Apple requires all new watchOS apps be native by June 1

AppleInsider

In an announcement to developers on Friday, Apple said come June 1, all new watchOS titles submitted to the App Store must be native apps built with the company's latest watchOS 2 software development kit.

The upcoming requirement, published on Apple's developer website, is the latest push by Apple to advance its wearables platform and address launch complaints regarding sluggish third-party apps.

Apple debuted watchOS 2 last June shortly after the device hit wide distribution. With newly gained access to watchOS 2 SDKs, developers were able to create their own custom watch face complications, as well as access Apple Watch hardware elements like the Digital Crown, Taptic Engine, microphone and loudspeaker. Software support for HealthKit, Apple's biometric data repository, was also added for apps to perform high-level functions like reading accelerometer data and writing workout data back to the Activity app.

The final watchOS 2 version officially rolled out last September with a host of improvements to user interface components, Siri, Apple Pay and Wallet, Maps and more.

Importantly for early adopters underwhelmed by the performance, or lack thereof, from third-party Apple Watch apps, watchOS 2 allowed developers to create native apps. The capability allows software to run on Watch without transferring data back and forth from a host iPhone, making for a snappier user experience. Today's developer requirement means users will soon be much less apt to encounter software with slow load times.

rs0212

Snappier is good. I'm guessing they're going to increase the storage on the watch f they're making it a requirement now? 

matrix077

Glances and Complications are more important, and more intuitive, than app.

Rayz2016

rs0212 said:

Snappier is good.

Yup, always been a big fan of snappy. 

mtbnut

"The capability allows software to run on Watch...making for a snappier user experience." Must be an Onion article--this is satire at its best. About the only snappy app on the Apple Watch is Mickey Mouse tapping his foot.

#BlameMe

Snappier is great. We're just progressively watching it become a stand alone device. That's all. 

jbdragon

#BlameMe said:

Snappier is great. We're just progressively watching it become a stand alone device. That's all. 

That makes no sense! So you want to do everything in a tiny screen now instead of the larger phone screen?. Sounds good in theory but not really practical.  Let me know when I can get contacts or whatever to be a much larger screen.  

As they say, you spend hours on your desktop, minutes on your smartphone and seconds on your smartwatch. That's really how you should be looking at it.

nolamacguy

jbdragon said:

#BlameMe said:

Snappier is great. We're just progressively watching it become a stand alone device. That's all. 

That makes no sense! So you want to do everything in a tiny screen now instead of the larger phone screen?. Sounds good in theory but not really practical.  Let me know when I can get contacts or whatever to be a much larger screen.  

As they say, you spend hours on your desktop, minutes on your smartphone and seconds on your smartwatch. That's really how you should be looking at it.

I don't think anyone is suggesting replacing phone use cases with watch. but becoming a stand-alone device doesn't require that...it just means not being an accessory dependent on external processing or radios. clearly this is where the puck is going. 

macgui

nolamacguy said:

jbdragon said:

That makes no sense! So you want to do everything in a tiny screen now instead of the larger phone screen?. Sounds good in theory but not really practical.  Let me know when I can get contacts or whatever to be a much larger screen.  

As they say, you spend hours on your desktop, minutes on your smartphone and seconds on your smartwatch. That's really how you should be looking at it.

I don't think anyone is suggesting replacing phone use cases with watch. but becoming a stand-alone device doesn't require that...it just means not being an accessory dependent on external processing or radios. clearly this is where the puck is going. 

You're absolutely right. No one said anything about replacing a phone with a Watch. I have no idea what he's on about.

There are some areas wear the watch can be more autonomous than it already is and it doesn't require contacts or histrionics.

He should go read the article, especially the last paragraph, and the reason for requiring apps to be native.

#BlameMe

jbdragon said:

#BlameMe said:

Snappier is great. We're just progressively watching it become a stand alone device. That's all. 

That makes no sense! So you want to do everything in a tiny screen now instead of the larger phone screen?. Sounds good in theory but not really practical.  Let me know when I can get contacts or whatever to be a much larger screen.  

As they say, you spend hours on your desktop, minutes on your smartphone and seconds on your smartwatch. That's really how you should be looking at it.

It totally makes sense. I'll tell you what wouldn't make sense, for any company in the long run to mandate another product to be used with another main product. 

nolamacguy

#BlameMe said:

jbdragon said:

That makes no sense! So you want to do everything in a tiny screen now instead of the larger phone screen?. Sounds good in theory but not really practical.  Let me know when I can get contacts or whatever to be a much larger screen.  

As they say, you spend hours on your desktop, minutes on your smartphone and seconds on your smartwatch. That's really how you should be looking at it.

It totally makes sense. I'll tell you what wouldn't make sense, for any company in the long run to mandate another product to be used with another main product. 

um, tire companies?

Rayz2016

nolamacguy said:

#BlameMe said:

It totally makes sense. I'll tell you what wouldn't make sense, for any company in the long run to mandate another product to be used with another main product. 

um, tire companies?

macplusplus

nolamacguy said:

jbdragon said:

That makes no sense! So you want to do everything in a tiny screen now instead of the larger phone screen?. Sounds good in theory but not really practical.  Let me know when I can get contacts or whatever to be a much larger screen.  

As they say, you spend hours on your desktop, minutes on your smartphone and seconds on your smartwatch. That's really how you should be looking at it.

I don't think anyone is suggesting replacing phone use cases with watch. but becoming a stand-alone device doesn't require that...it just means not being an accessory dependent on external processing or radios. clearly this is where the puck is going. 

It is going nowhere. It has already standalone radio but not cellular. Make it a wristphone it absolutely won't sell. As such it may sell at least to iPhone users.

The design is fixed for a decade as the Edition implies. We may see some wristphone variants but that one will persist as a classic.

Herbivore2

Giving the watch a cellular radio would be a great thing. I could get rid of the phone and get by with the the watch and iPad which has a larger screen, better CPU, better battery life, the availability of the pencil, an attached full keyboard, more memory especially RAM in the case of the 12.9 inch iPad Pro) and multitasking on that 12.9 inch screen is far better than an iPhone. The iPad Pro can also be used as an external monitor and greatly extends its utility unlike the iPhone and its screen which is just too small. 

And if Apple can extend the capabilities of voice interface wit Siri, I frankly wouldn't need to look at the contacts list. Just say to Siri, "please call my employer."

The watch can and will become the stand alone device which disrupts the smartphone industry. It is coming and it is the next big thing. And where Apple is going, it is going to be very difficult for Samsung and LG to follow. No one else has the CPU design team that Apple has. 

The next big thing is for Apple to design and build its own modems as part of the SOC. Such a development would allow Apple to develop an S series CPU which could allow the watch enough functionality at a sufficiently low power draw to allow the device to function fully independently. It is coming, count on it. 

#BlameMe

nolamacguy said:

#BlameMe said:

It totally makes sense. I'll tell you what wouldn't make sense, for any company in the long run to mandate another product to be used with another main product. 

um, tire companies?

What tire company makes a car?

mattinoz

Herbivore2 said:

Giving the watch a cellular radio would be a great thing. I could get rid of the phone and get by with the the watch and iPad which has a larger screen, better CPU, better battery life, the availability of the pencil, an attached full keyboard, more memory especially RAM in the case of the 12.9 inch iPad Pro) and multitasking on that 12.9 inch screen is far better than an iPhone. The iPad Pro can also be used as an external monitor and greatly extends its utility unlike the iPhone and its screen which is just too small. 

And if Apple can extend the capabilities of voice interface wit Siri, I frankly wouldn't need to look at the contacts list. Just say to Siri, "please call my employer."

The watch can and will become the stand alone device which disrupts the smartphone industry. It is coming and it is the next big thing. And where Apple is going, it is going to be very difficult for Samsung and LG to follow. No one else has the CPU design team that Apple has. 

The next big thing is for Apple to design and build its own modems as part of the SOC. Such a development would allow Apple to develop an S series CPU which could allow the watch enough functionality at a sufficiently low power draw to allow the device to function fully independently. It is coming, count on it. 

If this was to happen then it would have to be LTE data only radios in the watch. Even then that would be high unlikely to cover all the bands to go global. Still I like the idea. The question would this kill Bluetooth or wifi or both?  

Maybe be that is the next step for Apple kill wifi and replace it with home deployed micro LTE nodes.