When the Apple Watch launched in 2015, the device didn’t have its market strategy figured out. But by the time the Series 3 came to market, Apple knew what it was doing. In getting there, it got rid of many features that the first iteration introduced — one of which was Glances.
The feature provided some useful information with cards that you could swipe over, and it looks like watchOS 10 will be doing something similar. Here we look into what the upcoming change is and how we think it should work.
On April 16, a report from Mark Gurman hinted that for 2023 instead of the hardware changes, Apple is planning to revamp the software on Apple Watch. While there weren’t any hints of the upcoming changes back then, he now reports (via his Power On newsletter) that widgets are making their way to the Apple Watch.
Mark Gurman wrote, “The new widgets system on the Apple Watch will be a combination of the old watchOS Glances system and the style of widgets that were introduced in iOS 14 on the iPhone.” He also added that these would be accessible as an overlay on any active watch face.
I’ve been using an Apple Watch since 2020, and its focus on providing information at a glance is helpful. But finding applications that can provide insightful data on the App Store and then having to dive into them on the Apple Watch isn’t as intuitive as you may think, be it via a press of the Digital Crown or the Side Button. Also, I hate to digress, but an updated app layout is one of the other improvements we wish to see on watchOS 10.
But, coming back to data visibility on Apple Watch, Complications have done a great job keeping vital details in front of you, but there’s room for improvement. I’ve seen users on Reddit create what they call Apple Watch Dashboards by combining many complications related to a single activity, giving them as much detail or control over the Apple Watch at once.
And widgets on watchOS 10 should try to achieve something similar to this. For example, Apple could create a widget tile that lets you quickly access your four most recent workout types. This has two benefits, one, it will free up a complication on your actual watch face — which can sometimes be hard to hit — and two, it’ll avoid needing to go into Grid View and locate the Workout app.
As for accessing widgets, the Digital Crown currently does nothing if moved when you’re looking at the watch face. Apple can simply add the widget overlap over here as an optional feature. Having it optional will also make it more manageable for old users if they prefer how the Apple Watch already works.
I feel implementing widgets on the Apple Watch will be a welcome change. It’ll help the device’s informative visuals become more data-rich and easy to access, the usability of which is hard to deny.
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