So I've always wondered why more apps don't have Apple Watch complications/apps, with the assumption being it's not a priority.
But I've been digging into this recently and my suspicion is even for apps that want to make it a priority, the barrier to entry is too high.
I've yet to find a runnable example of a fully functional app using the most modern Widget-based APIs. Most either outright don't work, or are using APIs from 2+ years ago.
An end-to-end code lab would go a long way here...
@jeff August goes through the Watch-specific features of WidgetKit and the process of converting from ClockKit here: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2022/10051/
@jeff Understandable. One of the challenges of documenting and providing sample code is that every developer’s concerns are slightly different, and it’s tricky to come up with examples that are complete enough without also being overly complex. Having said that, I know our doc team has been working to provide examples of different kinds of apps that cover many scenarios. More to be done for sure, and happy to pass along suggestions for topics you’d like to see covered.
@lorihc Thank you! That was a handy video.
The challenge I've been facing is the end-to-end process of setting up a new app is fairly complex. Between intents, extensions, standalone apps vs paired apps, watch connectivity and how to set up shared code/delegates, there's a lot of pieces to the archway that need to be held in place before the keystone of a functional app can slot in.