The Apple Watch has been out for a while now, and even though the device was expected to be a huge hit with all the hype preceding its release, the final result was a little underwhelming for some. Sure, the Watch does have its strong sides and it’s an overall solid device, but the rapid advancement of the smartwatch market and the various solutions introduced by Apple’s competitors have made the situation very difficult for the tech giant. Right now, Apple are still updating the Watch and tweaking it, while independent developers are releasing their own additions to it, and some customization features still seem to be missing.
Lately we’ve seen some interesting new apps arriving to the market for the device, including one designed to track seizures and help people in a dangerous situation. The app has been getting a lot of positive attention with many experts claiming that it was an important release for the device, and the kind of unique tool that the Watch needs in order to set it apart from the competition.
The app still has some issues that need to be polished, according to reports, but it has been working very well and people are showing a lot of interest in it. Apple themselves are yet to comment, although the company doesn’t typically get involved in discussions about community projects like that.
On the other hand, people are still asking when they are going to get customizable watch faces through third-party apps. It seems like Apple have no plans to make that feature available, and designing custom faces is still exclusive to their own teams. What’s more, the jailbreaking community is still trying to settle on an effective solution for targeting this device, so the situation likely isn’t going to change for a while.
Customization has generally never been Apple’s strong suite. The company has a very specific vision for how things should work and look, and they always try to impose their choices on their users. Some are fine with that, claiming that they trust Apple to pick what’s best for them and to come up with a solution that is appropriate for all users alike.
And some are definitely not pleased by this situation, claiming that basic customization options should never be taken away from the user. We can imagine cases where an inappropriate watch face could possibly lead to some negative reputation for Apple, but we don’t know if this is really such a major issue that would warrant prohibiting third-party developers from releasing their own designs.
Some have speculated that the root of the issue is protecting users from potential security exploits. The face is the core aspect of the device and if a malicious app developer found a way to make it interact with the user in an appropriate way, that could definitely lead to some trouble for not only that user, but Apple themselves once they are hit by the bad press.
Meanwhile, others have found some neat ways to profit from the Watch – software customization might be a bit poorly implemented, but there are various options available for customizing the exterior of the device. There are already various designs for classy wristbands for the Watch and users who aren’t happy with the default selection offered by Apple have various choices to pick from.