Apple Watch and Android Wear: The State of Actionable Notifications

Both the Apple Watch and Android Wear provide a wealth of value to certain wearers, thanks in large part to their decent implementations of actionable notifications. However, after a few weeks with the Apple Watch, it becomes apparent that most apps haven’t quite figured out how to be useful on your wrist.

The Challenges Faced by Developers

For developers who didn’t have access to a Watch before its release (a majority, in fact), it was easy to assume that the best route to take was to shrink down their iPhone applications within the constraints of the WatchKit SDK. This involved stripping out extraneous features, hiding some stuff in a menu accessible via Force Touch, and shipping.

The Importance of Contextual Design

Workflow, an app originally built to let users automate frequent tasks on their iPhone or iPad, is one of the few apps available on the Apple Watch that seems built specifically for the smaller form factor. On the phone, Workflow lets users create a recipe of actions (take N number of pictures, piece them together into a GIF, send to X, Y, and Z recipients) and generate a home screen button or iOS action extension to perform that task with one tap at any time.

The Apple Watch: A New Paradigm for App Design

At $2.99, Workflow is a killer app for iPhone power users. But on the Watch, it’s an example of what apps across the board should look like on smart watches, Apple-made or otherwise. Instead of providing an interface with options to pick from a menu or icons representing actions, Workflow on the Apple Watch has been stripped down to verbs.

• I want an Uber home: One tap executes multiple instructions on the phone.
• I’m walking home and want to send an ETA to my roommates: No gestures to remember or content to download to fill a feed.
• Maybe I’m on BART and it’s just too tightly packed to read on my phone — no worries, I can pick a Pocket article to be read over the headphones plugged into the iPhone in my back pocket: The perfect application for the WatchKit app paradigm.

The Future of Smart Watch Apps

Over the coming months, most developers will figure out that the best question to ask themselves when designing smart watch apps is, "What can I help users do with a single tap?" With cameras, LTE, GPS, screen size, and battery life keeping the smartphone relevant for the foreseeable future, developers should assume that users will always have a phone on them for any action that takes longer than raising your wrist, swiping once or twice, and tapping a button or two.

The Role of Apple in Shaping Smart Watch App Development

Workflow’s flaws demonstrate how apps will get better as Apple exposes native functions to third-party developers. Some workflows still require completing a step, like choosing the recipient of an automated text message, from the Messages app on the connected phone, which it gives a shortcut to via Handoff.

Others have wonky behavior when activated from the Watch because Apple shuts off the Bluetooth radios to conserve power, temporarily pausing the article playing back. These and other tiny sources of frustration will go away as Apple opens up things like resource caching on the Watch (hopefully a few weeks from now at WWDC).

Conclusion

The evolution of smart watch apps is an ongoing process, one that requires developers to adapt to new technologies and user behaviors. As we move forward, it’s clear that the best route to take is not to simply shrink down iPhone applications within the constraints of the WatchKit SDK.

Instead, we need to focus on creating apps that are built specifically for the smaller form factor, ones that understand the unique context in which users interact with their smart watches. Workflow is an excellent example of what this looks like in practice, and it’s a model that other developers should follow.

Related Topics

• Apple Watch
• Android Wear
• Actionable Notifications
• Contextual Design
• WatchKit SDK

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