{"id":3824,"date":"2015-06-19T15:48:11","date_gmt":"2015-06-19T22:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thinkapps.com\/blog\/?p=3824"},"modified":"2015-06-22T14:55:52","modified_gmt":"2015-06-22T21:55:52","slug":"apple-watch-guide-watchos-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinkapps.com\/blog\/development\/apple-watch-guide-watchos-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Guide to WatchOS 2 for Apple Watch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The dust has now settled from <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/wwdc\/\" target=\"_blank\">Apple\u2019s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC)<\/a><\/span>\u00a0held in San Francisco earlier this month, and\u00a0we finally know what to expect\u00a0in the next iteration of the Apple Watch operating system, dubbed <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.apple.com\/watchos-2-preview\/\" target=\"_blank\">watchOS 2<\/a><\/span><i>.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><a href=\"http:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/watchOS-2-Preview-image.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"453\" height=\"132\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4001\" src=\"http:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/watchOS-2-Preview-image.png\" alt=\"watchOS 2 Preview image\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/watchOS-2-Preview-image.png 453w, https:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/watchOS-2-Preview-image.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 453px) 100vw, 453px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Less than two months after\u00a0consumers\u00a0started getting their hands on the Watch, Apple announced some major feature improvements to the wrist device. Happily it seems we were pretty much spot-on\u00a0with what we\u00a0predicted in our <a href=\"http:\/\/thinkapps.com\/blog\/development\/apple-watch-version-2-wish-list\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"s2\">Wish List for Apple Watch 2.0<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Let\u2019s go through our wish list point-by-point and see which items Apple has fulfilled, as well as potential use cases for the newly-announced features.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\">1. Native Apps<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The announcement regarding native apps didn&#8217;t really come as a surprise as Tim Cook had mentioned last year that this improvement\u00a0would be coming. Nonetheless, this was our number one wish, and so we are thrilled that apps will be able to run natively on the Watch as part of the iOS 9 update.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">As we mentioned in our previous post, a notable issue is that a lot of the early\u00a0Watch apps take forever to launch. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">In the current version,\u00a0Watch apps\u00a0primarily consist of static UI control elements, with the run-time logic and code being forced to run on the paired iPhone.\u00a0<\/span><strong><span class=\"s1\">With watchOS 2, we will see native apps that run entirely on the\u00a0Watch itself, providing quicker response times. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">More impressively, with the ability to run code solely on the Watch, the wrist device is now able to synchronize data from the Internet (instead of relying on the iPhone) to update the app UI.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><a href=\"http:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-1.01.52-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"522\" height=\"256\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4003\" src=\"http:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-1.01.52-PM.png\" alt=\"Apple Watch image 1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-1.01.52-PM.png 522w, https:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-1.01.52-PM.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 522px) 100vw, 522px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Potential Use Case<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Let\u2019s take a look at the <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/mlb.com-at-bat\/id493619333?mt=8\" target=\"_blank\">MLB.com At Bat app<\/a>. Smarter logic combined with the ability to run apps natively means users can access the app and dynamic data (baseball scores in this case) almost instantaneously. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">And if you happen to access the app later on the iPhone, you won\u2019t have to re-download the data from the Internet to the phone. Instead, you will sync it from the Watch to the iPhone. (And this will work both ways.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\">2. Direct Access to the Watch Sensors <\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Another big limitation of watchOS 1 was\u00a0the inability of\u00a0developers to access sensory information like heart-rate. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Given that a lot of\u00a0Watch users are\u00a0health enthusiasts \u2014 after all, the device is specifically marketed to them \u2014 this seemed like something that would be<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>quite important. Yet, with the first version of the operating system, developers\u00a0were only able to access health data indirectly through <a href=\"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/healthkit\/\" target=\"_blank\">HealthKit<\/a> on the iPhone, which does not operate in\u00a0real-time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Thankfully, this will no longer be the case.\u00a0<strong>With watchOS 2, Apple announced that developers will indeed have access to the\u00a0<i>heart-rate sensor.<\/i><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">This is certainly another win for developers, and something we weren\u2019t 100% sure we would see with the first version of the device, due to battery concerns.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><a href=\"http:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/RK-for-Apple-Watch-text1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"935\" height=\"550\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4020\" src=\"http:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/RK-for-Apple-Watch-text1.png\" alt=\"RunKeeper for Apple Watch\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/RK-for-Apple-Watch-text1.png 935w, https:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/RK-for-Apple-Watch-text1.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 935px) 100vw, 935px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><em><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.runkeeper.com\/3400\/runkeeper-for-apple-watch-tune-into-your-run\/\" target=\"_blank\">Image credit<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Potential Use Case<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">This will make real-time health tracking a possibility for third-party vendors like <a href=\"http:\/\/runkeeper.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">RunKeeper<\/a>, who will\u00a0now be able to constantly poll to track the heart sensors of runners and joggers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">(For more on RunKeeper and other health and fitness apps,\u00a0check out our post on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/thinkapps.com\/blog\/development\/apple-watch-health-apps-healthkit\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Future of Health Apps on Apple Watch<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">3.\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">Direct Access to the Digital Crown, Microphone, and Custom Gestures<\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">On this point, we got most of our wish list fulfilled: we aren\u2019t getting any new gestures, but we are getting access to the <i>digital crown<\/i>, as well as the <i>accelerometer<\/i> and <i>microphone<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p2\"><em>Digital Crown<\/em><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">As we mentioned previously, the <i>digital crown<\/i> is a fantastic digital take on a<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>timeless instrument seen in mechanical watches. In the current version, Apple uses it\u00a0for various operating system features, such as enabling zooming and scrolling. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>Now, with watchOS 2, developers will be able to fully customize the digital crown.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"518\" height=\"278\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3625\" src=\"http:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/25194700\/image_4.png\" alt=\"Digital Crown on Apple Watch\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/25194700\/image_4.png 518w, https:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/25194700\/image_4.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 518px) 100vw, 518px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Potential Use Case<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Tapping into the digital crown could see apps that allow for app state changes more rapidly and intuitively. For example, an app could have a rating scale or list of settings that the user can scroll through expeditiously.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p2\"><em>Accelerometer<\/em><\/h2>\n<p>Access to the hardware accelerometer will also deliver new classes of apps and functionality to users.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-1.32.55-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"479\" height=\"260\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4017\" src=\"http:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-1.32.55-PM.png\" alt=\"Apple Watch image 3\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-1.32.55-PM.png 479w, https:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-1.32.55-PM.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 479px) 100vw, 479px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Potential Use Case<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The accelerometer presents new opportunities for\u00a0sports and physical activity apps. For example, a golfing or baseball app could provide a Watch version that is capable of detecting the swing of the\u00a0club or bat and provide a visual indicator showing the swing tempo.<\/p>\n<h2><em>Taptic Feedback<\/em><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>With watchOS 2, developers will also have access to <i>taptic feedback<\/i>, which will allow them\u00a0to send specific vibrating feedback types to users<\/strong>, with a consistent set of vibration modes to allow for a consistent response depending on whether the response is an error or alert, for instance. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Right now, Apple has a list of 7-8 types of taptic feedback patterns. By\u00a0providing familiar patterns for certain situations, Watch users will\u00a0be able to develop a premonition of the alert message context.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"686\" height=\"387\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4006\" src=\"http:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-1.05.25-PM.png\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2015-06-22 at 1.05.25 PM\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-1.05.25-PM.png 686w, https:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-1.05.25-PM.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 686px) 100vw, 686px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Potential Use Case<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">In the way that\u00a0Apple uses distinct taptic feedback patterns in Maps directions for turning left versus right, a similar use case can be made for other apps.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">A <a href=\"http:\/\/thinkapps.com\/blog\/development\/quickie-messaging-app-real-conversation\/\" target=\"_blank\">messaging app<\/a>, for example, could provide one type of vibrating alert for a personalized message, a more subtle alert for emoji messages or group messages, and another distinct taptic pattern when an image is being transmitted. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p2\"><em><span class=\"s1\">Microphone<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Moving on to the <i>microphone<\/i>, this was another feature\u00a0we were hoping would be opened\u00a0up to developers, and Apple is delivering. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Previously, only Apple and a handful of third-party developers had access to the microphone, including <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wechat.com\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\">WeChat<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/evernote.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Evernote<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shazam.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Shazam<\/a>. <strong>With watchOS 2, we will be able to\u00a0use the microphone directly to record audio from the Watch and have access to the audio within the Watch app.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><a href=\"http:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-1.43.11-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"486\" height=\"248\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4022\" src=\"http:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-1.43.11-PM.png\" alt=\"Apple Watch image 4\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-1.43.11-PM.png 486w, https:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-1.43.11-PM.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 486px) 100vw, 486px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Potential Use Case<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">We may start seeing a new wave of apps that allow for more meaningful two-way communication. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Given the Watch&#8217;s\u00a0lack of keyboard, chat apps must\u00a0either rely on a set of templated pre-defined responses or emojis. Although\u00a0we haven&#8217;t seen Siri opened up yet, the ability to record audio provides potential for iOS apps to receive the audio file and either send the audio raw or convert the content into digital &#8220;dictation.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">A note-taking app could provide digital audio dictation or a new messaging app could send an audio message to another app. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\">4. More UI Controls <\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">In the initial release for Xcode 6, we were only given a limited number of UI elements\u00a0we could use, without the ability to create custom ones. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">With watchOS 2, we still don\u2019t have the ability to create custom ones, but <strong>Apple has delivered new UI controllers to make our Watch apps richer.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p2\"><em>Drop-Down Picker<\/em><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">One of those is a new drop-down element, which\u00a0allows you to use the <i>digital crown<\/i> to scroll through a list of elements, akin to the UIPicker in iOS. This is something we have seen before when configuring our watch face<i>\u00a0<\/i>and scrolling between the various <em>complications<\/em>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The <em>drop-down picker<\/em> allows for an in-place browsing of various options, like selecting your birth year, and is useful when there are more than four choices. A visual progress indicator and use of the digital crown allows users to scroll through the options speedily, without getting lost.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p2\"><em>Videos<\/em><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>We are also getting the ability to play videos within the Watch.\u00a0<\/strong>This is suitable for video content that is short, like the videos we see on <a href=\"https:\/\/vine.co\/\" target=\"_blank\">Vine<\/a>. Apple has stressed that it is not ideal to show videos longer than a few seconds because there is a significant battery hit.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Potential Use Case<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">This feature would best be suited to apps that provide 3-10 second short clips, such as a social media app, allowing Watch users to enjoy quick snippets of visual content. Any more than 10 seconds would best be handed-off to the iPhone.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p2\"><em>Alerts and\u00a0Action Sheets<\/em><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Finally, <strong>we are receiving new alerts and action sheets<\/strong>, similar to iOS, which provide a standard interface to present messages to users modally. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The <i>alert sheet<\/i> would contain a brief message, as well as a title and one or two buttons, and is ideally used when you need your user to confirm something prior to continuing. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\">5.\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">Third-Party Complications and Watch Faces<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><em>Complications<\/em><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>We aren\u2019t quite getting new watch faces, but we are getting the ability to create custom<i>\u00a0complications<\/i><\/strong>. These are the little widgets we see in many of the existing watch faces.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Complicates are tiny pieces of data, like little tickers, that provide contextual information to the user\u00a0without them\u00a0having to leave their watch face and navigate to the associative app. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">By selecting the complication, it will launch the full\u00a0Watch app for further information. We have seen these with Calendar events and world time.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><a href=\"http:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-2.50.10-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"566\" height=\"371\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4036\" src=\"http:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-2.50.10-PM.png\" alt=\"Apple Watch image 5\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-2.50.10-PM.png 566w, https:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-2.50.10-PM.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 566px) 100vw, 566px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">With <i>ClockKit<\/i> and <i>watchOS 2<\/i>, developers will now be able to create their own complications.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Potential Use Case<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">An app like MLB.com At Bat could present a personalized complication showing the user&#8217;s favorite baseball team, along with the latest game results or live-ticker score. The benefit of having it as a Watch complication means the user can just quickly look down\u00a0at his or her watch face, without having to go to a separate glance or drill down to the app.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p2\"><em>Time Travel<\/em><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>A new feature that developers\u00a0will be able to tap into is what Apple has dubbed <\/strong><i><strong>Time Travel<\/strong>. <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">While this doesn\u2019t involve any real-life travel to a different time, it does allow users to scroll into the future or past\u00a0through the use of the <i>digital crown.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><a href=\"http:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-2.52.33-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"682\" height=\"384\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4038\" src=\"http:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-2.52.33-PM.png\" alt=\"Apple Watch image 6\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-2.52.33-PM.png 682w, https:\/\/d1vqbpto5tbbz0.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/19224811\/Screen-Shot-2015-06-22-at-2.52.33-PM.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Potential Use Case<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">With Time Travel, app developers will be able to add\u00a0the feature of using the device&#8217;s digital crown to go forwards or backwards in time. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">For example, in a Calendar complication widget, a user is able to go backwards to see a past event or scroll into future events. In the case of the baseball app, they would be able to scroll backwards or forwards between games or even innings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">In Summary<\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">With the launch of the Apple Watch and <i>watchOS 1<\/i>,\u00a0it was clear that the device had\u00a0some serious shortcomings, despite\u00a0the\u00a0beautiful hardware, which prompted us to come up with our <a href=\"http:\/\/thinkapps.com\/blog\/development\/apple-watch-version-2-wish-list\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"s2\">Wish List for Apple Watch 2.0<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Thankfully, less than two months after\u00a0the first batch of Watches started shipping out, WWDC took place\u00a0with\u00a0Apple announcing some significant feature improvements to the operating system when iOS 9 is released later in the fall. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The shortcomings identified on our list included a lack of direct access to hardware sensors and features on the Watch (such as the heart-rate sensor and microphone),\u00a0watch face complications,\u00a0and lagging performance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The timing of the product introduction and operating system refresh mean we won\u2019t have to wait long to get the promised improvements. In this sense,\u00a0Apple has exceeded our expectations, providing substantive updates without the need for a new device. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Of course, there are more improvements that can (and almost certainly will) be made. But due to Apple\u2019s NDA, we will have to remain tight-lipped for a little longer. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">One thing is for sure though, with watchOS 2, the Apple Watch will begin transitioning from a niche geek device to a more mainstream accessory.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Your app could be perfect for the Apple Watch and we\u2019d love to help you build it.\u00a0Try out the <a href=\"http:\/\/thinkapps.com\/watch-apps\" target=\"_blank\">ThinkApps for Watch tool<\/a> to brainstorm and explore\u00a0your app ideas.\u00a0Or, if you already have a specific idea in mind and just need some help with development,\u00a0<a title=\"Apple Watch App Development by ThinkApps\" href=\"http:\/\/thinkapps.com\/apple-watch\/?Campaign_ID=701F0000000SQ0Y&amp;lead_source=Blog\" target=\"_blank\">reach out to our Apple Watch team.<\/a>\u00a0We can help you\u00a0get started today.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At WWDC, we learned what to expect in the next iteration of the Apple Watch operating system, watchOS 2. 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