I’ve been pretty neutral about the changes on watchOS 10. I understood that people don’t like changes -
but it’s been 2 months now and I still try to bring up the control center the old way, I still try to access my most recently used apps the old way and I’m still annoyed by having submenus everywhere where watchOS 9 was straightforward with everything. watchOS 10 is the most unintuitive Apple experience I ever had.
Old top menu bar, one line leaving space for the actual content
New top menu bar with huge buttons at the top, pushing down the actual content
Probably the worst part on my 40mm SE is that the colorful backgrounds made all app icons on watch faces smaller (there has recently been a post about this) and I keep missing icons when clicking them. I sometimes need to click an icon 4 times until it registers, along with the colorful backgrounds and unnecessarily huge flashy other buttons this feels like a $50 knockoff Watch to me now.
Also what did they think when changing the menu bar at the top? It used to be one small line (picture 1) but now on my 40mm Watch about 1 fourth of the screen is covered by each app’s title or clock (picture 2). I know what app I’m in, I don’t need half the screen (exaggerating yes) covered to be reminded of the app I’m using.
watchOS 10 must’ve been designed by someone who doesn’t really use their Apple Watch much I assume. I’m not blaming them, everyone can make mistakes when the goal was progress but it’s not like a mistake has to be set in stone. Just roll it back or give us a choice between design and functionality - I personally prefer functionality, it’s not like watchOS 9 was so ugly that it needed a re-design to begin with.
Hated it until I realised where the recent apps shortcut was then I was happy again. I like the UI change, just would have been nice to have a quick tutorial to show where things had moved.
I am in your boat. I keep doing the wrong thing to do what I want and then I try something else and it’s wrong too. I didn’t want a new watch. I was hopeful it was just going to add some neat things not change how I use it.
I didn’t download watchOS 10 mainly because it would make the battery way worse on my first generation, SE
Yes, most people agree, OS10 is trash
No – most people complaining about it online agree. No surprise there. I’m sure the vast majority of people either like it, are fine with it, or don’t care.
I don’t get the fuss, I like it. Is the implication that Apple shouldn’t ever change the way things are operated because people like OP can’t learn to press a button after a couple of months?
I prefer 10. I’m using ultra so maybe the size of the watch is more conducive to the os10 quirks.
I’m also ok with the changes, but some of them still wrangle.
I still try to access my most recently used apps the old way
Yes. I was a huge user of the customized dock. I hardly ever use control center, and would be fine with it being a button on the Smart Stack of widgets, just as an example. The double-click of the crown for the new “dock”, which is really the watch version of the iOS app switcher, is not enough for me - I want a list of my most important apps to be able to access quickly
For me, so far the biggest issue, besides the loss of the dock, is the change in behavior when single-clicking the crown when you have list view. Now it always returns you to the top of the list when you access it from a watch face, which is alphabetical; before it remembered where you were between uses (it still does this if you access the list while you are in an app, which to me is inconsistent behavior), so if I often use the list to open my 2FA app , it would almost always be there waiting for me when I press the crown. Now, it’s back to the top and scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll.
For a while I have been trying to use watch faces with few complications, and trying to use the Smart Stack to see that sort of info that I used to get from complications. As of now, though, after almost a couple of months of trying, I am back to using a watch face with the complications that I like to see and hardly ever use the Smart Stack, and, of course, hardly ever use control center. Really the only times I ever see it are when I unthinkingly click the side button in order to open the dock.
watchOS 10 must’ve been designed by someone who doesn’t really use their Apple Watch much I assume.
I don’t think so. I think that you and I (and lots of others who post here) are power-users of the watch, and the likely fact is that almost everyone else likely is not. I think these changes were designed for people who are not power users who were probably often confused by the UX of watchOS before version 10. Apple collects usage statistics by people who share diagnostic information, so I am sure that they have a very strong idea of how people use the watch, what they are often unable to figure out easily, etc.
I hope that these changes are just the beginning of a change that will evolve over time.
Also what did they think when changing the menu bar at the top? It used to be one small line (picture 1) but now on my 40mm Watch about 1 fourth of the screen is covered by each app’s title or clock (picture 2).
I’m not seeing that at all in your example, which shows two different apps anyway. Really I am fine with the visual changes to most apps, and honestly think that a lot have changed for the better. (Perhaps that’s because I have an Ultra, which always had a lot of wasted screen space.)
I’ve had absolutely no issues with getting used to the button functionality changes. If it’s taking you over two months to adjust, then it’s definitely an issYOU and nothing to do with Apple.
watchOS 10 must’ve been designed by someone who doesn’t really use their Apple Watch much I assume.
You know what they say about assuming.
Yeah when something worked for almost 10 years, and Apple changes it, it’s definitely me who’s suddenly at fault. Wow what a childish mindset that is.
I do
Seems fine for me. The only thing I would like to see a change is on the stacks. It has the time at the top of it which isn’t neccasary becasue as you scroll down the time appears anyway.
Yeah that’s pretty dumb. I wish you at least had the chance to adjust whether it’s digital or analogue. I’d actually kinda appreciate having quick access to the precise time when using an analogue watch face.
Really I just wish that you could change the entire stack for each face. Customization in general is the big issue with the OS, honestly, and you really feel it when you lose the ability to do something on a device as small/limited as a watch. A lot of the changes here should be things you can opt in or out of.
This might be useful to you. I bought it yesterday. It’s a digital time complication for 99p
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/timeglance-complication/id1531068181
10 isn’t perfect but I still prefer it over 9. And I’ve gotten used to the different functions the buttons do at this point.
I adjusted. It took a few weeks of reprogramming my muscle memory.
Same - actually like it more now
Yeah was annoyed first but already forgot how it used to be before already, lol
My issue is that there’s still no replacement for the Dock. I can’t get to most of my apps anymore without scrolling a list of every app on my watch.
Double click the crown to view recently opened.
My issue is the design language no longer feels intuitive. The simplicity of the UX coupled with the functional buttons no longer synchronises for me.
Yes! That put words to my problem with it too, now it seems like the buttons just do random things, not connected to the software related to their physical placement
Yeah it feels like they added multi-directional complexity to something that you’d expect to work in one direction only. I think the Apple Watch is the single only product that primarily feeds on being intuitive due to the limited screen size and one-hand use. Not anymore apparently.
Now they just cram in new things everywhere without following a real guideline, making it feel rushed and not really thought-through
All you need to know is that Kevin Lynch used to work at Adobe, on the Flash team.
Agreed. Though I felt that they were deviating from the original well thought out design ever since they stopped putting in Force Touch displays and nuked the functionality on older watches that still had the hardware.
Same on the iPhone. Force touch or 3D touch really was revolutionary so they killed it
i’m still mourning force touch from my 6S🥲
Mostly for me it’s just awkward and unintuitive. I’ve never been a big fan of using the side buttons; the swipes, especially for accessing the control panel, felt natural before watchOS 10. Now it just feels the same way that accessing the control panel on the buttonless iPhone does: weird and out of place.
And also, having to long press to switch between watch faces is just downright annoying. There should really be an option to revert back to the old way.
Agreed. The long press to switch watch faces is my biggest gripe.
For me too. I want the fast swiping method back.
And with beta 3 it’s back, but only if you toggle it “ON” in settings> clock on your watch.
Just activated it. YES!!! Thank you.
I got a Series 8 this summer and it has been stuck on 9.6.2. There a notification nearly every day that says it’s going to update at night, but never does. Maybe it’s not a bad thing after hearing all the feedback
Have you updated your iphone to ios 17? Mine is still on 16 I don’t get notifications on watch os 9
You can’t update the watch until you update your paired phone
I adjusted to it so quick lmao but its a trash update tbf
You’re not alone, the best we can do is give Apple our feedback on this, I totally hated the Touch Bar and ports on MacBooks pros, most people didn’t like it either and Apple had to go back to old design. With WatchOS 10 they also tried to fix something that wasn’t broken, we must be able to customise how the watch behaves, if your side button malfunctions you’re left without control center
Did they change the ports?
HDMI, SD card reader and MagSafe charging port were added back
Yeah the touch bar is fucking useless. I programmed it to simply show the normal keys. Now went with a MacBook Air instead just to avoid the TouchBar, haven’t ever used it for anything except for showing the keys it replaced
Autocorrect was a cool feature. I think that’s the only thing I like about it.
Interesting, I always found active autocorrect annoying on computers. I’m fine with how it is in Chrome, just marking potentially wrong words instead of turning each “fuck” into “duck”
It’s quite nice when you’re paying for something. But yeah, otherwise I’d rather have the normal keys
What do you mean paying? Do you mean Touch ID? All MacBooks have Touch ID regardless of the Touch Bar, you don’t need the Touch Bar for that
Yes but it’s nice how it displays the amount right next to where you have to touch, with an arrow pointing to the Touch ID sensor. It’s a nice touch to have one last check how much you’re paying right there next to where you need to put your finger.
Customization is definitely the key here. It’s anathema to how Apple does things usually, but watches are such a personal item that you use constantly through the day that it’s necessary when you make big changes like this.