WatchKit Speculation
Apple’s WATCH announcement yesterday left a lot to the imagination for the interested developer. Yes, there will be “WatchKit” to develop apps for the watch. Yes, it will have new UI elements and conventions. That’s about all we know.
My mind has been walking through what seem like possible scenarios for WatchKit apps. This is complete and utter speculation, but it seems to me that the following will be true:
- WatchKit apps will ship as embedded binaries in iPhone apps, using the same basic principals as iOS 8 extensions. There will be some mechanism for the watch paired to an iPhone to detect and automatically install these “apps” based on what is available on the paired iPhone. Delete the container app from the iPhone, it disappears from the watch. Xcode will have a template to add a WatchKit app to an iPhone app project.
- There will not be a separate app store for the watch, and likely no way to monetize the creation of watch apps outside the selling point as added value for the containing iPhone app.
- The watch has no connectors. You cannot plug it directly into a Mac. Development and debugging will be through a connected iPhone.
My crystal ball is much more vague on many other areas, including:
- How will WatchKit apps communicate with their containing iPhone apps? Something like Multipeer Connectivity with dedicated sessions? App Group linked shared storage? Some sort of push-notification system?
- Will there be local storage on the watch?
- Will you have to write WatchKit apps in Swift? Seems that would not be necessary on a technical level, but it feels like a possible Apple-like move to encourage adoption.
- Will the addition of a watch, plus Yosemite continuity and the bevy of test devices on my desk cause me to leap up in fear whenever I receive any sort of notification!
Still so many questions, but I know I’ll be asking them. Excited about the possibilities.