Finalized Apple Watch iOS app settings, dark theme shown in new screens

Posted:
in Apple Watch edited March 2015
Users cannot yet dig into the settings of the Apple Watch companion app that debuted in iOS 8.2, but one developer has cracked open the software to reveal what it will offer once an Apple Watch is connected to an iPhone.




In a series of screenshots posted to his Twitter account on Friday, developer Hamza Sood revealed the controls that will be accessible in the Apple Watch app. Like the upcoming wrist-worn device, the companion app will feature a dark theme with black background and white text, making it a stark contrast from Apple's other iOS applications.

Under the main "My Watch" menu, settings include App Layout, AirPlane Mode, Notifications, Glances, Do Not Disturb, Brightness & Text Size, Sounds & Haptics, Passcode and Health. Further options exist for connectivity with iPhone apps like Mail, Maps, Messages, Music, Passbook, Phone, Reminders, and more.

The General settings for the Apple Watch reveal that the device offers Handoff support, just as the rest of Apple's ecocystem of devices. Users can also turn off the "Wrist Detection" feature if they choose, disabling the screen's auto-on function when a user raises their wrist toward their face.




Under the Sounds & Haptics settings, users can change the strength of haptic feedback from the device. There's also a "Cover to Mute" option, which allows users to quickly silence their watch by covering the display with their hand. A "Prominent Haptic" option is also available for "common alerts."

Sood also noted that syncing playlists with the Apple Watch has a default 1-gigabyte limit, but users can expand it to 2 gigabytes. The Apple Watch is believed to have 8 gigabytes of onboard storage.

Apple has also included a "Notification Privacy" option, which will conceal details of a notification until the alert has been tapped. Users can choose whether or not push alerts from their iPhone are seen on their wrist.

Finally, a Monogram option allows users to create a one- to four-letter monogram that will appear as a complication on the "Color" watch face.

The highly customizable app was previously detailed by AppleInsider in February, though at the time, in a beta release of iOS 8.2, it had a much different look in line with traditional iOS apps.

Users found the Apple Watch app on their iPhone home screens after updating to iOS 8.2 beginning this week. At the moment, the application does not offer access to the settings without being paired with an Apple Watch.

The Apple Watch is set to become available on April 24 starting at $349. Preorders, and in-store hands-on opportunities, will begin two weeks earlier on April 10.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 36
    elmoofoelmoofo Posts: 100member
    I wish more apps, including the AppleInsider app, offered reverse type. So much easier on the eyes and battery.
  • Reply 2 of 36
    mpantonempantone Posts: 2,033member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by elmoofo View Post



    I wish more apps, including the AppleInsider app, offered reverse type. So much easier on the eyes and battery.



    Reverse type doesn't significantly improve battery life. After all, the backlight is still on. If you want to save battery life, turn down the overall brightness of your phone's screen.

     

    I agree that reverse type may be more preferable to some from a legibility standpoint.

  • Reply 3 of 36
    docno42docno42 Posts: 3,755member
    elmoofo wrote: »
    I wish more apps, including the AppleInsider app, offered reverse type. So much easier on the eyes and battery.

    Agreed - darker themes in general would be welcome (Hated the all white or ridiculously bright trend ushered in with iOS7). However color of the screen matters not with LCD - the backlight is on no matter what is on screen. If Apple used an OLED display where power is only consumed if a pixel is lit, that would be different - but they don't.

    Probably because OLED is expensive, finicky and flaky even today, and probably couldn't be manufactured at Apple volumes yet. And lest you think I don't like the promise of OLED, I did get to see a 70" LG OLED display in Vegas during CES week (I was in Fry's where LG had a display - I didn't make it to the convention even though I was planning on it). That display was absolutely S T U N N I N G - even in the middle of a store with really, really crappy fluorescent ambient lighting. Then again I'm sure they were very careful about the video they were showing on it, but the blacks where simply amazing (more amazing given the really crappy environment the displays were in). Ultimate movie display easily besting my plasma I'm desperately hoping will have a long life now that plasma is all but dead :(

    Hopefully they fix the blue phosphor wearing out much more quickly than the other colors causing color shifting over time issues because at over $50K I want my display to last more than 5 years (!!)
  • Reply 4 of 36
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by elmoofo View Post

    …and battery.

     

    Not even remotely true. You’re buying Google’s lies about Earth Day or whatever the heck it was.

  • Reply 5 of 36
    elmoofoelmoofo Posts: 100member
    Gimme a break. Reverse type requires less backlight in most situations to be readable. Less backlight requires less battery. I can read 2x as much iBook in reverse type with the brightness backed off to s comfortable level, vs. black type on a white background.
  • Reply 6 of 36
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by elmoofo View Post

    Reverse type requires less backlight in most situations to be readable.



    Thus proving our point.

  • Reply 7 of 36
    docno42docno42 Posts: 3,755member
    elmoofo wrote: »
    Gimme a break. Reverse type requires less backlight in most situations to be readable. Less backlight requires less battery. I can read 2x as much iBook in reverse type with the brightness backed off to s comfortable level, vs. black type on a white background.

    I'm pretty sure neither the iPhone or iPad dynamically adjust their backlight. If you are referring to manually adjusting your backlight, than as Tallest Skil said - thanks for proving our point.
  • Reply 8 of 36
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by DocNo42 View Post

    I'm pretty sure neither the iPhone or iPad dynamically adjust their backlight.

     

    Wait, what? ‘Course they do. So does OS X. The Ambient Light Sensor does that.

     

    He’s arguing that SINCE “less backlight is required” to read inverted colors, inverted colors are more efficient. That, of course, isn’t proof. It’s just proof that we’re correct about backlighting.

  • Reply 9 of 36
    pfisherpfisher Posts: 758member

    Wasn't technology intended to make our lives easier?

     

    Easier and more work with a laptop. Easier and more work with a smartphone.

     

    Now we have a tethered watch to charge and maintain every night.

     

    Simplifying and improving our lives through complexity?

  • Reply 10 of 36
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    I want a dark theme in iOS. Make it happen Craig & Jony.
  • Reply 11 of 36
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    pfisher wrote: »
    Wasn't technology intended to make our lives easier?

    Easier and more work with a laptop. Easier and more work with a smartphone.

    Now we have a tethered watch to charge and maintain every night.

    Simplifying and improving our lives through complexity?

    Don't you have some textile looms to destroy?
  • Reply 12 of 36
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by SolipsismY View Post

    Don't you have some textile looms to destroy?

     

    I don’t see where ludditism comes into play. iPhone is objectively a simpler setup than iPhone+Apple Watch.

  • Reply 13 of 36
    friedmudfriedmud Posts: 165member
    Love the screenshots!

    Simply can't wait to get my watch! Going to be crazy useful while commuting on the bus, subway and a lengthy walk. Being able to quickly see updates during the 3 hours I spend everyday traveling back and forth is going to be a godsend.

    I can only suspect that people that don't see the utility in this thing must just sit in front of a desk all day that they drive to and from in 10 minutes in their own cars.

    Anyone "on the go" daily can see the utility in a quick way to interact with your phone and messages.

    Hell: just being able to control the music I'm listening to on Bluetooth headphones without taking my phone out is going to be AWESOME!
  • Reply 14 of 36
    jfc1138jfc1138 Posts: 3,090member
    solipsismy wrote: »
    Don't you have some textile looms to destroy?
    The clatter of their wooden shoes loom!
  • Reply 15 of 36
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    I don’t see where ludditism comes into play. iPhone is objectively a simpler setup than iPhone+Apple Watch.

    It's an additional thing, so even setting up an analog watch that only showed you the time would also be "more work" and therefore objectively "more complex". But that doesn't seem to be his point as he's stated that all technology from the laptop to the smartphone and now ?Watch are more work. What he falls to grasp is that nearly technology requires some effort by the user if they want it to make their lives easier. Even having to learn to use a web browser requires some time and effort, with an amazing savings in time and effort whilst also opening up a level of information that is simply not available to Melvil Dewey.
  • Reply 16 of 36
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    jfc1138 wrote: »
    The clatter of their wooden shoes loom!

    I can't stand when someone says they don't like technology. What they mean is they don't like technology after a certain point, but even the Amish like technology, they just want it to stay pre-Industrial revolution. Animal husbandry, agriculture, and everything else back to the first time someone used a pointy stick with a chipped piece of flint at the end is technology.
  • Reply 17 of 36
    antkm1antkm1 Posts: 1,441member

    I sure hope they allow us to hide apps.  I know for a fact that i won't be using the Photos, Email, or stocks Apps.  Email is not a "Glance-able" thing to me.  I could care less about checking stocks on my watch.  and photos seems totally pointless on a screen that small.  Even smaller than the iPod Nano screen.  No thank you!

     

    To me, this watch is for fitness and very quick glances.  Weather, Time, reminders, quick Messaging via siri, Maps (where the heck am I kind of thing). 

  • Reply 18 of 36
    coolfactorcoolfactor Posts: 2,239member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DocNo42 View Post



    I did get to see a 70" LG OLED display in Vegas during CES week ...  because at over $50K I want my display to last more than 5 years (!!)

     

    You bought a television screen for $50,000?!?!?!? Must be nice to have money to burn... Takes me 3 years to make that kind of money.... ugh... I'm so poor.

  • Reply 19 of 36
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    After watching Kevin Lynch demo a simulated purchase with the ?Watch, it occurred to me that he just held the watch near the terminal without selecting anything on the device. So my guess is that Passbook was already running and had the preferred account selected. In these screenshots we can see that there is a passbook control for the watch and also probably some sort of passbook app on the watch it self so you can select different cards on the fly, without having to use your iPhone.

  • Reply 20 of 36
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    mstone wrote: »
    After watching Kevin Lynch demo a simulated purchase with the ?Watch, it occurred to me that he just held the watch near the terminal without selecting anything on the device. So my guess is that Passbook was already running and had the preferred account selected. In these screenshots we can see that there is a passbook control for the watch and also probably some sort of passbook app on the watch it self so you can select different cards on the fly, without having to use your iPhone.

    I don't know which demo you're talking about, but the Passbook app for the watch has been shown on their website since they announced it.
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