After WatchOS 10 update I cannot swipe between watch faces

IdrisSeabright wrote:

My suspicion is that a lot of people thought it was too easy to swipe accidentally. I know I submitted feedback about that. I hated it when my watch was showing a face I hadn't intended.

I think a lot of people complained because it was too easy to make unintended swipes. There might also be a case for users with accessibility needs particularly around hand coordination and motor control. They can find it difficult to make a smooth and consistent swipe action, but the new method locks the watch in swiping mode until a deliberate tap selects the desired face and releases the watch back to normal operation.

There's no cure or fix other than to hope enough of us make enough and loud enough noise that some rational person will pay attention. What bothers me more than the long press is the other functions that come with the long-press screen (face?). 'Upload' my watch face? (Press it and you get phone numbers, perhaps for sending a text.) Why on earth would anyone want to do that? Accidentally or out of curiousity pressing 'Edit' leads to a number of possibilities, including deleting the watch face. Do you find it as hard as I to imagine why anyone would want to delete the watch face they so painstakingly set up with appropriate 'complication' functions?

This link will get you to a feedback form specifically for your watch. Please, all readers, save the link and post it in every message here.

Feedback form, Apple Watch

I understand that. Removing quick and easy swiping between faces has unintended consequences - like exposing a little-used feature that was always there - face sharing . I’ve helped people set up their new watch by sharing a face or two., but not very often! Editing faces is much easier on the phone.

And I agree.; all this has nothing to do with accidental face switching. - It’s Apple’s new design language.

Unfortunately the ‘Smart Stack/widgets’ design cannot replace multiple faces with multiple complications.

The Infograph face has 8 complications.; but the ‘complication widget’ has only 3. And you can only have one.

Most of the widgets work fine, but the Stack design is very poor. For example, the day/date/time is always shown at the top of the face, so why is there a day/date/time widget which can’t be deleted.

My current solution to the difficulties of OS10 Is to use Siri has much a possible. Such as “Hey siri, two minutes” ; or “Hey siri, weather” . Not ideal in some environments, but it works.

King Dingaling wrote:

It's hard to believe that Apple would make such a big mistake and not notice it during the beta phase.

It's not a mistake. It was part of an intentional series of changes in the way the Watch works.

Please bring this feature back... at least as an opt-in in settings.

Apple doesn't read here for feedback or suggestions. YOu can let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

Without this function, the Apple Watch is hardly usable for users who don't just wear it to show off.

The current gesture of changing watch faces is only likely to annoy people. Really extremely disappointing.

I think it's highly presumptuous and unkindly judgemental to assume that people who don't use the watch in exactly the same way as you do are somehow only wearing it to "show off".

I am quite pleased with the fact that I no longer inadvertently change faces when I didn't intend to. It has made my watch experience more pleasant. I have told Apple so.

It is understandable to feel frustrated about the removal of the swipe feature to change watch faces in watchOS 10. Many users have expressed their disappointment in online forums and communities, stating that the swipe feature was a natural and intuitive gesture that made it easy to switch between watch faces. Some users have even suggested that the removal of this feature was a step in the wrong direction and that it should be brought back.While it is true that the long-press gesture introduced in watchOS 10 can be useful in preventing accidental changes to the watch face, it can also be inconvenient for users who are used to the swipe gesture. Additionally, the long-press gesture can be difficult for some users to perform, especially those with mobility or dexterity issues.It is important for technology companies like Apple to listen to their users and take their feedback into account when making changes to their products. While it may not be possible to bring back the swipe feature in watchOS 10, Apple could consider adding it back in future updates or providing users with the option to choose between the swipe and long-press gestures.Overall, it is understandable to feel frustrated about the removal of the swipe feature to change watch faces in watchOS 10. However, it is important to remember that technology is constantly evolving, and changes are often made to improve the user experience.

Switching back to a previous watchOS is NOT an option. Like you, I do not like the new side button functionality. I do not like fiddling around with the crown as much as watchOS 10 requires. I do not like the so-called Smart Stack. Most of all I do not like how Apple broke my watch with: a) battery drain issues and b) replacing simple AND quick face swiping feature with the new and stupid tap-hold-swipe-tap method. I let Apple know my opinion at Feedback - Watch - Apple, and so should anybody else, because wishing for a change in these Apple Communities will not change anything.

I have just read that you touch the middle of your watch face and hold (for awhile) then you can change watch faces. I tried it and it works. Hope this helps someone.

I thought we lost the swiping for different Watch faces too. I found out from my sister In law that you need to push on the face and the ones you have will come up then you swipe.

It absolutely makes the watch unusable and it's frustrating that people are suggesting otherwise.

As I've written extensively here, this is more than 80% of my interaction with the device. Removing this user interface is removing the functionality of the device.

Prior to sending it back to revert to OS9, the only thing I was doing with it was putting it on to track fitness for an hour and a half a day. Then I would take the useless device off.

It's not crazy talk. It's FAR more than an annoyance. They have REMOVED THE USER INTERFACE. It's the same as if swiping home screens from iPhone or iPad were removed. Worse, really. It's like removing the Time from a watch.

If Apple doesn't listen to user feedback and revert the operating system to something that's functional, my current Series 8 on WatchOS 9 will be the last Apple Watch I own. This isn't a threat or a promise. It's not something I want. It's an inevitability that Apple has burdened users with. That's the part that hurts the most. Well, that and people claiming it's not unusable.

The more I consider it, the more I worry. Smart Stacks is supposedly the replacement for changing watch faces. Smart Stacks is a horrible design for people who want lots of information at a quick glance (this is what I thought all Apple Watch owners used their watches for). The crown is imprecise - it's wiggle-y. Not enough data is shown at once. It's cumbersome, inefficient, dynamic, and not predictable. It's a bad user interface for a smart watch. A smart watch should function primarily as a device to give you a lot of information as bold and efficiently as possible. WatchOS 10 fails on many accounts to do so. This is an observable and repeatable objective fact.

Know what's a great way to get "information at a glance"?

Effortlessly swiping watch faces that have been precisely configured to offer information at a glance.

I really tried using Smart Stacks. It's imprecise. It's dynamic. It doesn't know what's on your mind.

With watch faces, I can easily swipe from one to the next to get a ton of information - at a glance. I can even swipe faces and open apps all in one motion as I'm raising my wrist before I even look at the watch because I know how they're designed. A predictable user interface is superior to an unpredictable one.

Using the crown to select app parts in Smart Stacks is a bad experience. And I'm just realizing now why they're pushing for this - VISION PRO.

There's no way Apple is going to change back to the superior UX of WatchOS 9 because WatchOS 10 is integrating UX elements from VISION PRO.

I very well may end up switching to some other brand of smart watch. That's disappointment and hurtful because I love Apple Watch so much. I love it being the only device I need when I leave the house. I can do that, I can rely exclusively on Apple Watch for days, because OS 9 is an intuitive, ergonomic, and joyful user experience.

I thought it was a bug, causing me to unpair and reset my Apple Watch Ultra two times! Like others, I loved the convenience of easily swapping watch faces with a single swipe. The long press + swipe + crown press works, but is very cumbersome. I hope Apple reverses this decision!

This must be the most ridiculous update Apple has done to date with no regard for how people used their swipes. Instead of 1 swipe in a sub second, now it’s a second press to bring up the edit screen, swipe, and press again. Ridiculous! Also, when I am eating, or if my right hand is occupied, I could use the back of my finger to swipe up to being up the control panel to hit the phone finder - now I can’t do that - because you’ll have too press the button before the control panel shows up. Apple’s demise will not be from outside - they’ll screw them selves up.

The only way that you can change the watch base is by going to the app on your phone and selecting the face you want from there. This is a total step backwards wasted time trying to figure out how to change from Mickey Mouse.

Silliest thing ever. To satisfy a minority of people they have inconvenienced a lot of us. I send written feedback to Apple and had a long conversation over the phone to rollback to WatchOS 9, which I was told it wasn’t possible. So we’re stuck

I came on w.the same problem as you interacting with watch faces. Fi me specifically Solar Dial. Anyway, I eventually found an answer on Reddit. Tap the watch face once and then the crown will interact with the face again