The 3rd and 4th Biggest Apple Watch Buzz Kills

I’ve already described the two biggest buzz kills.  Now it’s time for numbers 3 and 4, plus a bonus.

Several of my complications, including the native Apple Weather app one, work sporadically.  The temperature, which is supposed to be at the lower left, appears maybe half the time.  The sunrise/sunset, which appears at the lower right, does a little better.  The best thing about the watch is the ability to quickly get information by glancing at your wrist.  When two of the six items don’t appear, that’s a problem.

It’s a good thing, ironically speaking, that third-party apps don’t really work on the Apple Watch, since around a third of my app icons are permanently stuck in incomplete, installation-in-progress mode.  Sure, you can remove them and reinstall them via the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.  And if that doesn’t work, you can reset your Apple Watch and start over.  But that is a needless and frustrating time-sink.

Whatever happened to “it just works?”

Oh, and a bonus.  Sometimes the Apple Watch will simply disconnect from your nearby iPhone and refuse to re-pair. Usually, turning Bluetooth on and off a time or ten on your iPhone will fix the problem.  This happened to me in Austin the other day.  It took much effort and trial and error to force these supposedly and mandatorily complimentary devices to begin speaking again.

Need even more?  Lately, I’ve noticed that the text and email notifications on my watch (the most useful thing about the Apple Watch in my semi-humble opinion) lag behind the notifications on my iPhone, sometimes by 15 minutes or so.

I like my Apple Watch.  I really do, even though it drives me nuts at times.  And, yes, I know this is a version 1 product.  But I’ve bought a lot of those from Apple over the years.  This time it seems like more of a public beta.  Great promise, but very rough around the edges.

P.S. Yes, I have considered that my iPhone has a Bluetooth or other connectivity issue.  I’m hoping if we don’t drown in the next day or two (more flooding expected here in south Texas) a trip to the local Apple Store might fix some or all of this.  Having said that, I know that many others have experienced some of the issues described above.