Video: What's new in watchOS 4.3 for the Apple Watch, featuring portrait Nightstand mode, ...

AppleInsider · March 30, 2018 7:15PM

The watchOS 4.3 update contains a few new features and tweaks aside from the multitude of bug fixes and performance improvements. Our hands-on video shows off what is new for Apple's wrist-worn device.

The biggest changes for the freshly released update include the return of iPhone music controls and (finally) portrait Nightstand mode. Portrait Nightstand mode is clearly a precursor for the AirPower charging mat Apple is on the cusp of releasing.

You can see all the changes in our hands-on video.

watchOS 4.3 was released alongside macOS 10.13.4, iOS 11.3, tvOS 11.3, and What's new in watchOS 4.3

Here is what we covered in our hands-on video.

Better Siri watch face
iPhone music controls return
New charging animation
Portrait Nighstand mode

StrangeDays · March 30, 2018 9:51PM

Is anyone else no longer able to switch embedded youtube videos into the iOS native full screen mode?? This is absurd and it’s happening to me on every site I visit but I’m not hearing much about it...

dsalpeter · March 30, 2018 11:32PM

Why is it that the Apple Watch can’t be made to control or connect to the HomePod? Does Apple Watch not technically suppprt AirPlay? Seems odd that the two devices wouldn’t work together. I’d love to be able to start playing music on my watch and send it to HomePod. Or phone calls, etc.

StrangeDays · March 31, 2018 1:15AM

dsalpeter said:

Why is it that the Apple Watch can’t be made to control or connect to the HomePod? Does Apple Watch not technically suppprt AirPlay? Seems odd that the two devices wouldn’t work together. I’d love to be able to start playing music on my watch and send it to HomePod. Or phone calls, etc.

in the video at minute marker 1:10 he taps the audio destination icon and it lists AP endpoints, including the HP. tho it may be casting from the paired iphone and not the watch itself...the watch itself may only be able to do BT endpoints.

ihatescreennames · March 31, 2018 1:21AM

StrangeDays said:

Is anyone else no longer able to switch embedded youtube videos into the iOS native full screen mode?? This is absurd and it’s happening to me on every site I visit but I’m not hearing much about it...

Someone else mentioned that on another thread. I’m not having that issue but I also haven’t upgraded to 11.3 yet. This video played in the standard iOS viewer, I don’t get any of those controls or “YouTube” at the bottom.

What I want to know is how they have an AirPower charging mat that hasn’t yet been released.

StrangeDays · March 31, 2018 1:29AM

ihatescreennames said:

StrangeDays said:

Is anyone else no longer able to switch embedded youtube videos into the iOS native full screen mode?? This is absurd and it’s happening to me on every site I visit but I’m not hearing much about it...

Someone else mentioned that on another thread. I’m not having that issue but I also haven’t upgraded to 11.3 yet. This video played in the standard iOS viewer, I don’t get any of those controls or “YouTube” at the bottom.

What I want to know is how they have an AirPower charging mat that hasn’t yet been released.

Well the controls in my screenshot are the default controls youtube renders in any embedded clip — you should definitely be seeing them on this article where the embedded video resides when you tap the play icon on it. The standard iOS viewer only comes into play after you’ve toggled an embedded video into full screen mode, either by tapping the icon in the bottom right of the youtube interface or by two-finger-expanding the video.

On this device I’m on 11.2.6 btw, not 11.3.

ihatescreennames · March 31, 2018 2:02AM

StrangeDays said:

ihatescreennames said:

StrangeDays said:

Is anyone else no longer able to switch embedded youtube videos into the iOS native full screen mode?? This is absurd and it’s happening to me on every site I visit but I’m not hearing much about it...

Someone else mentioned that on another thread. I’m not having that issue but I also haven’t upgraded to 11.3 yet. This video played in the standard iOS viewer, I don’t get any of those controls or “YouTube” at the bottom.

What I want to know is how they have an AirPower charging mat that hasn’t yet been released.

Well the controls in my screenshot are the default controls youtube renders in any embedded clip — you should definitely be seeing them on this article where the embedded video resides when you tap the play icon on it. The standard iOS viewer only comes into play after you’ve toggled an embedded video into full screen mode, either by tapping the icon in the bottom right of the youtube interface or by two-finger-expanding the video.

On this device I’m on 11.2.6 btw, not 11.3.

I’m also on 11.2.6 (on iPhone X) but that isn’t the behavior I get. As soon as I tap the play button the video goes full screen for me, I never see the standard YouTube controls, only the iOS controls. Maybe I tapped something in Settings that I’ve forgotten about?

Here’s what the preview looks like for me:

magman1979 · March 31, 2018 3:17AM

ihatescreennames said:

StrangeDays said:

Is anyone else no longer able to switch embedded youtube videos into the iOS native full screen mode?? This is absurd and it’s happening to me on every site I visit but I’m not hearing much about it...

Someone else mentioned that on another thread. I’m not having that issue but I also haven’t upgraded to 11.3 yet. This video played in the standard iOS viewer, I don’t get any of those controls or “YouTube” at the bottom.

What I want to know is how they have an AirPower charging mat that hasn’t yet been released.

It was me who reported this in another thread, and I too started noticing this whilst my iPad was still on 11.2.6.

Just checked my iPhone X, and sure enough on that device it loads the standard iOS video playback controls, but on my iPad I get YouTube’s HTML5 controls, with no full-screen, which leads me to believe this is a Google change, not iOS.

Bastards!

Tuubor · March 31, 2018 6:11AM

I don’t understand. I’ve had iPhone music controls on my series 2 watch all this time. Use it constantly when cycling to work.

matrix077 · March 31, 2018 11:29AM

Tuubor said:

I don’t understand. I’ve had iPhone music controls on my series 2 watch all this time. Use it constantly when cycling to work.

I think the video is doing a poor job of explaining this. Basically what you're talking about is Now Playing but what the video talking about is Music app.

In OS 4.x Apple got rid of iPhone music control in Music app. The result is anyone that want to use the watch to "play" music on iPhone, say you're lying on bed, watch on wrist, phone at charger, you want to use the watch to play "music on phone", you can't! You can only play music that stored on watch. This is not the case for OS1.x to 3.x
Now Apple has fixed this.

StrangeDays · March 31, 2018 2:14PM

ihatescreennames said:

StrangeDays said:

ihatescreennames said:

StrangeDays said:

Is anyone else no longer able to switch embedded youtube videos into the iOS native full screen mode?? This is absurd and it’s happening to me on every site I visit but I’m not hearing much about it...

Someone else mentioned that on another thread. I’m not having that issue but I also haven’t upgraded to 11.3 yet. This video played in the standard iOS viewer, I don’t get any of those controls or “YouTube” at the bottom.

What I want to know is how they have an AirPower charging mat that hasn’t yet been released.

Well the controls in my screenshot are the default controls youtube renders in any embedded clip — you should definitely be seeing them on this article where the embedded video resides when you tap the play icon on it. The standard iOS viewer only comes into play after you’ve toggled an embedded video into full screen mode, either by tapping the icon in the bottom right of the youtube interface or by two-finger-expanding the video.

On this device I’m on 11.2.6 btw, not 11.3.

I’m also on 11.2.6 (on iPhone X) but that isn’t the behavior I get. As soon as I tap the play button the video goes full screen for me, I never see the standard YouTube controls, only the iOS controls. Maybe I tapped something in Settings that I’ve forgotten about?

Sorry, I didn’t say it here but this is an issue on iPad. What I’m trying to determine is if it’s for all ipads or just me. Seems there’s at least one other person with it!

I would think publishers and bloggers would be up in arms over this.

StrangeDays · March 31, 2018 2:19PM

magman1979 said:

ihatescreennames said:

StrangeDays said:

Is anyone else no longer able to switch embedded youtube videos into the iOS native full screen mode?? This is absurd and it’s happening to me on every site I visit but I’m not hearing much about it...

Someone else mentioned that on another thread. I’m not having that issue but I also haven’t upgraded to 11.3 yet. This video played in the standard iOS viewer, I don’t get any of those controls or “YouTube” at the bottom.

What I want to know is how they have an AirPower charging mat that hasn’t yet been released.

It was me who reported this in another thread, and I too started noticing this whilst my iPad was still on 11.2.6.

Just checked my iPhone X, and sure enough on that device it loads the standard iOS video playback controls, but on my iPad I get YouTube’s HTML5 controls, with no full-screen, which leads me to believe this is a Google change, not iOS.

Bastards!

And yet there is nothing recent coming back in google about this. No articles, no discussion threads. Weird.

I was hoping the AI staff would confirm the behavior. They must test and read their site on an ipad too??

rezwits · March 31, 2018 2:39PM

Man these past couple months with the Music app on Watch were insane. I knew they had to change something, I was losing it...

disneylandman · April 1, 2018 1:23AM

matrix077 said:

Tuubor said:

I don’t understand. I’ve had iPhone music controls on my series 2 watch all this time. Use it constantly when cycling to work.

I think the video is doing a poor job of explaining this. Basically what you're talking about is Now Playing but what the video talking about is Music app.

In OS 4.x Apple got rid of iPhone music control in Music app. The result is anyone that want to use the watch to "play" music on iPhone, say you're lying on bed, watch on wrist, phone at charger, you want to use the watch to play "music on phone", you can't! You can only play music that stored on watch. This is not the case for OS1.x to 3.x
Now Apple has fixed this.

Or when you are swimming in your pool and using your Apple Watch to control or select music on your iPhone that is playing music to Bluetooth speakers, you could no longer do that with WatchOS 4.0, 4.1, or 4.2. They finally fixed that and restored the feature with WatchOS 4.3. Sorry Apple, you are not going to force people to pay for Apple Music by removing software features.

matrix077 · April 1, 2018 3:13AM

disneylandman said:

matrix077 said:

Tuubor said:

I don’t understand. I’ve had iPhone music controls on my series 2 watch all this time. Use it constantly when cycling to work.

I think the video is doing a poor job of explaining this. Basically what you're talking about is Now Playing but what the video talking about is Music app.

In OS 4.x Apple got rid of iPhone music control in Music app. The result is anyone that want to use the watch to "play" music on iPhone, say you're lying on bed, watch on wrist, phone at charger, you want to use the watch to play "music on phone", you can't! You can only play music that stored on watch. This is not the case for OS1.x to 3.x
Now Apple has fixed this.

Or when you are swimming in your pool and using your Apple Watch to control or select music on your iPhone that is playing music to Bluetooth speakers, you could no longer do that with WatchOS 4.0, 4.1, or 4.2. They finally fixed that and restored the feature with WatchOS 4.3. Sorry Apple, you are not going to force people to pay for Apple Music by removing software features.

Hmm.. when you're swimming the watch will be in water lock mode so you can't interact with touch screen at all.

ihatescreennames · April 2, 2018 3:19AM

matrix077 said:

disneylandman said:

matrix077 said:

Tuubor said:

I don’t understand. I’ve had iPhone music controls on my series 2 watch all this time. Use it constantly when cycling to work.

I think the video is doing a poor job of explaining this. Basically what you're talking about is Now Playing but what the video talking about is Music app.

In OS 4.x Apple got rid of iPhone music control in Music app. The result is anyone that want to use the watch to "play" music on iPhone, say you're lying on bed, watch on wrist, phone at charger, you want to use the watch to play "music on phone", you can't! You can only play music that stored on watch. This is not the case for OS1.x to 3.x
Now Apple has fixed this.

Or when you are swimming in your pool and using your Apple Watch to control or select music on your iPhone that is playing music to Bluetooth speakers, you could no longer do that with WatchOS 4.0, 4.1, or 4.2. They finally fixed that and restored the feature with WatchOS 4.3. Sorry Apple, you are not going to force people to pay for Apple Music by removing software features.

Hmm.. when you're swimming the watch will be in water lock mode so you can't interact with touch screen at all.

Right. And if it’s not in water lock mode it’s still not very likely anyone would find success using the wet screen with wet fingers. Maybe just adjusting the volume with the Digital Crown will work in that scenario.

AF_Hitt · April 2, 2018 12:07PM

matrix077 said:

disneylandman said:

matrix077 said:

Tuubor said:

I don’t understand. I’ve had iPhone music controls on my series 2 watch all this time. Use it constantly when cycling to work.

I think the video is doing a poor job of explaining this. Basically what you're talking about is Now Playing but what the video talking about is Music app.

In OS 4.x Apple got rid of iPhone music control in Music app. The result is anyone that want to use the watch to "play" music on iPhone, say you're lying on bed, watch on wrist, phone at charger, you want to use the watch to play "music on phone", you can't! You can only play music that stored on watch. This is not the case for OS1.x to 3.x
Now Apple has fixed this.

Or when you are swimming in your pool and using your Apple Watch to control or select music on your iPhone that is playing music to Bluetooth speakers, you could no longer do that with WatchOS 4.0, 4.1, or 4.2. They finally fixed that and restored the feature with WatchOS 4.3. Sorry Apple, you are not going to force people to pay for Apple Music by removing software features.

Hmm.. when you're swimming the watch will be in water lock mode so you can't interact with touch screen at all.

It doesn’t automatically do that, and the Series 3 especially is very good at telling the difference between water and a human finger. Use it in the shower all the time to play music, and have no issues with usability even with water hitting the screen the whole time.

mavemufc · April 2, 2018 1:32PM

So glad the Music controls are back, no idea why they removed it in the first place.

netmage · April 2, 2018 2:30PM

Apple has a (very) bad habit of removing functionality in updates and gradually adding it back. Either they re-write from scratch more often than they should or they really need some help with software engineering practices.

Mike Wuerthele · April 2, 2018 2:41PM

StrangeDays said:

magman1979 said:

ihatescreennames said:

StrangeDays said:

Is anyone else no longer able to switch embedded youtube videos into the iOS native full screen mode?? This is absurd and it’s happening to me on every site I visit but I’m not hearing much about it...

Someone else mentioned that on another thread. I’m not having that issue but I also haven’t upgraded to 11.3 yet. This video played in the standard iOS viewer, I don’t get any of those controls or “YouTube” at the bottom.

What I want to know is how they have an AirPower charging mat that hasn’t yet been released.

It was me who reported this in another thread, and I too started noticing this whilst my iPad was still on 11.2.6.

Just checked my iPhone X, and sure enough on that device it loads the standard iOS video playback controls, but on my iPad I get YouTube’s HTML5 controls, with no full-screen, which leads me to believe this is a Google change, not iOS.

Bastards!

And yet there is nothing recent coming back in google about this. No articles, no discussion threads. Weird.

I was hoping the AI staff would confirm the behavior. They must test and read their site on an ipad too??

This isn't us. This looks to be Google-side.

StrangeDays · April 3, 2018 12:55PM

Mike Wuerthele said:

StrangeDays said:

magman1979 said:

ihatescreennames said:

StrangeDays said:

Is anyone else no longer able to switch embedded youtube videos into the iOS native full screen mode?? This is absurd and it’s happening to me on every site I visit but I’m not hearing much about it...

Someone else mentioned that on another thread. I’m not having that issue but I also haven’t upgraded to 11.3 yet. This video played in the standard iOS viewer, I don’t get any of those controls or “YouTube” at the bottom.

What I want to know is how they have an AirPower charging mat that hasn’t yet been released.

It was me who reported this in another thread, and I too started noticing this whilst my iPad was still on 11.2.6.

Just checked my iPhone X, and sure enough on that device it loads the standard iOS video playback controls, but on my iPad I get YouTube’s HTML5 controls, with no full-screen, which leads me to believe this is a Google change, not iOS.

Bastards!

And yet there is nothing recent coming back in google about this. No articles, no discussion threads. Weird.

I was hoping the AI staff would confirm the behavior. They must test and read their site on an ipad too??

This isn't us. This looks to be Google-side.

It does. But does it happen to you as well? ie, is this universal or just a couple of us?

Video: What's new in watchOS 4.3 for the Apple Watch, featuring portrait Nightstand mode, ...

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