Apple's announcement on April 22 comes as an effort to bring all watchOS apps on to the native platform, in response to customer complaints regarding slow third-party apps.
"Starting June 1, 2016, all new watchOS apps submitted to the App Store must be native apps built with the watchOS 2 SDK or later," was its clear-cut statement, ensuring once and for all that the iPhone and the Apple Watch are no longer in a symbiotic relationship, as the apps will now have the ability to access the Internet via Wi-Fi and not through an iPhone handset.
The company released the watchOS 2 in September last year in an attempt to restore customer faith in its wearable tech, the Apple Watch, which, along with the first watchOS, fetched mixed reactions from the users. The main complaint was the sluggish performance of the third-party apps that would slow down the performance of the watch as a whole. So the next software Apple worked on was rolled out after the company made doubly sure that all of the bugs have been fixed properly, even displaying rather un-Apple-like behavior by delaying its launch at the last moment.
When watchOS 2 surfaced, it came with a host of native apps and add-ons that made it a hugely successful Apple endeavor, almost immediately. The upgraded software took care of the past complaints and provided a rather appealing platter of customizable watch faces like Time Travel, Weather or World Clock, NightStand, and more. With an improved Siri that matched iPhone or iPad's performance and a revamped Taptic engine, the device also continued to support third-party apps, but now through the native platform.
Apple's June 1 mandate comes several weeks before the company holds its Worldwide Developers Conference where its agenda includes presenting the new versions of OS X, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS.
Photo: Shinya Suzuki | Flickr
