watchOS 10 - a huge mental shift for veteran Apple Watch users.
Note: watchOS 10 Developer Beta 1 was used for this writeup.
I have been a veteran Apple Watch user since its release in 2015 and after almost two weeks, I still have trouble remembering the controls in watchOS 10. It is going to be a decent learning curve for those upgrading from watchOS 9, but it will also be a fresh start for those who are new to the Apple Watch experience.
In this post, I’m going to go through every single input option on the Apple Watch, and let you know the differences to expect when you upgrade to watchOS 10. Before we get into the input options, know that watchOS 10 essentially has 3 separate layers that flow from one to another. They flow in the following order:
Smartstack is new with watchOS 10, and it’s very robust and almost looks like a new watch face in and of itself. If you divide the watch into 4 quadrants, you get a clock in the top right, the day and date in the top left, and the bottom half of the watch lets you add up to 8 widgets. Each widget is the size of the big, full-width complication in the modular watch face.
Okay, so let’s get to all the control changes in watchOS 10.
Touch Controls
Swiping down from the top of the screen - this is the same on both watchOS 9 and 10. You get to see your notifications like normal. No retraining here.
Swiping up from the bottom
watchOS 9 - Control Center.
watchOS 10 - you get the new Smart Stack feature. Keep scrolling past Smart Stack to enter your app grid/list. This is a huge mind shift for veteran watch users, and I still get annoyed when I realize that I’m doing it wrong when trying to access Control Center.
Swiping left to right (or right to left)
watchOS 9 - This changes your watch face at the flick of a finger.
watchOS 10 - Changing your watch face in this manner is unexplainably removed from the first beta. I really hope it will be added back because you now have to touch and hold the watch face (like an animal!) as if you wanted to edit the watch face in order to change your watch face. This is a HUGE step back, and I am 100% confident that we will get back the swipe right or left to change the watch faces function in a future beta.
Touch and hold - This is the same for watchOS 9 and 10. It takes you right into the edit screen for the watch face, and the digital crown can be used to cycle between watch faces.
Physical Controls
Action button (Apple Watch Ultra)
This works the same as before in both watchOS 9 and 10. A single click activates whatever app you have set it to, and pressing and holding it activates the Siren/SOS/Power off screen.
Side button (single tap)
watchOS 9 - activates your Dock, which shows either your favorite apps or your most recent apps.
watchOS 10 - activates Control Center, which will confuse people in the beginning. Press it again to close Control Center.
Side button (double tap) - activates your wallet for payments on both watchOS 9 and 10.
Side button (touch and hold) - same function for watchOS 9 and 10. Activates your Siren/SOS/Power off screen. You can still force close your active app by pressing and holding the digital crown while on this screen.
Digital crown (single click)
watchOS 9 - brings your app grid or list.
watchOS 10 - brings up your app grid or list. In watchOS 10 the app grid is now much better since it only scrolls vertically. There is no full 360 degree customization of the placement of your app grid, so it’s much easier to find apps and much more streamlined for those new to the Apple Watch.
Digital crown (double click)
watchOS 9 - would cycle between your two most recent apps with a pretty classy transition, zooming out to the app grid, finding the other app in the grid, and zooming back in.
watchOS 10 - opens your most recent apps in a card-like fashion, similar to the Dock in watchOS 9.
Digital crown (click and hold) - activates Siri in both watchOS 9 and 10.
Digital crown (rotation)
watchOS 9 - lets you interact with specific watch face quirks and features. For example, you can make the numbers long or short on the metropolitan face, or you can rotate through the lunar calendar of the lunar watch face.
watchOS 10 - the digital crown behaves just like swiping up from the bottom of your screen. It brings up your Smart Stack and when you scroll past your Smart Stack, you can scroll right into your app grid/list. You can reverse scroll from the bottom of your app grid and make it all the way back to your watch face as well.
In order to interact with your watch faces such as metropolitan or the lunar watch face, you first need to tap the watch face, and then you will see the complications and the watch hands fade into the background, letting you know that the digital crown can now be used to interact with the watch face. This is one of the biggest control changes in watchOS 10, and will probably confuse people who did interact with their watch faces a lot.
The good news for new Apple Watch users is that they will be on a more level playing field with veterans when it comes to learning the controls of their watch. The bad news is if you have older relatives who are not tech-savvy and they currently have an Apple Watch, they will flock to you for help. But that's OK because that’s what we do as tech enthusiasts. We can be their digital hero and reconnect with our loved ones at the same time.