Activate a new watch without pairing it to iPhone on WatchOS6 - ios

Is it possible to activate a new watch without the dependency in an iPhone on WatchOS6?
Apple launched a new watch app store. But they still say that
watchOS 6 requires iPhone 6s or later with iOS 13 or later
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So it looks like watch will still be dependent of an iPhone. Why than let it install its own apps?

You should still be able to install watch apps via iTunes once os6 is available to the public.

Related

Downloading watchOS app container from a real device

Is there a way to download an app container for a watchOS app running on a real device?
PS: for an iOS app, the one can use Xcode Devices and Simulators window, but there only iOS apps are listed and there is no way to check the apps installed on Apple Watch.

Is there a way to not support my app from iPad or selected iPhone versions?

I had submitted my app as Universal a long time ago and now I need to remove it from the iPad section and few iPhone versions such as 4,5,5S. Is there a way I can achieve this or do I need to show custom not supported screen to user when they install on such devices. Will apple reject my app for this reason?
For restricting your app to only iPhones devices after the app was already published on App Store you should reupload new version of your app to App Store by simply just changing target devices to iPhone only(with different Bundle Identifier of course).
About restricting your app to stop supporting older devices(4,5,5S) you should change your iOS version compatibility. For example iOS 13 is supported on iPhone 6s and newer devices so user won't be able to use it on older devices. Apple should handle this on their own.
There are some alternatives to restrict your app to specific devices with Required device capabilities key which you can find in your Info.plist file. But I don't think apple will accept this, if this features are not actually used in your app.
Here is the documentation about UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities in case you need it.
You can only restrict user from downloading newer versions of your app from App Store ,By changing your apps deployment info in Xcode general tab.
By changing device type from Universal to iPhone only and Deployment target to iOS 13 which in supported by device above 6s. Then user will not be able to download on older versions.
Or you can restrict user access in your app by putting device specific checks and showing your custom ui for unsupported versions. But for this apple may reject your app if it fails in every case for specific device.
But both type of changes you have to upload newer version of app on App Store.

Implications of converting dependent watchOS app to independent with watchOS 6

I am considering updating to an independent app for watchOS 6 (as Apple suggests) but it's not clear to me what will happen to users of older watchOS versions that have my app installed. More specifically:
What will happen if a user had the dependent app installed on their watchOS 5 watch but downloads an update of the iOS app (which now lists the watch app as independent) for their connected iOS 13 iPhone? Will the watch app be uninstalled or not function at all (since it will try watch connectivity with an iOS app that no longer supports it)?
This will definitely occur, since, according to official page:
watchOS 6 will be available for Apple Watch Series 1 and Apple Watch Series 2 later this fall.
I think this is not a hard question. An independent app means that the app can work alone. But it doesn't have to. An independent watchOS app should work with or without the iOS companion app. If you watchOS app can't work properly without iOS companion app, it is not an independent app. You should refactor your Apple Watch Extension or just leave it as not independent.
Here are what I believe should be true:
If you installed an Apple Watch app with its iOS companion app, both apps are removed if you remove the iOS app.
However, if the Apple Watch app is independent, you could installed it alone without install the iOS companion app.
For the second rule, there are some pitfalls as a developer. When you are debugging an independent watch app, it is listed in Watch app on iPhone. However, since there is no iOS companion app, you can't remove it entirely on iOS. Even if you have removed it on Apple Watch, it is still shown as not installed in Watch app.

iOS App change universal to iPhone only

We have a app that was submitted as a universal app with support for all devices iPad and iPhone but we no longer want it to show in the store as a iPad app we want it to just be a iPhone only app.
This app was built with Appcelerator so i have changed the app tiapp.xml details to only support iPhone no longer universal, but it will not submitted to the store.
I can't upload the existing app because the family group in the bundle Id. it won't accept removing the iPad.
How can we remove the app from being listed as a iPad app really important as the app was not built with iPad in mind it would be fine if it was just a scaled up version of the app.
Any help please?
Developers who wish to issue updates, but remove device support, have
three choices:
Fix their app so that it can work on the devices they originally set
out to support. Target a newer version of iOS that requires a newer
device. Remove their app from the store, and upload the new app with a
different bundle ID.

Will iPhone app run on iPhone not paired to an Apple Watch

I'm new to iOS development and I'm playing with Swift in Xcode working on a number of experimental projects.
In one of these I've designed an app for the Apple Watch (using the InterfaceController.swift in Watch App Extension) and in the same Xcode project I've also deigned a corresponding app for the iPhone (in the usual Main.storyboard, ViewController.swift, etc). When I run these apps using the iPhone 6s + Apple Watch - 38mm simulator, both apps run on each device as they should.
Now, if I connect my iPhone 6s and try to run the app, I get a message stating: "Could not launch 'App Name' on iPhone 6s. No paired Apple Watch."
I don't actually own an Apple Watch, so the error is understandable. But this got me to thinking and I now have the following questions:
If I go through the process to submit this to Apple, will the iPhone app work for people as a standalone iPhone app if they have no Apple Watch? Or, are the apps in this project (both the iPhone and Apple Watch apps) only going to work for people who have an iPhone paired with an Apple Watch?
If I want this iPhone app to be available to people with only iPhones, do I need to do anything special? For example,do I need to create a new Xcode project and effectively copy across the iPhone app from this project, or is there another approach I should adopt?
What else do I need to be aware of? For example, do I need to rename the iPhone app to something different to make it available only to iPhone users? Is there anything else I should be aware of?
Regarding running the app on your iPhone, as Paulw mentioned in the comments, just change the execution target to the iPhone app. See screenshot:
Answering your other questions:
The watch extension is an extension inside your iPhone app. iOS Apps with a watch extension work on all iPhones, even if they are not paired with an Apple Watch.
Yes it will be available.
You don't need to worry about anything else. The iPhone app will work on all iPhones. The watch app will show up on only those iPhones that are paired with an Apple Watch.

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