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.
As a keen runner, losing the double click of the crown to switch between the most recently used apps is also a major negative. I often flick between a couple of apps while runnning - either Now Playing and Workoutdoors on long runs, or Workoutdoors and Intervals Pro while doing short runs. Before, I could go between them without touching the screen. Now, that’s not possible. It might seem like a small thing, but if I’ve been running for a couple of hours and am feeling tired and a bit shakey, I’m wearing gloves and/or the screen is wet, using the touchscreen is genuinely hard. I don’t want to stop my run just because I need to change the volume on my headphones.
when shopping, I used to use the double click most recent app swtich when using the calculator and reminders which keeps my shopping lists. now there is an extra step… double click crown and select which window to go to.
Not at all. I was so disappointed at how badly most fitness apps integrate with music apps. And even the best integration wouldn’t be able to replace opening the Spotify app to select another playlists etc. so the crown double click was appreciated
WAS