I'm currently using Swift to write an independent Apple Watch app for watchOS 7+. My app uses Location Services, and in case the user doesn't allow that at first, I'd like to have a button inside my watchOS app to send my user to the part of the Settings app (inside watchOS) where he can give the appropriate permissions for the app. I know that in iOS/macOS you can use the openSettingsURLString string from UIApplication to do what I want, but it's not available in watchOS and I haven't found any equivalent resource inside the WKExtension class (normally the equivalent for UIApplication in the watchOS environment). Does anyone know if there's any way to programatically open the Apple Watch Settings app from my watchOS app? I'm asking since as far as I understand asking for Location permissions again would not work since the user has already refused to allow the permissions before, making the authorization status "denied". I understand as well that there's the possibility of showing a modal and directing the user to go to Settings and allow the use of location services (as in "Please go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services > [AppName] to allow the use of location services") but I'd like if I could direct the user there instead as one might do in iOS. The code below is what I'm trying to do - but (of course) it crashes since I'm not actually passing any system URL. .alert(isPresented: $alertVisible) { Alert (title: Text("Please allow our app to use location services in order to get Weather Data"), message: Text("Go to Settings?"), primaryButton: .default(Text("Settings"), action: { WKExtension.shared().openSystemURL(URL(string: "")!) //UIApplication.shared.open(URL(string: UIApplication.openSettingsURLString)!) }),

I had a Watch-only app on the AppStore, and decided to add an iOS companion app now. Technically this was very easy, adding just an according target to my project. TestFlight tests where successful, IAPs remained valid for the whole setup etc., watch app could remain standalone as well -- so everything looked "Go" for release. But now customers that already previously downloaded the watch app just see "Purchased" in the AppStore for the app, and they neither automatically get the iOS companion through the update process, nor can they force a download (as there is no cloud icon to explicitly do so -- just the greyed-out "Purchased" button). The watch app updates automatically to the new version, but it seems impossible to initiate the iOS app download. The initial download of the watch-only app also doesn't show up in their list of purchases/download (only on the watch AppStore app, but from there, the iOS app won't be forced to install either). Did anyone face this also and can recommend a solution that can be communicated to affected (i.e. all so far...) customers?

I've ran into an error with the insertRouteData function of the HKWorkoutRouteBuilder that I can't seem to find any information on. The error is "Unable to find location series 1A193D3B-AFF5-41D8-A967-B1BE08D9F543 during data insert.". It seems to only happen when trying to insert very long routes, in the most recent case it was a 5 hour bike ride with 5900 samples. I save all the route data in a sqlite table as backup and after checking out the data there isn't any red flags as to why it would not insert correctly. Has anyone seen this before and could offer some insight or point me in the right direction to find the source of the error?

I'm developing an iOS app that needs to continuously inform a server whether the user's paired Apple Watch is currently reachable for interactive messaging. If this reachability is lost unexpectedly, the server should be alerted within seconds. This is a safety-critical feature where reliability is essential. The goal (abstractly): The iPhone app needs real-time or near-real-time awareness of whether the paired Apple Watch is reachable. The specific mechanism doesn't matter - I'm open to any approach that achieves this reliably. Context - what already works: The iPhone app successfully maintains continuous server connectivity using an NEAppPushProvider network extension. In practice, this runs reliably in the background and sends periodic heartbeats to the server regardless of main app state. This pattern works well for the phone component. I need to extend this to include the watch's connectivity status in those server updates. Note: WCSession APIs are only available in the main app process, not the Network Extension, so any watch connectivity information must be bridged via the main iOS app (e.g. shared UserDefaults and Darwin notifications). What I've tried: 1. Companion watchOS app sending heartbeats to iPhone via WCSession This was my primary approach: a watchOS app sends messages to the iPhone at short intervals using WCSession.sendMessage(). The iPhone forwards this to the server. If heartbeats stop, the server raises an alert. (I tested various intervals from 2-15 seconds; the specific interval doesn't matter because the fundamental problem is that the watch app is suspended regardless.) Problem: The watch app is suspended almost immediately when: The user presses the Digital Crown The user switches to another app The watch screen dims and shows the clock face (even without explicit backgrounding) Once suspended, Timer.scheduledTimer() stops firing and no heartbeats are sent. 2. WCSession.isReachable monitoring on iPhone I hoped the iPhone could monitor WCSession.isReachable to detect when the watch becomes unreachable. Problem: isReachable indicates whether the counterpart app is reachable for interactive messaging, not the underlying physical connection. It returns false for many reasons - watch app suspended, backgrounded, or various system conditions - making it unreliable as a proxy for actual watch connectivity. The iPhone cannot distinguish "watch app not ready for messaging" from "watch physically disconnected". 3. WKExtendedRuntimeSession on watchOS Problem: Only available for specific scenarios (workout, mindfulness, etc.). My use case is general activity, not fitness tracking. Misusing workout sessions would likely be rejected by App Review. 4. WKApplicationRefreshBackgroundTask on watchOS Problem: These tasks are system-scheduled with timing that varies from minutes to hours depending on system conditions. Far too slow and unpredictable for second-level detection. 5. BLE advertising from watchOS app Problem: BLE advertising stops when the watchOS app is suspended. Same fundamental limitation as the timer approach. 6. Server directly pinging the watch (ICMP or similar) Problem: While Apple Watch can have an IP address via Wi-Fi or cellular (on LTE models), inbound connections to the watch aren't feasible - the watch is behind NAT with no public address, and watchOS doesn't support inbound server sockets (especially in background). This approach isn't practical regardless of connection type. 7. CoreBluetooth scanning from iPhone Problem: Apple Watch doesn't advertise as a discoverable BLE peripheral to third-party apps. The system-level pairing isn't exposed. Why this works on Android/WearOS: On WearOS, a Foreground Service continues running in the background regardless of UI state or screen status (subject to standard OS background limits, but in practice it works reliably). The service sends heartbeats via MessageClient consistently. This "always-on background execution" pattern has no equivalent on watchOS. Questions: Is there any mechanism for an iPhone app to have continuous or regularly-updated knowledge of whether a paired Apple Watch is connected and reachable for interactive messaging - ideally without requiring a watchOS companion app to be in the foreground? Are there any system-level APIs or entitlements (perhaps requiring special approval) that expose watch pairing/connectivity events to iOS apps? Is there any watchOS background execution mechanism I've missed that could keep code running reliably when the app isn't in the foreground? Has anyone solved a similar "detect wearable connectivity loss in real-time" problem on the Apple platform? I understand Apple designed watchOS with aggressive power management for good reasons. If continuous connectivity monitoring truly isn't possible, I'd appreciate confirmation so I can set appropriate user expectations. But given this is a safety-critical use case, I'm hoping there's an approach I've overlooked.

Apple son güncellemeden sonra saatiyle bağlantı kurmuyor bu çevremdeki herkesin yaşadığı bir sorun

Regarding App Update Synchronization During Workout Mode: My watchOS app has workout mode enabled. When I update the app from the App Store on my iPhone while a workout session is active on my Apple Watch, the update does not sync to the watch. Why does this happen, and when can I expect the watch app to be updated? Regarding Automatic App Launch After a Prolonged Shutdown: I would like my watchOS app to launch automatically on my Apple Watch after it has been powered off for an extended period and then turned back on. Is this functionality possible to implement? If not, please provide a definitive answer regarding this capability.

I'm currently collecting real-time heart rate data using HKWorkoutSession. I want to track when the Apple Watch is physically removed from the user's wrist during an active workout. However, I've noticed that workoutBuilder(_:didCollectDataOf:) continues to be called even after the watch is removed from the wrist. Is there a way to detect when the Apple Watch is removed from the wrist during an active HKWorkoutSession? Or is this tracking not possible through the HealthKit framework? Any guidance or alternative approaches would be appreciated.

Since watchOS 26, watch face sharing has stopped working completely. I tested the following: Sharing via CLKWatchFaceLibrary Other public APIs Sharing via iMessage In all cases, the watch face cannot be reinstalled after being shared. This issue is not limited to my app. Large third-party apps such as Facer and other major watch face platforms are also affected, which suggests this is a system-level change or bug. Everything worked correctly before watchOS 26. Has Apple officially acknowledged this issue? Is there a recommended place to report or track this bug?

Hi Forum I am working on an ios app with a companion watchos app. The watchos app was made in 2018, it uses watchkit and has a watchkit app target and a watchkit app extension target. When I started working on it, the app was already published and running. More importantly, the watch app was installing on the users watch automatically, when the app was installed on their phones. I came in and made some changes, updated some things and added some smaller features. After uploading to testflight and testing the app there, we sent it for review and updated the app. This updated app, introduced the issue that when users now downloaded the app, the watch app seems to be missing. For me, downloading this new version on either testflight or app store works fine, but whenever my boss or a new user does it, the watch app is missing. I have tried to go back to the older version of the app I started with, but this doesn't seem to change anything. My coworker tried to do do the same thing, uploading the old version, but with a new version number and everything works like normal. He suggested the reason was that he uses xcode 16, while I use xcode 26 and the updated xcode has some slightly different settings, which can mess it up. Does anybody know about this or have the same problem? And is it correct that it can be the way settings are handled in xcode 26 compared to 16?

I'm working on a watchOS app using SwiftUI that updates its UI based on regular, time-driven logic. On a real Apple Watch, after the app has been running for ~1 minute, the device enters Always-On / power-saving display mode (screen dimmed, wrist down). From that point on, SwiftUI UI updates become noticeably delayed. The underlying logic continues to run correctly, but the UI only redraws sporadically and often "catches up" once the screen becomes fully active again. The app is running in workout mode, which keeps it alive and maintains WatchConnectivity, but this does not prevent UI redraw throttling. Below is a minimal reproducible example that demonstrates the issue. PlaybackModel.swift import SwiftUI @MainActor final class PlaybackModel: ObservableObject { @Published var beat: Int = 0 private var timer: Timer? func start() { timer?.invalidate() timer = Timer.scheduledTimer(withTimeInterval: 0.5, repeats: true) { _ in Task { @MainActor in self.beat += 1 } } } func stop() { timer?.invalidate() } } ContentView.swift (watchOS) import SwiftUI struct ContentView: View { @StateObject private var model = PlaybackModel() var body: some View { VStack { Text("Beat: \(model.beat)") .font(.largeTitle) } .onAppear { model.start() } .onDisappear { model.stop() } } } Observed Behavior • The beat value continues to increase reliably. • After the watch enters Always-On / power-saving mode, SwiftUI redraws are delayed or skipped. • When the screen becomes fully active again, the UI catches up. Questions: • Is this UI redraw throttling in Always-On / power-saving mode an unavoidable system limitation on watchOS? • Is there any supported way to keep consistent SwiftUI update frequency while the app is visible but dimmed?

As title says. Surely rendering bitmaps is something the hardware could handle, right? Please enable MKTileOverlay for watchOS.

Trying to develop a little Watch app in Swift, and it's been kind of a miserable experience. I constantly get transport errors trying to connect to my watch. I've tried the trick of putting the Mac and the watch on my iPhone hotspot instead of just on the same WiFi network, but I am not sure that actually helps. I can run maybe once or twice, and then the transport error happens and it's very hard to get XCode to recognize the watch again. Also, when it DOES connect, it seems that XCode almost always loses the debugging connection (I just continue, and it IS actually running on the Watch at that point, but no debugger).

My watch APP needs to keep Bluetooth connected with peripherals whether it is in the foreground or background, but the results of my test show that the connection in the background is very unstable, sometimes you can keep the Bluetooth on for a day, but sometimes it will be disconnected 50 times a day, and every time it is disconnected, I will immediately initiate a reconnection, it is certain that there is no problem with the peripheral Bluetooth, because I have another iOS device that has been stably connected to the peripheral, I want to know what causes this instability, and if there is any solution, if someone can provide relevant advice, I will be very grateful

Need to vent a bit before relaxing for Christmas... WatchOS IAP using Storekit 2 is such a mess...is nobody actually using this or does Apple just not care for the user experience here? Lots of users experience after the purchase confirmation double tap on the side button an instant return to the purchase screen with nothing actually happening. No error message whatsoever. There is just one remedy: users need to unpair and re-pair their watch, including restoring a backup and setting up their wallet again. Nobody really wants to do this, or doesn't believe me and think this is just typical support BS, because their watch is paired and most things just work as they expect. And it turns away a customer, often leaving a bad review. And I can't do anything about it. Other errors in the purchase process are reported, but like "process interrupted" in case the payment is not setup correctly (credit car no longer valid or sth.). How should the user know? There must be better ways of letting him know what exactly the problem is. You need to implement a "Restore Purchase" function, otherwise you're not passing the review. But it really asks every time for the AppStore password, and users with crazy passwords -- that they rightfully should have! -- have almost no chance of typing them successfully on the tiny AW keyboard. Why is it not also just a side button double tap like for purchase? At the very least you would need access to the keychain PWs or allow pasting of sth. copied on the paired iPhone. Promo Codes for IAP on AW-only apps just don't work. AW has no redemption at all, and on the iPhone the AppStore will try to talk to a companion app (which AW-only doesn't have) and the end up in a dead-end installation effort. This all feels like never really tested in the field, and people are of course blaming the 3rd party dev. for all these issues. And opening a ticket is just leading nowhere -- at best it's closed after months with the hint "duplicate" but w/o any chance for me to see that one that they then actually work on and track progress. It's all so frustratingly broken...

Hello, I sent this in as a feedback several weeks ago about watchOS 26.2 beta 2 but since the issue is still active now that watchOS 26.2 is in production I'm reposting here for the community. I would also like to submit a DTS about this issue but honestly don't know the best way to go about it and would appreciate advice about that. There seems to be an issue with VPP distribution for our app on watchOS 26.2. When our watchOS companion app is launched after being installed through VPP to a supervised iPhone, it encounters a dyld error before main() or any application code is even called. The same app launches correctly in every other circumstance we could imagine and test: – Installed through VPP on supervised devices running watchOS 26.1. – Installed from the app store (using an apple id) on a supervised iPhone and paired watch running iOS 26.2 / watchOS 26.2. – Installed through Testflight on a supervised iPhone and paired watch running iOS 26.2 / watchOS 26.2. – Installed through the app store on unsupervised devices running watchOS 26.1 and 26.2. This strongly appears to be a VPP signing issue because we even did the following experiment: Install iPhone and Watch apps through the App Store on a supervised device pair running public iOS 26.2 beta 2 / watchOS 26.2 beta 2. Verify that both apps launch successfully. Use an MDM command to install from VPP over the existing installations Verify that the watch app fails to launch (the iOS app is unaffected) My feedback included some crash logs which I won't be reposting publicly here. Any feedback or ideas appreciated.

I am developing a simple watch app and I use my personal watch for development with Xcode. Personal watch is series 10 gps only. I have two other watches that I want to use for testing the app, but not needing them to be connected to Xcode. The test watches have cellular option, and I need a cell plan per watch because the watches need to be standalone, not counting initial setup. To get the standalone cell plan the watches need to be configured using AWFK. Here is what I have tried/current issues. I switch between all three watches on my phone using the watch app. Originally tried to put test watches in developer mode, thinking I would connect to Xcode, developer mode is not available when watch is setup using AWFK. Pushed the watch app to apple connect, setup TestFlight group, added the test users and my phone user, accepted invites TestFlight is installed on my phone, I see the testflight setup for the watch app I set a test watch using watch app on the phone, run install for the test app from TestFlight on the phone, spinner moves for awhile then goes back to Install. I am not able to get the watch app installed on the test watches from the phone. Is what I am attempting to do supported? I haven't found much specific documentation on this. If I pair the test watches as regular watches, set them to developer mode, can I pair them again as AWFK and will developer mode survive the switch? Or is there something really simple that I'm overlooking? Appreciate any help that can be extended.

I have a standalone Apple Watch app that uses Bluetooth with the bluetooth-central background mode. It seems that in watchOS 26.2, once the system terminates the BLE connection after background allowance is exceeded, the app never regains background BLE capability, even after the user returns to the foreground and interacts with it. This contradicts the documentation and the WWDC22 “Get timely alerts from Bluetooth devices on watchOS” session, which state that background BLE connectivity should be restored when the user brings the app back to the foreground. Does anyone have any insight into this behavior?

We are seeing an issue where sending data using the asynchronous method HKWorkoutSession.sendToRemoteWorkoutSession(data: Data) will never return in some cases (no success nor failure). This issue is happening for roughly 5% of Workouts started and will stay broken for the whole workout. The other 95% of the workouts, the connection works flawlessly. This happens on both watchOS 10 and 11, and with phones running iOS 17 or 18. The issue is quite random and not reproducible. Our app has thousands of workouts a day that use the workout session workout data send, with constant messages being send every few seconds. In some of those 5% cases the "sendToRemoteWorkoutSession" will throw way later, like 30+ minutes later, if the watch app is awake long enough to capture a log of a failure. Our code uses the same flow as in the sample project: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/healthkit/workouts_and_activity_rings/building_a_multidevice_workout_app Here is some sample code, which is pretty simple. Setup code: let workoutSession = try HKWorkoutSession(healthStore: healthStore, configuration: configuration) workoutSession.delegate = self activeWorkoutSession?.startMirroringToCompanionDevice { success, error in print("Mirroring started on companion device: \(success), error: \(error)") } workoutSession?.prepare() then later we send data using the workout session: do { print("Will send data") try await workoutSession.sendToRemoteWorkoutSession(data: data) print("Successfully sent data") // This nor the error may be called after waiting extensive amounts of time } catch { print("Failed to send data, error: \(error)") // This nor the success may be called after waiting extensive amounts of time } So far, the only fix is to restart the phone and watch at the same time, which is not a great user experience. Is anyone else seeing this issue? or know how to fix this issue?

When calling beginCollection on HKLiveWorkoutBuilder the function never completes and gets stuck. (On the second workout session, the first session works flawlessly) To reproduce: Run the MirroringWorkoutsSample on WatchOS https://developer.apple.com/documentation/healthkit/building-a-multidevice-workout-app. Start the workout and then end the workouts it should work perfectly fine the first time. Start the workout and end again, and you should see the problem, the workout doesn’t end.

My workout watch app supports audio playback during exercise sessions. When users carry both Apple Watch, iPhone, and AirPods, with AirPods connected to the iPhone, I want to route audio from Apple Watch to AirPods for playback. I've implemented this functionality using the following code. try? session.setCategory(.playback, mode: .default, policy: .longFormAudio, options: []) try await session.activate() When users are playing music on iPhone and trigger my code in the watch app, Apple Watch correctly guides users to select AirPods, pauses the iPhone's music, and plays my audio. However, when playback finishes and I end the session using the code below: try session.setActive(false, options:[.notifyOthersOnDeactivation]) the iPhone doesn't automatically resume the previously interrupted music playback—it requires manual intervention. Is this expected behavior, or am I missing other important steps in my code?