WatchOS 2.
Your thoughts? I’ve just come back from work and charging my watch up to upgrade. Didn’t see a thread on it so started this to discuss.
I like a few parts of what was available during the beta period - particularly nightstand mode. But the true test will be when native apps and third party complications arrive. I’ve only had one app update with those features so far, and that wasn’t one I use very often - something like Pocket Weather will be the clincher.
I did not use the beta, so WatchOS2 is really only a few hours old.
Things I like so far:
- The photo album watch face
- The ability to respond to emails on the watch
- Being able to start an activity workout using Siri
- Larger number buttons when unlocking your watch - the numbers were too small in OS1 and I used to always hit the wrong number (especially as I put my watch on as soon as I wake up and i’m probably still half asleep)
I did experience a few issues when updating the OS too. It took a long time to download (2 hours) and when I tried to install the software the Apple Watch app crashed and I had to re-download the software again (another 2 hour wait). Once the update actually happened, I found that none of my notifications would appear on my watch (forcing me to do a watch and phone reboot).
If you follow me on Twitter you’ll know I had a fun time getting the damn thing installed. The first couple of times might have been my fault as I took my Watch off the charger prematurely, so the whole “verifying” thing took about two hours, and I could only get the Apple Watch iOS app to stop verifying by power-cycling the Watch, only for it to fail telling me I didn’t have an internet connection (not sure what that was about).
When I did put my Watch back on the charge after work, I hit install only to be greeted with another message about not having an internet connection. Finally, power-cycling both the Watch and the iPhone allowed me to install watchOS 2.
Overall, a pretty awful update experience. I guess that’s what happens when your sole method of communicating with the outside world is via Bluetooth - maybe subsequent updates won’t be so bad.
I’ve actually un-paired and re-paired my Apple Watch. I had a feeling the distance and pace calibration data wasn’t quite as accurate as it could be, so I’ll be walking home from work tomorrow to re-calibrate the thing.
After ending up needing to reboot the iPhone and watch, I’ve finally installed it. If you get stuck at the verifying stage, try that. Bottom line - not that different to me. Will wait for the native apps.
I don’t care for the new alarm tone.
Also, it managed to lock up repeatedly on my wife’s watch. Ended up having to wipe it and set it up from scratch. So the update process could definitely use a bunch of work. Hopefully they’ve laid the groundwork for a better experience next time round.
This, 1000 times this. We won’t see any real benefit until native apps are out there.
This makes a big difference for some reason. I don’t know if the touch targets are actually larger, but the change in visual size makes them easier to hit.
The bigger numbers on the unlock screen is a godsend, native apps are a lot more stable than what they were previously.
My favourite feature is the nightstand. It’s perfect. It lights up at very slight vibrations which saves fumbling around too much in the dark (a slight bump of your bedside table will wake it). I’ve noticed it seems to light up 10-15 minutes before the alarm, which is great if you’re like me and have a habit of waking up around that time thinking that you’ve slept in.
Pretty pumped for this:
…and last but not least, for those of you who have been asking: Yes! Fantastical 2.5 for iPhone will include Complications for Apple Watch!
https://flexibits.com/blog/2015/09/fantastical-2-for-os-x-el-capitan-ios-9-and-watchos-2-updates/
How does one know if the App is native? will is say it in the App store?
Should do. The performance difference is pretty noticeable though.
I woke up to the nightstand mode alarm for the first time this morning. Being the first time I struggled to work out which button to press while half asleep, next time I’ll probably just turn off snooze since I never use that function (intentionally) anyway.
For me the upgrade took hours and hours and hours. I’ve also had a few issues with syncing stuff between the phone and the watch. My calendar would show all the items on the phone, but only some on the watch (even though they were all on the same calendar?). A reboot of the watch solved the problem but there has been a couple of those since WOS2.
Mostly it feels the same… I suppose I’ll have to wait for a native app or two before I notice a difference. Not that I was sad with the old functionality.
Anyone know how to turn on activation lock for Apple Watch? I unpaired it from my iPhone 6 and repaired it with my new iPhone 6S. I didn’t get a notification to activate. Can’t see my Apple Watch when logged into Find My iPhone.
Should be turned on automatically. Doesn’t look like you can use Find My iPhone to locate it (which makes sense, the Watch has no separate GPS unit).
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Thanks Benny. Didn’t think about the watch not having a GPS. That does make sense. I don’t seem to have the option to ‘report as missing’ on Apple Watch.