watchOS 11 remains to be lacking this one much-needed characteristic

When new Apple merchandise are launched, the up to date software program is all the time a giant deal. The thrill round iOS 18 this yr is targeted largely on the upcoming Apple Intelligence features, with macOS Sequoia additionally gaining some AI-powered instruments.

There’s one OS that by no means actually will get the identical degree of affection, nevertheless. On the Apple Watch, watchOS 11 provides some helpful new options, together with a brand-new Vitals app, coaching load evaluation, and sleep apnea detection, making some vital upgrades to watchOS 10. There’s one characteristic that is nonetheless lacking, nevertheless, and it is one thing I have been wanting Apple so as to add for a very long time. This is the one factor that I actually want Apple had added to watchOS 11.

Opening the Exercises app makes me lose the need to reside

There are two sorts of Apple Watch customers; those that use Grid View and people who use List View. In Grid View, all of your apps are displayed as a set of small icons which you could scroll by way of to search out the app you want. App View shows your whole apps in a single lengthy, alphabetical listing.

In the event you’re a Grid View fan, chances are you’ll not even remember that this can be a downside. Certain, it’s a must to scrabble round attempting to identify an app you utilize so little that you just’re not likely certain what the icon seems to be like. You do not have to face the most important downside with Checklist View, nevertheless: the countless scrolling.

You open Checklist View with a press of the digital crown. To date, so good. Flip the digital crown to start out scrolling by way of the alphabetical listing. After which preserve scrolling. And scroll a bit of extra. In case your Apple Watch is stacked with apps like mine is, you’ll find your self turning the digital crown greater than 30 occasions earlier than you get to the Ws and may open the Workout app. It is a exercise in itself.

Swiping on the display screen is a bit of sooner however remains to be a critical effort, and whenever you’ve simply pressed the digital crown to open Checklist View, it feels extra pure to maintain turning it to scroll by way of the listing. No matter which methodology you utilize, choosing the app that you just need to open should not be this tough. There’s a less complicated approach, and Apple already is aware of how you can do it.

Different areas of watchOS present there is a easy answer

Choosing widgets requires far much less scrolling

Essentially the most irritating factor is that the proper answer to this downside already exists in your Apple Watch. If you wish to add a brand new widget to your Smart Stack, you may press and maintain any of your present widgets after which faucet the Plus button to pick out a brand new widget.

That is the place the magic occurs. In the event you scroll at an inexpensive charge by way of the listing of apps that supply widgets, it really works precisely the identical because it does in Checklist View. Nevertheless, if you happen to scroll sooner, your Apple Watch stops scrolling by way of the apps one after the other and begins to scroll by way of the alphabet as a substitute.

You get a small icon on the high proper of the display screen displaying the present letter. If you wish to choose the Drugs app, for instance, you shortly scroll by way of the letters till you attain M, pause for a second, after which you may keep on scrolling by way of the apps that begin with the letter M.

Utilizing this methodology is a lot sooner. I used to be in a position to get to the Exercise widget utilizing this methodology in only a few scrolls of the digital crown, versus the greater than 30 it takes in Checklist View. The software program to make this occur already exists on the Apple Watch, so there’s actually no cause why the identical operate cannot be utilized to choosing apps within the Checklist View.

Issues obtained even worse in watchOS 10 for some time

Checklist View would all the time return to the highest of the listing

Apple/Pocket-lint

The present state of Checklist View is unhealthy sufficient, however for some time it obtained even worse in watchOS 10. In watchOS 9, Checklist View was annoying to make use of, nevertheless it had a characteristic that made it a bit of extra bearable. When you had scrolled by way of Checklist View and chosen an app, the following time that you just opened Checklist View, it could nonetheless present the identical app that you just opened final. In the event you opened the Exercise app, for instance, then the following time you opened Checklist View, you’ll nonetheless be deep within the Ws within the alphabetical listing.

Nevertheless, with the discharge of watchOS 10, this characteristic went away. As an alternative, each time you opened the Checklist View, it could be again to the beginning of the listing once more. In the event you opened the Exercise app from the Checklist View, after which needed to open it once more later that day, the listing would have returned to the highest, and also you’d must scroll the entire approach by way of to the Exercise app over again.

Fortunately, this was fastened in watchOS 10.4, which returned to all the time displaying the final place that you just had been within the listing. It was an enormous reduction to find that this was nonetheless the case in watchOS 11.

Checklist View remains to be my app view of alternative

It could possibly be so a lot better with only a single change

Checklist View has its issues, however I nonetheless choose it to Grid View just because it is easy to search out apps that you do not use as usually from an alphabetical listing than from a random structure of tiny app icons. If I solely ever used the identical few apps on a regular basis, the Grid View would permit me to maintain probably the most used apps on the high, however after I’m utilizing completely different apps, having the ability to discover them alphabetically is much much less irritating.

What’s irritating is the quantity of pointless scrolling I’ve to do, and it is much more annoying understanding that Apple has already give you an answer for this downside elsewhere on the Apple Watch, and nonetheless hasn’t utilized it to the Checklist View. I hoped that watchOS 11 would possibly lastly be the time for the Apple Watch so as to add this much-needed characteristic, however sadly my wait goes on.