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This article is a great example of how the Apple Watch has failed to reach its potential almost entirely because of indifferent software product design on Apple

This article is a great example of how the Apple Watch has failed to reach its potential almost entirely because of indifferent software product design on Apple's part. I'm sure that ever Watch owner and developer can come up with a few other examples of things that the apple watch ought to be able to do but can't. When I bought my Apple Watch, I had assumed that I'd be able to use it to view and control the podcasts I'm listening to on my attached iPhone, which is even more fundamental than what's described in this blog post. But nope, not in any meaningful or useful way. That being said, the Apple watch is still pretty good at pretty much one thing: when my phone beeps with a notification from one of many sources (SMS, eBay, Invision Trello, Messenger, etc) I need only glance at my watch. It's also a decent exercise tracker. But it could be so much more. Sadly, I think Apple has probably missed it's best chance to recruit top developers, so it's likely it will be relegated to fancy text reader and step counter forever.

atomical 9y ago
Average podcast is over 30 minutes, right? That means you would need to pull out your phone every 30 minutes to select the next podcast. Is that a big deal to you?
- sneak 9y ago
  Where we’re going, we don’t need phones.
- captain_crabs 9y ago
  Depending on what you're doing, you might need to pause/play/rewind the podcast a lot. I walk to coffee shops through some neighborhood area, and then some busy roads. So I make sure to pause for traffic noises, often I've gotta do so to talk with neighbors, and then so on. I don't even have an apple watch, but not having to deal with pulling my phone out a good number of times per walk over a lot of walks means a lot less times I could potentially drop my phone.
  - djrogers 9y ago
    > Depending on what you're doing, you might need to pause/play/rewind the podcast a lot. The existing 'now playing' capabilities of the watch handle this perfectly well. They don't handle selecting podcasts to play though.
- jonknee 9y ago
  The literal first sentence of the post: > The Apple Watch desperately needs standalone podcast playback, especially with the LTE-equipped Series 3, which was designed specifically for exercising without an iPhone. So yes, pulling out the phone that you don't have with you is a deal breaker.
  - atomical 9y ago
    Do people really want to exercise without their phone? It seems like a non-starter for the folks that go to a gym. I run with a watch and Bragi Dash. The onboard storage of the Dash works fine for me, but most people end up using the bluetooth because they want their phone available for browsing the internet all the time anyway.
    - grzm 9y ago
      > Do people really want to exercise without their phone? Yes. If I'm exercising, I want to carry the absolute minimum. If I'm doing a lot of daily tasks, I want to carry the absolute minimum. If I can get by without something phone-sized in my pocket by wearing something watch-sized on my wrist, I'd prefer the former.
    - richman777 9y ago
      Running outside, I definitely don't want to carry my 7+. It's large and I have the watch.
    - jonknee 9y ago
      Yes, otherwise why would LTE be useful at all on the watch?
    - stdgy 9y ago
      Absolutely! I go on every run without my phone. I've managed to cheat the Apple Watch into letting me sneak podcasts on to it through iTunes, but it's a hack and it doesn't sync back to my podcasts on my phone/computer. Still, at least I'm able to go on runs with my music podcasts. Edit: Changed iWatch to Apple Watch.
    - 9y ago
- k3liutZu 9y ago
  I think the one's I'm listening to average to somewhere between 60 and 90 minutes. More agains the 90 min mark.
Spooky23 9y ago
Try using apps like Workflow, Homekit and others. There’s lots of Tim wresting highs to do with the watch. Podcasts are a dusty corner of the portfolio and barely get attention. I’m sure they’ll gobble the function into Apple Music. I get what Marco is talking about here, but Overcast is already so complex it can barely play a podcast without crashing if interrupted. I don’t need that drama on my watch, where complex stuff either doesn’t work or sucks battery.
- cytzol 9y ago
  > There’s lots of Tim wresting highs to do with the watch. "Interesting things"?
  - Spooky23 9y ago
    Haha. Had I used my Apple Watch, Siri would have been better than autocorrect. :)
- cmrx64 9y ago
  >Overcast is already so complex it can barely play a podcast without crashing if interrupted do you have a repro? I use overcast extremely heavily and haven't had a crash in a few months.
speg 9y ago
How about viewing the monthly calendar more than a month in advance? I haven’t updated yet so I don’t know if they’ve fixed that.
- kn0where 9y ago
  It still only lets you see the current month. Which is annoying when it's, say, September 27.

atomical 9y ago

Average podcast is over 30 minutes, right? That means you would need to pull out your phone every 30 minutes to select the next podcast. Is that a big deal to you?

sneak 9y ago
Where we’re going, we don’t need phones.
captain_crabs 9y ago
Depending on what you're doing, you might need to pause/play/rewind the podcast a lot. I walk to coffee shops through some neighborhood area, and then some busy roads. So I make sure to pause for traffic noises, often I've gotta do so to talk with neighbors, and then so on. I don't even have an apple watch, but not having to deal with pulling my phone out a good number of times per walk over a lot of walks means a lot less times I could potentially drop my phone.
- djrogers 9y ago
  > Depending on what you're doing, you might need to pause/play/rewind the podcast a lot. The existing 'now playing' capabilities of the watch handle this perfectly well. They don't handle selecting podcasts to play though.
jonknee 9y ago
The literal first sentence of the post: > The Apple Watch desperately needs standalone podcast playback, especially with the LTE-equipped Series 3, which was designed specifically for exercising without an iPhone. So yes, pulling out the phone that you don't have with you is a deal breaker.
- atomical 9y ago
  Do people really want to exercise without their phone? It seems like a non-starter for the folks that go to a gym. I run with a watch and Bragi Dash. The onboard storage of the Dash works fine for me, but most people end up using the bluetooth because they want their phone available for browsing the internet all the time anyway.
  - grzm 9y ago
    > Do people really want to exercise without their phone? Yes. If I'm exercising, I want to carry the absolute minimum. If I'm doing a lot of daily tasks, I want to carry the absolute minimum. If I can get by without something phone-sized in my pocket by wearing something watch-sized on my wrist, I'd prefer the former.
  - richman777 9y ago
    Running outside, I definitely don't want to carry my 7+. It's large and I have the watch.
  - jonknee 9y ago
    Yes, otherwise why would LTE be useful at all on the watch?
  - stdgy 9y ago
    Absolutely! I go on every run without my phone. I've managed to cheat the Apple Watch into letting me sneak podcasts on to it through iTunes, but it's a hack and it doesn't sync back to my podcasts on my phone/computer. Still, at least I'm able to go on runs with my music podcasts. Edit: Changed iWatch to Apple Watch.
  - 9y ago
k3liutZu 9y ago
I think the one's I'm listening to average to somewhere between 60 and 90 minutes. More agains the 90 min mark.

Spooky23 9y ago

Try using apps like Workflow, Homekit and others. There’s lots of Tim wresting highs to do with the watch. Podcasts are a dusty corner of the portfolio and barely get attention. I’m sure they’ll gobble the function into Apple Music. I get what Marco is talking about here, but Overcast is already so complex it can barely play a podcast without crashing if interrupted. I don’t need that drama on my watch, where complex stuff either doesn’t work or sucks battery.

cytzol 9y ago
> There’s lots of Tim wresting highs to do with the watch. "Interesting things"?
- Spooky23 9y ago
  Haha. Had I used my Apple Watch, Siri would have been better than autocorrect. :)
cmrx64 9y ago
>Overcast is already so complex it can barely play a podcast without crashing if interrupted do you have a repro? I use overcast extremely heavily and haven't had a crash in a few months.

speg 9y ago

How about viewing the monthly calendar more than a month in advance? I haven’t updated yet so I don’t know if they’ve fixed that.

kn0where 9y ago
It still only lets you see the current month. Which is annoying when it's, say, September 27.