Talk:watchOS

Watch OS <-> iOS?

The cited sources don't seem to back the article's allegation "It is based on the iOS mobile operating system and has many features similar to those of iOS.". The fact that there is no programming API for Watch OS for now, to me is a (weak) indication that it might not actually be based on iOS. To put a full UNIX onto a wrist device also makes little sense in view of the resources needed. Thyl Engelhardt 87.190.243.142 (talk) 07:41, 8 January 2015 (UTC)

There is an API, and an SDK, now, and this page sure seems to think that API may include, for example, lseek() and fsync(). Guy Harris (talk) 00:18, 18 July 2016 (UTC)

New category for WatchOS apps

I have created a category named WatchOS software. If you come across articles that have watchOS apps, please tag them with that category. Thanks! Daylen (talk) 02:16, 15 September 2015 (UTC)

watchOS version history should be moved to iOS version history

The List of iOS devices article already lists the Apple Watch.
Consequently, IOS version history should list the watchOS versions. 84.173.194.174 (talk) 14:44, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

So, given that the Apple Watch runs watchOS - an OS that has a separate article from iOS, and its own separate releases, and a separate SDK - why is it on a list of *iOS* devices? I think that the list of iOS devices should not list the Apple Watch, not that this version history should move to a page about a different OS. Guy Harris (talk) 16:54, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

The iPhone wiki states (https://www.theiphonewiki.com/wiki/Apple_Watch): "The Apple Watch runs a slimmed down version of iOS 8. The user interface is managed by "Carousel" (instead of Springboard). Most frameworks are replaced with "Nano" equivalents."
Yet, I agree that some serious information is extremely rare. I guess, this is because the Apple Watch is so locked and complicated to hack. Once Apple is using the hidden diagnostic port for new bands with extra hardware features, it may not take long to attach a serial console to it and get some kernel debug info or other interesting stuff.
At least we can agree that the Apple Watch shares a lot of similarities with other iOS devices. 84.173.207.52 (talk) 15:06, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

And my Mac shares a kernel, libc, Core Foundation, Foundation, and a bunch of daemons with my iPhone, but that doesn't make it an iOS device. Yes, watchOS and tvOS share code with iOS - just as they all share code with OS X; that doesn't make them really the same OS. Guy Harris (talk) 18:28, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

Well, what is iOS? iOS is a version of Mac OS X running on the ARM platform with a focus on mobility.
Apple's (Mac) OS X, however, requires an x86/x64 platform (may change in the future) and therefore the Apple Watch must be an iOS device ...
Anyway, I think we should end this discussion. :-) 84.173.207.52 (talk) 23:09, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

iOS is a Darwin distribution, just like OS X, watchOS and tvOS. They all take collections from Apple's parts collection and assemble them into an OS. Guy Harris (talk) 23:20, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

If we can count the apple watch as an ios device, then we can count the iPhone as a macOS device . Wach ana mklkh (talk) 14:36, 15 July 2016 (UTC)

DMCA/Copyright claims on changelogs

if someone tries to move my changelog additions because of a DMCA takedown it's not real. There is no DMCA/Copyright claims on changelogs so don't take it down, iOS/apple tv OS has not had their changelogs changed due to this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gh0sti100 (talk • contribs) 22:30, 6 November 2017 (UTC)

Please don't tell me something this generic is a trademark — Preceding unsigned comment added by 104.205.44.26 (talk) 03:09, 5 July 2020 (UTC)

What are you claiming is so generic that it isn't a trademark? (Note: "copyright" and "trademark" are not the same thing.) Guy Harris (talk) 03:30, 5 July 2020 (UTC)

Source please

Can someone please provide a verifiable source for this sentence in the lead?

"With WatchOS 4 Apple removed the ability to access your music library from all Apple Watches."

Thanks.

Itsquietuptown (talk) 09:33, 4 December 2017 (UTC)

The Apple Watch isn't the only thing running WatchOS

Should this article be updated to note that the Touch Bar on newer MacBook Pros runs a variant of WatchOS?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-macbook-pro-touch-bar-205534305.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by Stjeanp (talk • contribs) 13:09, 26 January 2018 (UTC)

Well, how much it's "watchOS" isn't entirely clear. In the Twitter thread pointed to by that article, Steve Troughton-Smith says:

Granted, the ‘watchOS’ the T1 runs is presumably only ‘watchOS’ by dint of the CPU it’s designed for. T1 must be very similar to S1

and then

From the filesystem, even though it’s a variant of watchOS, it seems to be called e[mbedded]OS. Or just ‘eos’, sans marketing capitalization

My inclination is to say it runs "a Darwin-based OS", just as Macs, iPhones/iPads/iPod Touches, Apple TVs, and Apple Watches do. How much of the part of watchOS that runs atop Darwin that's in eos, or whatever Apple calls it, is another matter. Guy Harris (talk) 16:39, 26 January 2018 (UTC)

Version History Should have an Overview

There should be an overview similar to the iOS one. Now that we're on watchOS 6 a table showing which watches run which watchOS would be very useful. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pkirvan (talk • contribs) 04:33, 8 June 2019 (UTC)

Weird redirect

The same thing happens like with the article tvOS, as 'watch' turns into 'Watch' in the address bar. Huh?! 111.88.15.159 (talk) 16:28, 19 February 2020 (UTC)

As Wikipedia:Naming conventions (technical restrictions)#Lowercase first letter says:

The MediaWiki software is configured so that a page title on the English Wikipedia (as stored in the database) cannot begin with a lower-case letter, and links that begin with a lower-case letter are treated as if capitalized, i.e. [[foo]] is treated the same as [[Foo]].

The {{lowercase title}} template is used to make the page title start with a lower-case letter, but that doesn't affect the URL. Guy Harris (talk) 17:39, 19 February 2020 (UTC)

watchOS 5 and 6

The watchOS versions 5 and 6 have received latest updates within the last few months. I don't know whether four legend colors would suffice. I also thought about de-collapsing the tables of those versions, but I'm uncertain due to the table lengths. --George Ho (talk) 21:14, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

I think we should add another color for non-current but supported versions. I recently made a similar change at iOS version history. Herbfur (talk) 05:21, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

Same thoughts as yours. I went bold and inserted this color represented as "supported". Actually, I was torn between that and "maintained", but I went bold, anyways. --George Ho (talk) 05:47, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

Seperate version articles

Should each watchOS version have their own article or be kept on this main watchOS article?

Thanks, TwoGamer1000 14:12, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

I don't personally think it's necessary. GSK (talk • edits) 15:09, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

Fair enough. TwoGamer1000 15:23, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

Lead / update history: convert / merge into table

The info in the second paragraph of the lead should be better expressed in a table form.

I think simply noting versions with major features' (judged from maybe media attention) and the year of release is good enough, for a lead. 海盐沙冰 _{/ aka irisChronomia / Talk} 13:27, 30 September 2025 (UTC)