watchOS 4

[Der Keyser]

It needs sleep tracking and the ability to see steps on the watch face natively. I love my Apple Watch but I am using a Fitbit Blaze because i can see my heart rate, steps on the same watch face. Who cares about the metrics apple watch displays? I just want to see steps!

You are aware that steps can easily be added on the watch face right? It just takes a 3'rd party app such as Marcher. That will provide you with a steps complication to use as you see fit

 

[Tanax]

The possibility to call someone but use the headphones that the iPhone is connected to.

This works for music (initiate a song play via watch, it plays on the iPhone, which in turn is connected to Beats - it starts playing) but for calling it doesn't.

 

[Type4O]

You don't even need to look at all your notifications. If one comes in and you don't turn your wrist right away, it won't light up the display; and if you wait a bit to see it (twenty seconds, maybe?), it'll just have the little indicator dot.

Or does it light up every time while you're on the rowing machine due to the hand position?

It doesn't light up every time, but does on occasion. Sometimes I have to adjust my grip and the thing lights up and there's a notification. I also like to check my progress (which I probably shouldn't) from time to time by flicking my wrist a bit. I'd like to flick my wrist again to get rid of any notifications that show up.

I do mat exercise as well and it lights up a lot more.

I tried switching to just icon for notifications but that's a pain.

 

[honglong1976]

live update of HR and activity/steps!

 

[bob24]

You are aware that steps can easily be added on the watch face right? It just takes a 3'rd party app such as Marcher. That will provide you with a steps complication to use as you see fit

I agree with the other poster though - not providing this natively is a bit strange (I get that Apple are trying to promote their 3 circles activity metrics but steps and to some extend distance are a very basic metrics which make sense to many people and that most activity trackers can display natively).

 

[honglong1976]

I agree with the other poster though - not providing this natively is a bit strange (I get that Apple are trying to promote their 3 circles activity metrics but steps and to some extend distance are a very basic metrics which make sense to many people and that most activity trackers can display natively).

Agreed!

You can add a complication but the steps aren't live. Same for HR. Android wear shows the steps live, Fitbit does. Apple Watch? Nope! Very frustrating!

 

[ftaok]

You don't even need to look at all your notifications. If one comes in and you don't turn your wrist right away, it won't light up the display; and if you wait a bit to see it (twenty seconds, maybe?), it'll just have the little indicator dot.

Ha ha. That's what the red dot at the top of the screen represents. I never knew and I was kinda curious, but not enough to google.

Now I know, and knowing is half the battle.

 

[BarracksSi]

Now I know, and knowing is half the battle.

 

[ftaok]

Yeah, that guy pulled away quick when he saw that Roadblock was there. He was a bad bad man.

LOL

 

[ManicMarc]

I agree with the other poster though - not providing this natively is a bit strange (I get that Apple are trying to promote their 3 circles activity metrics but steps and to some extend distance are a very basic metrics which make sense to many people and that most activity trackers can display natively).

I think the reason is that steps are not a great measurement of activity. The activity ring takes into account your heart rate, so a walk up a steep hill isn't treated the same as downhill, for example. Also depending your fitness level, the same number of steps may be less or more exerting on your body.

 

[cosmogs]

I would love to have play/pause on "playing now" as a complication.

 

[bob24]

I think the reason is that steps are not a great measurement of activity. The activity ring takes into account your heart rate, so a walk up a steep hill isn't treated the same as downhill, for example. Also depending your fitness level, the same number of steps may be less or more exerting on your body.

Sure I understand that, but at the same time steps are a very transparent, natural, and universal metrics whereas what you describe is a bit of an Apple black box which can't be as easily understood or compared to other systems.

Maybe a stupid example, but let's say there is an activity a challenge in your company to encourage employees to exercise more and compare their fitness level. Surely (unless you work for Apple) the targets won't be set in Activity rings but rather in something like steps, because it is not 100% clear to everyone what those rings mean and not everyone will have an Apple Watch.

So I understand Apple are promoting their own metrics which they feel are better, but given that the watch perfectly know how many steps someone has walked why not also natively offering to display it on a watch face if someone wants to do that?

 

[Razeus]

Allow Spotify and Audible app to download to the watch please. But first they need to make the damn apps.

I'd like to see an Apple sleep tracking app.

Of course longer battery life.

 

[bbates123]

I second this request. Off by default but offer it as an option for those that don't mind taking the battery hit.

+1 for this suggestion. Plus always on for nightstand mode so I don't have to bang on the nightstand to see the time.

 

[ipedro]

I hate the way Messages are blue, Calendars are red, Timer is orange, Maps are blue, Workouts are green, Music is red, etc. It doesn't seem consistent at all which is unusual for Apple especially compared with iOS.

Huh? That's exactly how it is on iOS. The UI for Music is red, Clock is orange, iMessage is blue, etc. It's been this way since iOS 7. watchOS is just replicating it to keep the concept consistent across operating systems.

I can't think anything else WatchOS 3 looks so good. For hardware I think 16GB would be nice and tiny FaceTime camera would be nice for every deaf people to use.

Does American sign language work with just one hand?

For watchOS 4 I'd like to see the following:

• Offline Siri: the ability to add reminders, open apps, set timers etc. without having a network connection.
• Smart complications: Show me the weather complication when it's raining, show me a timer complication when I've set a timer, show me a calendar appointment when I have a meeting soon, show me my battery when I'm less than 20%. There's only so much space on the watch-face - I'd like important information to surface without having to micro-manage complications.
• The ability to download music directly to the watch without using the phone as an intermediary (fair enough if it only happens when plugged in).
• A podcast player that works when the phone is not connected.
• Better support for Wi-Fi networks that use captive portals that I've previously logged into (like the one at my gym).
• Better timed breathe reminders - rather than every X hours, why doesn't it suggest I take a moment when my heart rate is raised, but I'm not working out?
• Better stats and suggestions for overall fitness levels, for example, did I run the same distance, and get a better time? Was my heart rate lower? Should I be pushing myself a bit more? Would love it to make suggestions based on how hard I'm working.

Not bothered about sleep tracking, I know when I've had a good or bad night's sleep.

All really great ideas.

I've always seen AppleWatch as on a path to a fully capable wearable computer. Just as the iPhone went from being a complement to your Mac but not as capable, to now being most people's main computer. AirPods are the next step in that evolution towards a future where you wear your computer, not carry it around.

While full connectivity is inevitable, LTE isn't yet energy efficient enough to fit in a watch format. See other cellular watches which are huge and yet drain battery at unacceptable speed. So, in the interim, I think that Apple can focus on making the Watch more useful without an always on data connection. Some of them, you mentioned. Podcasts and better WiFi management are low hanging fruit. Apple could also download map data for your current location and keep it in memory, updating again next time it gets online if you changed locations.

But if there is one function that should work offline, Siri is the big one. Apple Watch is the most promising Siri device because it's always with you and just a wrist raise away. It needs to become functional without a data connection. I'd like to see Apple introduce a Siri chip in the next AppleWatch. A dedicated chip that processes voice recognition and interprets commands. Of course it wouldn't be able to fetch information from the internet without a data connection but there's so much Siri can do locally. Calendar and contacts management, map search, directions and points of interest (if kept in memory), controlling music, launching apps, etc.

So, in short, hardware updates should include more on board memory for storing information locally and a Siri chip for offline functionality.

 

[ARK]

Huh? That's exactly how it is on iOS. The UI for Music is red, Clock is orange, iMessage is blue, etc. It's been this way since iOS 7. watchOS is just replicating it to keep the concept consistent across operating systems.

Yeah and I hate it. It makes it feel like it has no UI. its just a bunch of flashy colors.

 

[Badrottie]

Huh? That's exactly how it is on iOS. The UI for Music is red, Clock is orange, iMessage is blue, etc. It's been this way since iOS 7. watchOS is just replicating it to keep the concept consistent across operating systems.



Does American sign language work with just one hand?

Yes

 

[deany]

Cloned iPhone sim, so watch can make say calls text SOS etc without iPhone has to #1 for me (assuming cost of cloned sim or watch chip is very reasonable - not like cost of having two lines).

edit
forget above this is an OS thread sorry.

 

[silvetti]

A watch face store. Give us the ability to buy additional watch faces even if they are only sold by Apple. I'm surprised this hasn't happened yet; Apple could be making a good amount of money selling watch faces. I'd instantly buy a Roman Numeral watch face similar to the Hermes' one for $20.

But then they would lose their mad profits on the Hermes Watch

 

[honglong1976]

But then they would lose their mad profits on the Hermes Watch

I never understood why actual watch manufacturers never made a watch face for apple watch or android wear. I am sure there would be a market for it.

 

[Lennyvalentin]

Would like to see on-screen widgets/indicators for timer, stopwatch and alarms/calendar events/reminders.

The timer could be a circle around the circumference of the watchface (assuming it is round), which reduces in length proportional to the time remaining.

Stopwatch could be an extra hand on the screen, with a floating indicator showing how much time has elapsed, and allowing me quick access to the stopwatch app.

Scheduled events could be a small arrow indicator at the particular time which brings up a larger tooltip descriptor when tapped.

Enabling these could be a toggle in settings, for those who like clean interfaces.

 

[gugy]

Improve native fitness apps please. Running/swimming/cycling.

 

[tf_dc]

Other. Ability to stay tethered to more than one device that belong to the same account. Including tablets.

Addition: better working with GPS. The maps of my runs (with a watch only) sometimes look quite funny afterwards, despite the distance estimation is usually realistic.

Second addition: better ability to distinguish when the wearer actually stands or exercises. Current "standing" data is ridiculous. I stand while I sleep, LOL.

Third addition: If the user switches off exercise goal, standing and other notifications, they should actually go off. A notification for "unlocking the mac" should be optional.

 

[profmjh]

WatchOS 3 was a great upgrade.

Like the majority, I voted for a watch face store. Apple sold the Apple Watch by claiming, "this is the most personal product we've ever made". Well, not so much.

Being able to delete icons from the app selector would be nice. There's all kinds of nonsense on there I'm never going to use and it makes it harder to find the stuff I do occasionally want.

 

[Type4O]

Calendar/Date complications should have a merged option that shows the next event when there is one but the date when there isn't.

Should be able to disable wake on wrist raise during do not disturb so it doesn't come on in the middle of the night and light up the entire room.