7 challenges facing Apple Watch app developers

The Apple Watch, which goes on sale for the first time on April 24, will have a stable of apps available for download. But it also presents some bizarre challenges for developers. Developers are being expected to build apps for a platform they've never used or seen before, or even understood how it works. And many are still unsure who will actually use the Apple Watch.

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This is almost universal. For example, when many companies started developing apps for the iPhone, the iPhone had already been on the market for more than a year. Desktop developers have decades of experience and design ideas to draw on. Console game developers may build new platforms, but the basic principles have hardly changed.

Alban Brooke, CEO of time tracking app Tick, and his team were recently interviewed about the challenges of developing apps for the Apple Watch. He explained: "The Tick Apple Watch app can quickly start and stop timers, and then record the data to your Tick account. We have built a whole set of apps to make time tracking quick, easy and enjoyable."

After months of research and development, the Tick team visited Apple's Sunnyvale lab for the first time this week. Because both parties signed a confidentiality agreement, they were not allowed to talk about related matters. But they hope that their practical experience can help other developers solve the problems encountered in the process of developing applications.

1. The Digital Crown may be overhyped

When Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the Apple Watch, he emphasized the "digital crown," which is a device on the side that controls some of the watch's functions. Cook said, "Whenever Apple develops a new product, it makes a breakthrough in the user interface. The digital crown of the Apple Watch is like the scroll wheel on the iPod or the multi-touch on the iPhone. It is very simple and is an amazing input and navigation device."

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However, designer Kevin said that the digital crown is different from Apple's current mechanism. He said: "Apple has spent a lot of time trying to make the digital crown a new user interface element, but its SDK does not provide a method to match this element except for the standard scroll wheel." Due to the lack of practical experience, it is difficult for developers to find a way to implement the digital crown.

The Tick team also picked up hints from media reports about the Force Touch feature, Apple's new touchscreen technology that measures how hard a user presses, but it was hard to get any useful information about it.

2. Developers rely on media reports and second-hand code

In addition to the digital crown, the developer team needs to rely on the scarce information provided by the media and second-hand codes on the Internet to find out the information about the overall operation of Apple Watch. For example, developer John said that in order to understand how the smart watch is coded, he went to the code hosting website Github and searched for Apple Watch projects participated by other developers. He would run the code to see how the various parts of the application are assembled and find possible application codes in the watch. In terms of user experience, developers rely heavily on reports from people who have actually come into contact with Apple Watch after Apple made an announcement.

3. Troubleshooting Errors Requires a Whole New Dimension

No app is perfect, which is why developers test their products extensively before releasing them to the public, trying to find bugs. The same approach applies to Apple software developers, who are currently testing their apps using Apple Watch simulators provided by Apple. "Sometimes we find a bug and need to figure out whether it's a bug in the app or in the simulator itself," Brook said.

4. Developers must use digital models

Without a real physical device to test on, developers have come up with a clever way to see how their apps will perform on a wrist. There's a third-party app called Bezel that overlays an Apple Watch simulator, adding custom Apple Watch bezels and bands. This means that developers can see their apps on a $349 white sport or $17,000 gold Apple Watch, even if they don't have a real watch in their hands yet.

5. Limited functionality

Developers have previously mentioned that Apple strictly limits the functions of the Apple Watch to save power as much as possible. However, many of the restricted functions are actually the most exciting functions, such as the heart rate sensor and gyroscope. The Tick team also faces similar problems, especially the animations are also limited.

Kevin said: "Apple's presentation highlighted software and applications that were beautifully designed and elegantly animated. So we were surprised to learn that animation was also strictly restricted."

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"Most of the apps in Apple's demos had features that were not actually usable," Brooke said. John also said, "Animations consume too much of the limited battery life of the watch, so they have to be careful when adding exciting elements to the app, otherwise Apple may even reject it because it consumes too much battery."

In addition, many of the features shown in Apple's demos are not available. The app interface can only choose between a layered or page-based view. Many simulations and videos show that it is impossible for Apple Watch apps to combine or switch between the two interfaces.

6. The ultimate goal of Apple Watch is not yet achieved

Before the launch, there was still no "killer app" on the Apple Watch that could attract ordinary people to use it. Developers were also considering this question of life and death for the Apple Watch, and the Tick team finally got inspiration from the statement of Apple's top designer Jony Ive that the application was designed for lightweight interaction. Kevin said: "Starting from this premise, we gave up everything we had and began to work on developing an application that can be launched, used, and exited within 10 seconds."

7. Developing apps for the Apple Watch is like a guessing game

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Of course, these problems won't exist forever. As Apple Watch is about to go on sale around the world, it will become easier and more efficient for developer teams to develop applications for it. Kevin said that the process is still very limited, which can be frustrating. But the challenge for developers should be to understand these limitations and why they exist. It's like guessing a puzzle. You may not feel that you are making great progress, but you have to set the framework before you make any real progress. Once you understand this, then you have the opportunity to be creative, which is a very interesting challenge.