Which event would trigger the taptic buzz? Bluetooth connection loss only or both?
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Why don't we have a notification for disconnection???
- Thread starter ZoeLou
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Which event would trigger the taptic buzz? Bluetooth connection loss only or both?
I don't know. Whenever I'm in danger of leaving my phone behind, or of missing out on notifications. Which is whenever the disconnect icon appears on my watch. Apple figured out how to decide when to show the disconnect icon, they can use the same criteria to trigger an alert.
And how is that different because the watch also connects with wifi? You just go a bit further before you get a tap to go back for your phone. Or am I missing something?
"In Soviet Russia..."
Having a tap alert for whenever the disconnect icon would light up on the screen if the screen was on, seems a good idea. Not sure why some people are so against it, but then again there are people against the idea of friggin seatbelts, so there you go...
I most certainly won't mind having it for the purpose of allowing one to know they're no longer within range so they can get closer in order to continue receiving notifications. However, it won't help with recovering your iPhone in the case of a theft because by then it'd be too late. I see way too many people who don't hesitate to leave their phones unattended in public places and it's just a matter of time before they learn the hard way. I'm suggesting it won't be useful for the purpose of safeguarding their iPhones.
I don't think anyone was thinking of this alert as a way to safeguard iPhones against theft, just a way to prevent forgetfulness when leaving home/office. Also, I can't say I've ever seen anyone leave their phone unattended in public. Where did you see such behavior?
The basic idea is of course that by being tapped, you're made aware at an early stage that you left your phone behind and would thus be able to return for it - possibly before it has a chance to be stolen. And that's assuming you left it in a place where it's susceptible to theft.
If you're at a friend's place, at home, at any decent kind of workplace and so on, you're probably not going to have your device stolen on you. Also, I believe statistics were released some time ago showing that features like touchid and find my iphone have made iThings less desireable by thieves, increasing likelihood that you would be able to recover your device.
I see this all the time in my workplace (yes, I consider it a public place because it's an university so any random person can easily snatch it and they won't know until out of bluetooth or wifi range). I also have a friend who leaves his Android next to his gym bag in the hallway of a YMCA while he hits the bathroom, etc., but maybe nobody wants to steal an Android.
Yeah I accidentally left my phone at the gym once recently (maybe I wouldn't have had the Watch let me know I was out of range) and went back and got it after like 30 minutes. Other members of the gym placed it somewhere safe and made sure I was the owner when I picked it up (great people). So I mean, even without theft, it's still useful to have an alert.
This is how Apple should implement
- When the watch is out of blue tooth range a notification should pop up similar to a text message that states something like "Your iPhone is out of Bluetooth range".
- When the watch is disconnected completely a notification "Your watch is disconnected. Please get within WiFi/Bluetooth Range to continue to receive notifications".
The current implementation is mediocre:
Not only is the disconnect icon vague as to what it represents it also does not include any type of alert.
I honestly don't know who designed the UX of WatchOS but it definitely is not something to be proud of.
You won't miss any notifications as them will show in iPhone. You can easily get them when you open you iPhone. I think a alert for losing connection between iPhone may be helpful for some people. But it is also annoying for the others like me.
Sure, some ideas require work to invent and/or implement.
But this is a feature that's been pretty common on wirelessly connected smartwatches for years. It's the kind of basic thing that should be in a 1.0 version.
Note though that I think most Android Wear was missing it too, at first. And it was just as dumb an omission.
Tbey will show on the phone, yes, but I wont see them until I pick up the phone. The whole point of the watch is that I don't have to have the phone on me all the time while walking around the house or the office. If I have to carry my phone around to ensure I don't get disconnected and not know it, that defeats the purpose of having the watch.
Hopefully, an "alert when disconnected" option will be added at some point, and of course, for those who don't want it, there should be a setting to turn this on/off.
I'm not understanding why there needs to be an alert when the watch is out of Bluetooth range but still connected to the phone through wifi. Is there any function that doesn't work when it is in that state? Granted, I've never experienced that, as my watch doesn't connect to the wifi at the office (idiosyncratic network settings), and at home I'm never out of Bluetooth range, so there may be a nuance I'm missing here.
I'll never understand why so many on this forum spend time trying to convince people that person A should not want a feature because person b does not need/like it. There is a reason we are able to turn settings on and off as we want.
My watch has been on silent since day 1 but I don' think that's a reason for apple to remove all non-call related sounds.
My watch has been on silent since day 1 but I don' think that's a reason for apple to remove all non-call related sounds.
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You're missing the point. Look at OP's initial post.
"This baffles me, why is there no notification on the watch when you lose bluetooth connection with the phone? The Pebble does it, it would be very helpful when you leave your phone behind!"
I have a pair of LG Tone Pro Bluetooth headphones. They vibrate to indicate BT connection is lost at around 25 feet. This alert also brings to your attention that you may have left your phone behind unintentionally.
How exactly would Apple define this type of alert when the watch connects via Bluetooth AND WiFi?
Alerting an Apple watch user that they are out of Bluetooth range doesn't really mean much since the watch can fallback on a WiFi connection and have no connectivity interruption.
Should the watch notify you with an alert when it has lost both Bluetooth AND WiFi connections? If this is the case you could be up to 300 feet or more away from your phone. I work in a 14,000 square foot office and have WiFi coverage everywhere and up to 2 levels below me well into the plaza.
Being alerted when 300 feet away is better than no alerts at all.
And your big office with extensive wifi coverage is an edge case. Most home wifi only extends as far as the block the house is on, if that mucn.
I'd rather get an alert 25 feet away honestly like how my Pebble used to work.
Just an FYI, I reported this as an enhancement request in the developer bug reporter. Rather than the usual 'There are no plans to implement this in the future.', it was marked as a duplicate, so Apple are at least aware of users wanting it.
I'd find it annoying to get an alert only to resume what I'm doing because it's still connected via wifi. I sometimes leave my iPhone upstairs charging while I'm home and do everything via the Watch, and this isn't always within bluetooth range.
I'm sure it'd be optional, just like every other notification you get on the watch.
I don't understand why people are against this - it's something that, in my view, should've been there from the beginning as it possibly prevents you leaving a phone behind/missing notifications and is bound to be optional.
That's the whole point I was trying to make earlier in the thread. The Blue tooth disconnected alert is useless to a user if WiFi is still available. If the alert went off once WiFi was disconnected than you're probably too far away from your phone anyhow