Major apps pull support for Apple Watch

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in Apple Watch
After going largely unnoticed for weeks, AppleInsider discovered a few major companies like Google and eBay recently pulled their dedicated Apple Watch apps from the App Store. AppleInsider takes a closer look at the quiet removals and what it means for watchOS in this video.









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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    cornchipcornchip Posts: 1,953member
    Well that's curious.
  • Reply 2 of 10
    LoneStar88LoneStar88 Posts: 325member
     So what? They had to try their apps to see how they worked, to see how customers responded. No biggie if some weren't good fits.
  • Reply 3 of 10
    williamhwilliamh Posts: 1,036member
    LoneStar88 said:
     So what? They had to try their apps to see how they worked, to see how customers responded. No biggie if some weren't good fits.
    I agree with your general sentiment.  However, the eBay app was a great fit. It's too bad that's gone. 
  • Reply 4 of 10
    irnchrizirnchriz Posts: 1,617member
    Google have already stated that maps will return to the watch in a future build. Also good job 'discovering' this. Did it take much effort to read this? 
    https://www.macrumors.com/2017/05/01/google-maps-amazon-ebay-drop-apple-watch-support/

    Whoops, missed their source. :*
    edited May 2017
  • Reply 5 of 10
    EsquireCatsEsquireCats Posts: 1,268member
    irnchriz said:
    Google have already stated that maps will return to the watch in a future build. Also good job 'discovering' this. Did it take much effort to read this? 
    https://www.macrumors.com/2017/05/01/google-maps-amazon-ebay-drop-apple-watch-support/
    ...Perhaps read the first paragraph of the article you posted. "As first noted by AppleInsider, Google Maps, Amazon, and eBay have pulled their Apple Watch apps from the App Store. "
    pscooter63
  • Reply 6 of 10
    MetriacanthosaurusMetriacanthosaurus Posts: 880member
    I've worn an Apple Watch everyday for 2 years now and I use 0 third party apps. 

    They just aren't good. This is not what the watch is meant for. Interaction with the watch needs to be 5 seconds at a time. Max. 
    bdkennedy1002pscooter63stanhopedachar
  • Reply 7 of 10
    smaffeismaffei Posts: 237member
    I think a lot of it has to do with watchOS being a moving target.

    Apple fundamentally changed how apps worked under watchOS 2. They kept compatibility with watchOS 1 apps but were really recommending devs recode their App for watchOS 2. A real nightmare for folks who had to support both for a bit, by the way. In fact, I told my company to wait until watchOS 2.0 came out before we developed anything just to avoid having to support 2 disparate architectures. Then, watchOS 3 killed glances (which some folks invested a lot of effort in).

    Apple is basically causing major reengineering efforts with every watchOS release (maybe they finally got it right this time). Companies are now weighing usage statistics vs redevelopment costs and are deciding that it's just not worth it. It's Apple's own doing by not researching the Watch UI under real world situations to give people what they want instead of what they thought people would want.

    edited May 2017 equality72521cornchip
  • Reply 8 of 10
    jkichlinejkichline Posts: 1,369member
    Every now and then I have some users that think it would be great to build an Apple Watch app.  But 95% of our users are on an iPad and the Apple Watch doesn't pair with an iPad, only an iPhone.  That means there were be a lot of development effort to get things to work and sync correctly between the platforms and for what amounts to a novelty.  Granted, there are some things that work great for the phone, but I use almost none of the watch's apps or capabilities.  I think the change they made in the latest watchOS also created some more confusion as to how it works which may have resulted in less usage.

    I agree with other commenters... it's really a question of if the development costs equal the usage patterns.  They probably made the app strictly for marketing potential from the initial Apple Watch buzz, but now it's merely an expense without return.
  • Reply 9 of 10
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,516member
    Tempest in a teapot. 
  • Reply 10 of 10
    JamesBrickleyJamesBrickley Posts: 104member
    As a heavy Apple Watch user I didn't even notice!  I have Google Maps but I really don't use it.  I use Waze on the iPhone every day but don't need it on the Watch.  The only time I've used Maps on the Watch is when walking in a big city and needing to navigate.  It's far from perfect but it was Apple Maps not Google.  

    The Watch as it stands now, is merely an extension to the iPhone.  I like to unlock my MacBook using the Watch.  I like how I can review notifications on the Watch without reaching for my iPhone.  It's a lot more polite in a meeting to casually glance at your watch to see if that email or text is important enough to step out of the meeting and address.  The other major usage of the watch is health and workout tracking.  Otherwise the Watch is pretty much a toy and not very useful to read email on.  It is nice to reply to a text with Siri sometimes.  But using merely as a watch is nice and to receive reminders is nice.  The latest WatchOS vastly improved performance and a dock of frequent apps is appreciated.  

    The Apple Watch needs better battery life, it makes it through a full day well enough but it's annoying to need to charge it every night.  
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