Keynote worthy Apple Watch apps

Talk I gave at VoxxedDays Belgrade 2015 conference.

Video (in English): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rft2KzD4i0k

I look at the Watch app from two angles:

1. Product Manager
How to brainstorm and decide do you need a watch app at all and if yes, what it should be

2. Developer
Issues and challenges in both iOS8+WatchKit 1 path and in iOS 9 + watchOS 2 path

Transcript

1. KEYNOTE WORTHY ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜ APPS Aleksandar Vacić · Radiant Tap VoxxedDays Belgrade 2015
2. Multiple feature placements on the App Store for all my main apps, in various categories, including Run 5k watch app. RADIANTTAP.COM MY CLAIM TO FAME @radiantav
3. APPLE WATCH IS… h i BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY DEVELOPER CHALLENGE
4. is the main focus, where Apple Watch trully shines with ubiquitious availability and ease of use and measurement HEALTH & FITNESS Apple Watch is an excellent triage tool for firehose of notifications and remote control for tasks at hand PRODUCTIVITY Siri, Apple Pay and an array of similar utility functions that one can perform with a simple hand gesture or two UTILITIES KEY AREAS
5. These are my interpretation of the Watch HIG :) AIM for SECONDS Use cases are measured in seconds, not minutes 1ST: COMPLICATIONS Complications are 1st-level UI and are shown all the time, on the watch face 1.5: NOTIFICATIONS They appear and disappear automatically, but don’t require any end-user action 2ND: GLANCES Static views, need to manually initiate their appearance, swiping from the bottom APPS ARE 3RD LEVEL Obvious from their placement in the overall Watch UI CORE TENTPOLES
6. Must have that one thing that is does much, much better than iPhone app. Complication possible? App must exist then. If actionable notifications add great deal of usability to your iPhone app then on the Watch they will be twice as useful. If you are weather or stocks app, most likely yes. Or any other app that has one screen worth of info. If none of the previous points made much sense, then just don’t bother. It’s not worth it. Does it need to exist? Actionable notifications BRAINSTORMING PROCESS None of that? Don’t bother Glances would do?
7. COMPLICATIONS NOTIFICATIONS
8. GLANCES …wait a minute! APPS
9. INTERACTIONS Swipes, Taps & other Gestures Digital Crown Force Touch Siiriiiiiii… …minimize the need for them …is your new best friend …avoid as much as possible …if you can use it, I envy you
10. Enter the DEVELOPER Thus ends the PRODUCT MANAGER
11. iOS 9 ὑ watchOS 2 iOS 8 ☓ WatchKit TWO PATHS
12. WATCHKIT 1 APPS I hope that when full native WatchKit SDK is revealed in upcoming WWDC we will get proper layout engine, as even a very limited AL subset would be better than this. If not, I don’t see myself writing much of Apple Watch apps in the future. – me, Feb 2015 // aplus.rs/2015/thoughts-on-developing-apple-watch-apps/
13. WATCHKIT LAYOUT
14. ARCHITECTURE
15. EXTENSIONS (IOS 8) REFRESHER no direct communication with main app can use shared container (AppGroups) you don’t have any control over extension going up or down you don’t know is it even running, you can just guess
16. IMPORTANT WATCHKIT POINTS no way to keep state for the watch ext/app you must pre-made all UI at compile time, no runtime alloc no way to know did your setText: even made it to the Watch no way for watch app to know will tap ever be answered This. Is. Hell.
18. May 2015 // aplus.rs/2015/watchkit-1-dot-0-redux/ OH, THE SHAME!
19. ESSENTIALS make the app one thick, all-in-one controller place all possible states and elements on the screen at the same time and then call setHidden: as you need nest groups like crazy, no performance penalty get out of awakeWithContext: really quickly re-read and re-set everything in willActivate:
21. APP LIFECYCLE MUST BE FAST! dispatch_async()
22. COMMUNICATION everything is asynchronous use that shared container as much as it makes sense use MMWormhole to fake realtime messaging don’t even try to send any more than one or two images drop images in the Watch app bundle and reference them
23. ANIMATIONS
25. aplus.rs/2015/automatic-image-creation-for-watchkit-animated-progress-bars/
26. [self.pauseRing setBackgroundImageNamed:@"red-134-3-"]; [self.pauseRing startAnimatingWithImagesInRange:NSMakeRange(0, 31) duration:.4 repeatCount:1]; [self.pauseSign setBackgroundImageNamed:@"pause-anim-"]; [self.pauseSign startAnimatingWithImagesInRange:NSMakeRange(0, 38) duration:.6 repeatCount:1]; dispatch_after(dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, (int64_t)(.6 * NSEC_PER_SEC)), dispatch_get_main_queu ^{ [self.pauseSign stopAnimating]; [self.pauseSign startAnimatingWithImagesInRange:NSMakeRange(38, 18) duration:1.2 repeatCount:0]; }); [self.pauseRing setBackgroundImageNamed:@"red-134-3-"]; [self.pauseRing startAnimatingWithImagesInRange:NSMakeRange(0, 31) duration:-.4 repeatCount:1]; [self.pauseSign setBackgroundImageNamed:@"pause-anim-"]; [self.pauseSign stopAnimating]; [self.pauseSign startAnimatingWithImagesInRange:NSMakeRange(0, 36) duration:-.4 repeatCount:1]; dispatch_after(dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, (int64_t)(.4 * NSEC_PER_SEC)), dispatch_get_main_queu ^{ [self.pauseRing setBackgroundImage:nil]; [self.pauseSign setBackgroundImage:nil]; });
28. ARCHITECTURE
29. GOOD STUFF · Makes sense to draw and generate graphics in the Extension · Ability to operate without the iPhone · Extension can keep local cache while it’s working · Networking directly from the Extension NOT SO GOOD · UI layout engine is still the same · No shared container, you have to sync · You have to sync data. · No, really – you have to sync.
30. AVAILABLE FRAMEWORKS ClockKit Contacts Core Data Core Foundation Core Graphics Core Location Core Motion EventKit Foundation HealthKit HomeKit Image I/O MapKit Mobile Core Services PassKit Framework Security Framework Watch Connectivity WatchKit Framework
31. APP LIFECYCLE
32. COMMUNICATION Full NSURLSession framework is in watchOS 2 Goodbye MMWormhole Hello Watch Connectivity WCSession *wcs = [WCSession defaultSession]; wcs.delegate = self; [wcs activateSession]; -(void)sessionReachabilityDidChange:(WCSession *)session {} -(void)sessionWatchStateDidChange:(WCSession *)session {}
33. WATCH CONNECTIVITY Interactive (foreground) messaging Background transfer of current context Background transfer of a stream of messages Background transfer of files
34. WATCH CONNECTIVITY Interactive (foreground) messaging Background transfer of current context Background transfer of a stream of messages Background transfer of files NSDictionary *message = @{…}; - (void)sendMessage:(NSDictionary<NSString *, id> *)message replyHandler:(nullable void (^)(NSDictionary<NSString *, id> *replyMessage))replyHandler errorHandler:(nullable void (^)(NSError *error))errorHandler {} - (void)session:(WCSession *)session didReceiveMessage:(nonnull NSDictionary<NSString *,id> *)message replyHandler:(nonnull void (^)(NSDictionary<NSString *,id> * _Nonnull))replyHandler {}
35. WATCH CONNECTIVITY Interactive (foreground) messaging Background transfer of current context Background transfer of a stream of messages Background transfer of files NSDictionary *context = @{...}; NSError *error = nil; BOOL success = [wcs updateApplicationContext:context error:&error]; - (void)session:(WCSession *)session didReceiveApplicationContext:(NSDictionary<NSString *,id> *)applicationContext {}
36. WATCH CONNECTIVITY Interactive (foreground) messaging Background transfer of current context Background transfer of a stream of messages Background transfer of files - (WCSessionUserInfoTransfer *)transferUserInfo:(NSDictionary<NSString *, id> *)userInfo; - (void)session:(WCSession *)session didReceiveUserInfo:(NSDictionary<NSString *, id> *)userInfo; - (void)session:(WCSession * __nonnull)session didFinishUserInfoTransfer:(WCSessionUserInfoTransfer *)userInfoTransfer error:(nullable NSError *)error;
37. Some TIPS
38. You still need to refresh display on willActivate: HKWorkoutSession will allow you to keep your in foreground Watch the following session from WWDC 2015: 207, 208 (WatchKit in depth) 216 (Layout, Animations) 228 (Advanced Tips and Tricks) 713 (Watch Connectivity)
39. Thanks for WATCHING Slides at speakerdeck.com/radianttap/…