NSUserDefaults from AppGroup is empty in Watch App - ios

Question

My app has the following targets:
iOS App
Today Extension
Apple Watch App
Apple Watch Extension
All of these targets have the "App Group" capability with the correct group selected. In the main iOS app, I synchronize the settings like so:
NSUserDefaults * sharedDefaults = [[NSUserDefaults alloc]initWithSuiteName:#"group.foo.bar"];
if([sharedDefaults respondsToSelector:#selector(setObject:forKey:)]){
// Example Value
[sharedDefaults setObject:#"TestString" forKey:#"TestString"];
[sharedDefaults synchronize];
}
The Today Extension uses the following to get the settings, which works just fine:
NSUserDefaults * defaults = [[NSUserDefaults alloc] initWithSuiteName:#"group.foo.bar"];
NSLog(#"String: %#", [defaults stringForKey:#"TestString"]);
// String: TestString
The watch extension uses the same line of code to get the settings as the today extension, however it does not work. In the console I see String: (null). What am I doing incorrectly?

Answer 1

Did you create your watch target as a watchOS WatchKit Application (watchOS 2) or as an iOS Application Extension (watchOS 1)? If targeting for watchOS 2, according to the transition guide: You cannot rely on a shared group container to exchange files with your iOS app. Fetching files involves transferring them wirelessly to Apple Watch.

Answer 2

Please refer to settings bundle not working on watchOS 2 Apparently the docs are not that clear on what can and cannot be done with Preferences, the only way I found was to ensure that I copy the required user defaults over and keep them synced manually (NSUserDefaults not working on Xcode beta with Watch OS2).