Back in September, I upgraded from the Apple Watch Series 1 to the Series 3. Honestly, the user experience didn’t change all that much, but I’ve enjoyed one improvement in particular: the Series 3’s better waterproofing. It’s nice to be able to hop in the shower before work and still keep an eye on the time.[1]
A few weeks ago, I thought of another reason that a water-resistant wrist computer might be useful. I had finished a workout and needed to wash up, but I didn’t want to put down the podcast I was listening to. I had an epiphany: why not redirect that audio to the Watch’s speaker while I showered?[2]
To my dismay, I quickly discovered that this is impossible in the current version of watchOS.
Based on some lazy Googling, third-party apps have technically been able to implement this since watchOS 2, way back in 2015. But very few developers seem to have added the feature—perhaps because of WatchKit’s awful audio APIs.
Regardless, what I really want wouldn’t require developer support at all: Apple should surface the Watch as a system-wide audio target. It would show up just like standalone Bluetooth speakers or headphones do—just hotswap your playback device to the Watch using AirPlay. While we’re at it, let me force touch on the Watch’s Now Playing screen to redirect the currently-playing audio to the Watch itself.
Here we might comment on the sad state of my attention span. Why do I feel the need to distract myself during one of the few gadget-free moments of my day? Fair point.
But I want my stories in the shower, dang it! ■
- Yes, a $25 analog watch could serve this purpose. Why you gotta hate? ↩
- You might be thinking that that tiny, tinny, waterlogged speaker would sound terrible. Maybe, but I’m not listening to high-fidelity music here; I want my spoken-word content: podcasts, the NPR news briefing, or the Penguins radio broadcast. Any of these would be perfectly listenable through the Watch. ↩
Matt Hauger 