[kumarvvr]

> there is no 1st party Apple made hiking and topography map on the Apple Watch is such a failure

I remember a time when Apple was chided for integrating functionalities of popular apps into its OS.

Apple created an incredibly awesome device, and its up to the market to make full use of its potential. Why would it be a failure for Apple to not make such an app?

[interstice]

Because they don't allow deeper integrations maybe? I still don't have a watch face layout I like.

[gcanyon]

But in this case at least, the third-party developer has produced exactly the wonderful result they're looking for. The screen shot at the end showing the difference between Apple's map and theirs is so stark and compelling. If I were hiking I'd pay $20+ for their version.

Edit to add: throwing out a price like that made me go check to see what they actually charge, and either Apple's presentation of in-app purchases or their use of it is sad: it gives the same "premium" item like eight times, with different prices. Maybe that's per month and then longer periods with bulk discounts? Maybe they have a lifetime option for $40? If I were a regular hiker, I'd go for that.

[yreg]

When Apple uses private APIs that are forbidden to developers on the App Store to compete with them it's not exactly fair.

So I wouldn't say it's a failure that they don't do that even more often.

[ascertain_john]

APIs are hard to get right the first time. I could see why they wouldn't want to release one until they've dogfooded and refined it.

That said, I'd love to see them take an approach unstable API release that requires the app to show a warning like "This app relies on unfinished features that may change or stop working entirely in the future, requiring the seller to release an apo update." and require them to launch it as a free preview, make it refundable during this period, etc.

[jorvi]

Apple Maps has been able to display full-size navigation on the lockscreen since iOS 7 or 8 (?). Apple Maps also has access to a special style of notification that no other navigation app has.

iOS 7 was released in 2013. 13 years ago, aeons in tech land.

So "APIs are hard to get right the first time. I could see why they wouldn't want to release one until they've dogfooded and refined it." is crap. They're hoarding private API access purely for competitive advantage in services.

[redserk]

1) Apple has had a lot of functionality gated for many years. I’d buy the “they need to refine it” if they had a track record of actually opening things up without the hammer of regulation forcing them to.

2) This is a solved problem. You throw a “this is an experimental API, it’s interface may change”

[gumby271]

I feel like we could expect a bit more from the billion dollar company to support new apis. They have a solid mechanism to deprecate apis and force developers to rebuild their apps already, just shorten that window for the cutting edge apis released in preview.

[NetMageSCW]

As a developer, that’s a good way to get unused APIs and fewer apps.

[interstice]

Oh and while I'm here the single layer non editable menu / weird grid is also the worst. I grew up texting under the desk on a nine key and only checking after I'd selected the contact to send to. Give me that level of muscle memory again someone, anyone, please.

[porsager]

I made Type Nine for iPhone, and have waited a long time for Apple to open up for doing it on the watch.

https://typenineapp.com

PS. I typed this under my desk!

[interstice]

Oh neat! Bookmarked

[modeless]

Pebble watches are operated with physical buttons and you can definitely take advantage of muscle memory.

[microtonal]

Also Garmin watches. E.g. the Fenix line has 5 buttons and you can do pretty much everything with the buttons. So much handier than fooling around on small touch screens when you are e.g. on a bike or hiking (it does have a touch screen too). Also, the battery lasts up to several weeks (depending on the model), so you don't have to worry about it. Plus great support for using maps during a workout.

I also have an Apple Watch Ultra. My feeling has always been that Apple Watch Ultra is a smartwatch first, sports watch second. Garmin watches are sports watches first, smartwatch second.

I was an early adopter of smartwatches with first the Moto 360 and then Apple Watch Series 1 and I have found that I use the smartwatch part less and less. In the end I only used it for notifications for two apps (Signal and WhatsApp), sometimes for calling my wife when I'm on a bike, and contactless payments. These I can do with a Garmin as well, but it far less clumsy as a sports watch than Apple Watch.

Plus Garmin Watches generally work with GadgetBridge, so they are much easier to use in a privacy-preserving way.

[rjzzleep]

That is quite literally how every part of Cocoa was polished. Things such as sidebars, notifications, came from third party libraries, Growl, etc. were all design patterns from the community. Isn't that also how iTunes came to be? Apple trying to acquire the best music players to integrate into its ecosystem? It's somewhat sad to observe what become of apple.

[joshstrange]

And jailbreaking was a creative source as well until jailbreaking (full, surviving reboots) went away. Yes there is still a sideloading community but nothing like what we were doing with Summer/Winterboard or the hundreds of random tweaks I applied to my phone back then. So many hours spent scrolling through new packages on Cydia.

I wish Apple would see that opening up their platforms actually leads to a better core OS as Apple borrows/steals from the community.

[refulgentis]

That’s a somewhat obvious flattening of perspective. While it’s clever we can make both positions sound silly, it illuminates nothing while throwing shade.

[caycep]

maybe the culture should be for them to contract with popular app makers to be "The" default app for x amount of years or such, vs sherlocking.