This is based on a presentation I did for our company on the Apple Watch. It covers the hardware and software technology on the watch as well as things like UI elements, design pattterns and limitations.

1. Tech Overview
Tishan Mills
May 12, 2015
Apple Watch for QTS

2. What is it?

3. What is it?
• “Smart” watch released by Apple on April 24
• Over 3500 watch apps on day one
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4. Watch Specs
• Cases: aluminum, stainless steel & gold
• Front: Ion-X glass / Saphire glass
• Many different bands
• Price: $399-10K+
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5. Phone Requirements
• Requires iPhone
• 5, 5C, 5S, 6, 6+
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6. Watch Display
• Sizes:
• 42 mm: 390 x 312 pixels (302 ppi)
• 38 mm: 340 x 272 pixels (290 ppi)
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7. Tech Specs
• 18 hour battery life
• Heart rate sensor
• Accelerometer
• Gyroscope
• 8 GB storage / 512 MB RAM
• No GPS but uses iPhone
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8. Differentiating Features
• Linear actuator (Taptic Engine)
• Force touch
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9. Apps

10. Fitness Focus
• Activity App & Workout App
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11. Communication
• Answer / make phone calls
• Built in mic and speaker
• SMS
• read and pre-canned responses
• Siri instead of keyboard
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12. Apple Apps
• Watch app
• Turn by turn navigation
• Apple pay
• Customizable watch faces
• Remote for Apple TV, Music
• Camera remote
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13. Other Apps
• Facebook, instagram, twitter
• Slack
• W Hotels
• American Airlines
• Pizza pizza
• Uber
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14. Architecture

15. Architecture
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16. Architecture (cont’d)
• Only UI rendered on watch (for now)
• Communication between watch app and
extension on iPhone happens seamlessly
(blue tooth)
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17. Glances
• Glances show a single view
• no interaction
• launches app when tapped
• configured using iPhone app
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18. Notifications
• Short look
• Long look
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19. Short Look Notifications
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20. Long Look Notifications
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21. Design

22. Building a Watch App
• Why use watch instead of phone?
• Perfect for
• Brief interactions
• Notifications
• Apps that require watch hardware
• Fitness
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23. Design Principles
• Don’t port your phone app onto the watch
• Avoid using tech that requires user
permission like core location
• request will trigger prompt while phone in pocket
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24. Design Principles
• Interactions with watch should be brief
• WatchKit app is suspended without user interaction
• WatchKit extension only runs while user
interacts with app
• Do not use background execution modes
• Avoid performing long-running tasks with a technology
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25. Navigation
• Page-based & hierarchical
• Mutually exclusive
• Modal presentations
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26. Page-based
• Closely related data
• Two or more interface controllers
• “Carousel” (dot indicator)
• Swipe left/right
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27. Hierarchical
• Similar to navigation controller in iOS
• Hierarchical views
• Starts with root interface controller
• Push other controllers on top
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28. Context Menus
• Use force touch
• New form of interaction
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29. Physical Feedback
• Taptic feedback (linear actuator)
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30. Development

31. Apple Watch App Development
• WatchKit API available in iOS 8.2
• Beta released in Nov 2014
• Xcode 6.2
• Watch OS 1.0
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32. Sharing Data
• iPhone app and watch app are sandboxed
• must use app groups to share data
• Static
• Dynamic
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33. UI Elements
• Labels
• Images
• Tables
• Buttons
• Switches
• Sliders
• Maps
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34. UI Layout
• Different layout model than iOS
• no view hierarchies, Xcode arranges vertically
• Groups
• container for other elements
• can arrange horizontally
• Nest groups
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35. UI
• Different layout model than iOS
• no view hierarchies, Xcode arranges vertically
• Groups
• container for other elements
• can arrange horizontally
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36. Standard Text Input
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37. Let’s create an Apple Watch App in 5 minutes!
Demo Time

38. References
• WatchKit page
• https://developer.apple.com/watchkit/
• Programming Guide
• https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/ios/documentation/
General/Conceptual/WatchKitProgrammingGuide/index.html
• Human Interface Guidelines
• https://developer.apple.com/watch/human-interface-guidelines/
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