WatchOS 27 dynamic app grid not working?

As you apparently know so much more about this than either I or Apple, I will bow to your superior wisdom and bow out. Best of luck.

Actually many of my past co-workers work at Apple. Unfortunately none of them are in a position to do something about this particular horrible decision. They are mostly in the networking areas.

I get that you want to defend Apple here, but I feel I have to respond to your comment of: "Apparently you know so much more..." You seem to be putting me down rather than trying to help. I'll point out that I never claimed that I know more. But I am now heavily researching this to add to my prior knowledge and to learn more and because many people are indeed complaining about this problem. Some of my research has turned up the reason why so many of us feel this is a bad UI decision (for anyone interested):

True efficiency on a wearable comes from sub-conscious automation. Your brain learns that "Workout is in the upper right," so you tap it without looking. By making the interface unpredictable, Apple has effectively turned every single app launch into a cognitive task. You are forced to stop, read the screen, analyze which icons are currently present, and make a conscious decision every single time.

You literally cannot build muscle memory for a moving target. It permanently replaces high-speed muscle memory with forced visual scanning.

The research I've come across completely validates why so many of us are so frustrated. Instead of the technology adapting to your routine (which your multiple watch faces already did perfectly), Apple is forcing you to adapt to its shifting whims every hour of the day.

So, based on the above my only current "solution" is a handful of watch faces heavy on complications so I know right where things are. This is better than nothing to fix the now broken (my opinion) app selection UI.

Apple doesn't read here in this user-to-user forum for feedback or suggestions. In fact, they don't really participate much at all beyond make sure we all obey the rules. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

I'm not sure how you expect the Dynamic App Grid to know exactly what apps you want to use. A long time ago, the iPhone would put a row of icons at the top of the search screen with apps that you had used at similar times and similar places. Overall, it freaked people out and didn't actually work that well. Apple removed it.

Here's what Apple says the Dynamic App Grid should do:

Dynamic app grid highlights your most popular and recently used apps

So, I'd expect to see your most recently used apps. I suspect it may take awhile for it to "learn" your most popular apps.

Replying to myself to save all of you some time:

For just a second I thought I could get back a tiny bit of functionality. Inside of the iPhone Watch App -> Accessibility -> Assistive Touch -> Hand Gestures -> (And then I decided to use "Clench") is -> Return to Last App.

I got excited because it's pretty apparent that should switch to the last app used from whatever I'm currently on right?

But no, it opens the dynamic grid which is NOT the last app used. So I've filed a bug report. Please everyone else do the same? (Along with asking for a toggle to make the crown double-click open app switcher.)

Product Feedback - Apple

Oh, and here's a great sign of how much thought Apple has put into this design: Now within this same area you can pick from "Press Crown", "Show Apps", and "Return to Last App" all three of which now do the exact same thing.

As a programmer, I'm sure you know that in something as complex as watchOS, if you change one thing, you have to change a bunch of others.

Actually, when adding a new feature that's almost never the case.

Or, the hundreds of thousands of people who participated in the public beta (not to mention the developer beta before that) like it the way it is. Given how few people have been complaining (and, yes, I've been watching for this subject specifically), I think that's a more likely explanation. Not everyone has the same needs, wants and desire. And you can develop new muscle memory.

To my understanding lots of beta testers told apple that removing app switching, especially on older models that now don't use the crown double-click to do anything at all was a bad idea. They didn't listen. hence my earlier point. And new muscle memory for what? That a single click of the crown and a double-click of the crown do the same thing?

All that said I do appreciate you being here to play devil's advocate, but there is no debate, at least in my mind, that this change is a bad one.

And here's what an AI search has to say in regard to beta feedback:

Yes, Apple received significant complaints regarding the removal of the app switcher in watchOS 27, and they were warned by users and tech journalists months before the official release. [1]

Apple officially eliminated the traditional App Switcher gesture (double-clicking the Digital Crown) in watchOS 27, replacing it with a single behavior that pulls up the new "dynamic app grid" launcher. On the newest Apple Watch models, the double-click gesture was repurposed for hardware features like "Live Rewind". [1, 2]

The Complaints & Warnings Timeline

• Early Warnings (June – July): As soon as the first watchOS 27 Developer Beta dropped in June, users filed reports via Apple's Feedback Assistant and posted on the Apple Developer Forumspointing out that losing the multitasking shortcut broke muscle memory. Tech outlets like 9to5Macexplicitly flagged the issue to Apple during the public beta phase, warning that removing a predictable button shortcut on a device with so few physical inputs was a massive UI mistake. [1, 2, 3, 4]
• Public Backlash: Despite the beta warnings, Apple went ahead with the change in the final release. Users complained heavily on platforms like Reddit and tech sites like Cult of Mac, calling the update "infuriating" because it forces users to navigate menus mid-workout or mid-task instead of seamlessly jumping between two active apps. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
• The "AI" Forced Mandate: A core source of frustration is that Apple removed the shortcut universally across older supported models (like the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2) to streamline UI consistency for newer intelligence-driven features—even though those older watches don't even get the hardware features utilizing the double-click. [1]

Well, this didn't take as long as I thought it would. I guess Apple is going to give us the App Switcher back again:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AppleWatch/comments/1wmxnyq/watchos_272_beta_2_restores_app_switcher_with_a/

I've never really used the betas but I'm considering it because of how annoyed I am.

Do any of you have advice about installing a beta and potential problems?

I use my watch every day and I often use it while flying my paramotor. It's not a must have but it adds to my safety so that's my main concern in using a beta where I might not have functionality that is helpful to me, or if it were to glitch out could become a distraction.

bdajgdkhsakda wrote:

Its almost useless unless I can customize it to my preferences. And adds another step to get to the app list to bypass it. Great in concept, but completely missed in execution

Tell Apple:

Product Feedback - Apple

Did you submit feedback? The more people who do, the more likely you are to see change. A couple of years back when Apple changed the way you switched faces so that you had to press and hold (in response, no doubt, to a lot of people complaining about how easy it was to do by accident), there was a groundswell of protest. Apple added a switch so that you had the option to return it to a simple swipe. I honestly don't think you'll see that with this but you never know. I actually expected to see a lot more upset on this subject than I've seen. I would also point out that the feature is brand new. Apple is going to be watching that feedback (and the usage data many people allow their devices to send to Apple). It would not surprise me if they made a number of changes. And I still think that what appears may start to change given some time. It can take Optimized Battery Charging as long as a couple of weeks to determine your charing routine. It's only been four days since this was released.

Oh, yes, I've submitted feedback on the official channels. I'm here to see if others are having the same problem(s) and/or concerns and to also see if anyone has come up with any workarounds or ways to get the dynamic grid to actually be useful (as a start). If all the answers are "wait and see" well, that's all I can do anyway.

As far as it taking time,, as a programmer I know I could have made it work better from the get-go and if there is some "better" learning algorithm at work here that could kick-in later. Also, there seems to have been no UI testing done ahead of time at all or they wouldn't have gotten rid of what most people have come to use as a muscle-memory fast app switcher that didn't even require looking at the watch to do. This is bad design/testing/decision making through and through. It screams, "follow the agenda, not what's best for people."

justin.gengo wrote:

Oh, and in regard to Apple doesn't read these - You really think that a site run by apple is never seen by someone who works at Apple? They say they won't respond, but I'll bet you $100 that someone at Apple is watching over this website and sees at least some of the posts.

On rare occasions, if there is some particular problem a person or group is tasked with resolving, engineers will read here to find examples. Sometimes they do reach out to people for more information. But it's rare. Other than the Hosts, Apple employees are enjoined from participating. I have reason to know this.

Even with AI, trolling through one of the largest forums of its type in the world for possibly useful suggestions would be a huge undertaking. That's why Apple has created the Feedback page.

I'm a developer myself. I still look at websites I created for companies I worked at or consulted on from 15 years ago. Maybe I'm more curious than most, but I don't think so.

Except this isn't a website Apple created for a client. To be brutally honest, it's a way for Apple to offload a lot of support onto unpaid volunteers. And I'm okay with that.

Did you submit feedback? The more people who do, the more likely you are to see change. A couple of years back when Apple changed the way you switched faces so that you had to press and hold (in response, no doubt, to a lot of people complaining about how easy it was to do by accident), there was a groundswell of protest. Apple added a switch so that you had the option to return it to a simple swipe. I honestly don't think you'll see that with this but you never know. I actually expected to see a lot more upset on this subject than I've seen.

I would also point out that the feature is brand new. Apple is going to be watching that feedback (and the usage data many people allow their devices to send to Apple). It would not surprise me if they made a number of changes.

And I still think that what appears may start to change given some time. It can take Optimized Battery Charging as long as a couple of weeks to determine your charing routine. It's only been four days since this was released.

When I'm flying is a completely different use case. For that the app switcher was very nice. I have a throttle and brake line in my left hand and another brake line in my right. I can let go of the brakes here and there but never the throttle. To switch between apps using the crown made it easy to do - especially back and forth between two, but even by scrolling to the one I wanted to look at.

Now, I have no choice but to click and scroll and or use a watch face and then try and click the correct app. While also paying attention to my surroundings at all times. Getting the correct one is much more difficult this way.

I really would have thought apple would have learned their lesson when they finally added a toggle to enable watch face swiping back again. It seems to me that it would have been very easy to make this new feature toggle-able.

Hi Idris, yes, I'm aware Apple doesn't read these. I was asking if the new dynamic app grid is doing what apple has advertised for anyone.

Let me give you an example, every morning I use waterminder to track my coffee/caffeine intake and then water throughout the rest of the day. I also check my schedule via the outlook app. Neither of those is shown in the grid after three days of using these at roughly the same times each morning. Instead I have the tv remote app shown (which I used the night I first installed watchOS 27), the music app (used once when I mowed the lawn) and the settings app from when I went looking for a way to toggle this thing off.

It would seem that it should be pretty easy to know that I've used the same two apps each morning for three days now. Which is why I'm wondering if something is wrong/buggy just for me somehow.

justin.gengo wrote:

Hi Idris, yes, I'm aware Apple doesn't read these. I was asking if the new dynamic app grid is doing what apple has advertised for anyone.

This would seem to say different: "You've made flying less safe for me! I'm an apple fan because of all the great UI decisions usually made. This is a HUGE step backward? What happened here? Maybe you need new UI leadership? " But moving on.

Let me give you an example, every morning I use waterminder to track my coffee/caffeine intake and then water throughout the rest of the day. I also check my schedule via the outlook app. Neither of those is shown in the grid after three days of using these at roughly the same times each morning. Instead I have the tv remote app shown (which I used the night I first installed watchOS 27), the music app (used once when I mowed the lawn) and the settings app from when I went looking for a way to toggle this thing off.

Give it some time.

It would seem that it should be pretty easy to know that I've used the same two apps each morning for three days now. Which is why I'm wondering if something is wrong/buggy just for me somehow.

See above.

Oh, and in regard to Apple doesn't read these - You really think that a site run by apple is never seen by someone who works at Apple? They say they won't respond, but I'll bet you $100 that someone at Apple is watching over this website and sees at least some of the posts.

I'm a developer myself. I still look at websites I created for companies I worked at or consulted on from 15 years ago. Maybe I'm more curious than most, but I don't think so.

justin.gengo wrote:

As far as it taking time,, as a programmer I know I could have made it work better from the get-go and if there is some "better" learning algorithm at work here that could kick-in later.

As a programmer, I'm sure you know that in something as complex as watchOS, if you change one thing, you have to change a bunch of others.

Also, there seems to have been no UI testing done ahead of time at all or they wouldn't have gotten rid of what most people have come to use as a muscle-memory fast app switcher that didn't even require looking at the watch to do. This is bad design/testing/decision making through and through. It screams, "follow the agenda, not what's best for people."

Or, the hundreds of thousands of people who participated in the public beta (not to mention the developer beta before that) like it the way it is. Given how few people have been complaining (and, yes, I've been watching for this subject specifically), I think that's a more likely explanation.

Not everyone has the same needs, wants and desire. And you can develop new muscle memory.

Its almost useless unless I can customize it to my preferences. And adds another step to get to the app list to bypass it. Great in concept, but completely missed in execution

You assume I haven't

bdajgdkhsakda wrote:

You assume I haven't

You assume I can read minds.

As you apparently know so much more about this than either I or Apple, I will bow to your superior wisdom and bow out.

Best of luck.