{"id":18990,"date":"2017-09-25T15:05:43","date_gmt":"2017-09-25T19:05:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=18990"},"modified":"2017-09-25T15:05:43","modified_gmt":"2017-09-25T19:05:43","slug":"watchos-4-and-podcast-apps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2017\/09\/25\/watchos-4-and-podcast-apps\/","title":{"rendered":"watchOS 4 and Podcast Apps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/birchtree.me\/blog\/watchos-4-review\/\">Matt Birchler<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/birchtree.me\/blog\/watchos-4-review\/\">\n<p>So after all that said, how do I feel about watchOS 4? I think this is ultimately an update similar to watchOS 2. It&rsquo;s a small update that makes some key features better, but it does not change the smart watch game in any meaningful way. I don&rsquo;t mean that totally as an insult, but you should know that this update is not going to revolutionize the world of smart watches and make them something everyone just <em>must have<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>But while watchOS 4 is not a revolution, it is a good step in the right direction. This feels like a refinement year to me, which just means that you are going to enjoy your Apple Watch more than you did already. Media controls are a big win, as I now feel like my watch and my phone are more aware of what each other are doing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/marco.org\/2017\/09\/24\/what-watch-podcast-apps-need\">Marco Arment<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/news.ycombinator.com\/item?id=15327551\">Hacker News<\/a>):<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/marco.org\/2017\/09\/24\/what-watch-podcast-apps-need\">\n<p>The Apple Watch desperately needs standalone podcast playback, especially with the LTE-equipped Series 3, which was designed specifically for exercising without an iPhone.<\/p>\n<p>Believe me, <a href=\"https:\/\/marco.org\/2017\/08\/10\/removed-send-to-watch\">I&rsquo;ve tried<\/a>. But limitations in watchOS 4 make it impossible to deliver standalone podcast playback with the basic functionality and quality that people expect.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>Requiring podcast apps to also be workout apps is a user- and developer-hostile hack that Apple probably doesn&rsquo;t intend.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>The lack of volume control is especially damaging with watchOS 4&rsquo;s great new &ldquo;Auto-launch Audio Apps&rdquo; setting.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><code>WKAudioFilePlayer<\/code> will not play to the Watch&rsquo;s built-in speaker &mdash; it only plays to headphones connected to the Watch via Bluetooth. If playback is attempted without headphones connected, <code>WKAudioFilePlayer<\/code> just silently fails to play, without returning any errors.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>Transferring a podcast file to the Watch is a long-running task, often taking at least a few minutes per episode (and sometimes much longer), but the <a href=\"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/documentation\/watchconnectivity\/wcsessionfiletransfer\"><code>WCSessionFileTransfer<\/code><\/a> class provides no progress information. So there&rsquo;s no way for apps to inform users how long the transfers may take, or if they&rsquo;re currently moving at all.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matt Birchler: So after all that said, how do I feel about watchOS 4? I think this is ultimately an update similar to watchOS 2. It&rsquo;s a small update that makes some key features better, but it does not change the smart watch game in any meaningful way. I don&rsquo;t mean that totally as an [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[992,31,1472,647,112,1212],"class_list":["post-18990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-apple-watch","tag-ios","tag-ios-11","tag-overcast","tag-podcasts","tag-watchos"],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18990"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18991,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18990\/revisions\/18991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}