Same as weather network

App in the Air - loading this app onto my watch results in the same problems as the two above however with one very interesting side effect. If the app is installed on my watch, the iPhone app will NEVER launch, it just crashes. If i remove the watch app from my watch the iPhone app begins working again. I don't know how these are related but it's something I noticed and thought was funny.

One thing about these two groups... The good apps are all paid and the crappy ones are all free. I guess with Apple Watch apps you really do get what you pay for.

Agree!
Omnifocus is a joy to use, my custom work perspective complication launches OF immediately and shows what a good app can do.

Workflow has been my biggest disappointment. I think it's a complex concept that hasn't translated well yet. Part of my frustration is there's a bug in the messages app watch OS side which means my send a text to the husband when I'm leaving work with my ETA home doesn't send.

For me the watch should be used where I have my hands full, whether that's in the supermarket or juggling bags and keys to the car, etc. Another reason I find setting a timer by Siri handy - when cooking.

One of my use cases for the watch is to be able to do my shopping in waitrose without my purse. I'm nearly there; Bring! Is working ok, waitrose appear to have upped their Apple Pay limit (although my £165 transaction from a week ago is freaking something out somewhere as its authorised but still not posting as a statement item), they just need to include my loyalty card in the mix and NFC readers to unlock the self scanners - i'd be happy!

Im quite happy to pay for Apple Watch apps as in app purchases, I'm still in the look out for an expenses one as again, in my use case I incur the same expenses 90% of the time - being able to press a button to log the parking receipt in the car park I park in a lot would be great.

Seeing a few more point releases of the OS between now and v3 would help. I have had Garmin watches and did find that the devs would show a lot of love for one watch line and almost ignore others. I sincerely hope the watch OS is receiving the appropriate focus in Apple and not being sidelined or paused waiting for hardware improvements in gen 2.

 

[cambookpro]

Just the customers choosing an iPhone app with better AW app over other competing apps should be incentive enough for the developers.

If the Google Maps AW app were better (such as including traffic information), members wouldn't be so quick to delete it.

I wouldn't place all the blame at developers' doors.

It does take a lot of effort to build an Apple Watch app alongside your iPhone app. Since you cannot charge for Apple Watch apps, that effort could be spent on other, revenue-earning iOS apps which have a much larger audience. I think this is why developers (small, independent ones most notably) are perhaps waiting to see the success of Apple Watch as a platform before developing for it.

Also, Apple have to make app discovery on the Watch a lot, lot better. The Watch needs a proper App Store; otherwise, developers can slave over a watch app only for it to appear as a bog-standard iPhone app. Give us an Apple Watch-compatible apps Top 50 chart, and a proper featured section, and developers, any start to take more notice.

I'd love to see more AW apps, but I think Apple need to give developers some help.

 

[sjinsjca]

I'm puzzled. There are plenty of apps, and it's early yet. Just today I discovered RSSWatch, a complete and full-featured RSS reader that's quite the killer app in its own right. Downcast is another. Tripit. Just Press Record. Dark Sky. United. Yelp. Sleep Pulse 2. Open Table. ...I use 'em all, all the time, and about two dozen others. My screen is getting crowded!

I do think Apple could do a better job of facilitating app discovery. A dedicated Watch tab in iTunes would be a big help.

 

[artfossil]

I'm puzzled. There are plenty of apps, and it's early yet. Just today I discovered RSSWatch, a complete and full-featured RSS reader that's quite the killer app in its own right. Downcast is another. Tripit. Just Press Record. Dark Sky. United. Yelp. Sleep Pulse 2. Open Table. ...I use 'em all, all the time, and about two dozen others. My screen is getting crowded!

I do think Apple could do a better job of facilitating app discovery. A dedicated Watch tab in iTunes would be a big help.

Thanks for the heads-up about Just Press Record. I'm going to investigate that, and there's a thread about it if others are interested.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/just-press-record.1921428/

 

[BarracksSi]

Where are the apps, you ask?

I'll quote what Steve Jobs said at the Q&A during the '97 WWDC:

"What are you waiting for?"

 

[thelookingglass]

I'm puzzled. There are plenty of apps, and it's early yet. Just today I discovered RSSWatch, a complete and full-featured RSS reader that's quite the killer app in its own right. Downcast is another. Tripit. Just Press Record. Dark Sky. United. Yelp. Sleep Pulse 2. Open Table. ...I use 'em all, all the time, and about two dozen others. My screen is getting crowded!

I do think Apple could do a better job of facilitating app discovery. A dedicated Watch tab in iTunes would be a big help.

I agree. App discovery is pretty abysmal for the Watch so far. It still feels like a second class citizen. I'm having a hard time finding any uses for my watch other than the stock apps and maybe a few third party apps.

 

[BarracksSi]

Is the App Store section built into the Watch app on iPhone not extensive enough?

 

[sjinsjca]

Is the App Store section built into the Watch app on iPhone not extensive enough?

It's been some time since I went there... just did, and you are right, that's a handy resource. But unless I'm missing a trick, it's hardly comprehensive even when you click "See All" in any of the various categories. Two fantastic apps in my original post appear to be missed, for example: Just Press Record and RSSWatch.