I cannot change watch face by swiping after upgrading to WatchOS 10

I also use the swipe left and right all the time on my watch. It is very sad that this feature is now lost. Yes there are other ways of doing this but they take longer and require more interactions with the watch. (Time wasted)

This makes more friction for using my watch and makes it less useful.

It would be different if there was a way to set what you want your swipe actions to do but that does not seem like an option.

Very disappointing.

I sent feedback to Apple using the link. But it is still unfortunate. Sadly, I updated my Apple Watch and it got as system that is less useful to me and now is worse.

(I have not commented on other changes in OS 10 that reduce or complicate access: e.g how changing the location accessing the control center (formerly swipe up, but now the side button) means retraining multiple years of muscle memory or how the changes in the way that the activity monitor complication is presented now makes it much harder to check (formerly touching the complication showed a single long screen but under OS 10, it is six (!) separate screens).)

Anthony Sbarro wrote:

They have removed functionality to the point that the device no longer serves its primary function of providing the wearer many data sets at a moment's glance.

I think what you're missing here is that Apple bases changes like this on a lot of data. While this change may not work well for you, I guessing it's very welcome for a whole lot of people. Please remember the way you use your watch is not the only way to use it.

ilittlewood wrote:

The solution would have been to allow people to lock to a particular face rather than completely cripple the UI for everyone.

Have you suggested that to Apple?

Product Feedback - Apple

Anthony Sbarro wrote:

I think what you're missing here is the observation that Apple is not making intelligent decisions when it comes to the experience of all users.

No, the point is that you are very committed to what you like. And that's absolutely fine. But, you're so committed to that that you can't see that other people have different ways of using the Watch. And, it's my understanding that Apple made the change because so many people complained about accidentally changing the face. I'm really sorry you don't like the change. I love it.

They have crippled the operating system rendering the device useless for the sake of appeasing a minor annoyance.

In your opinion. Not in mine.

There are other ways to resolve minor annoyances that do not cripple the underlying operation of the device. I know that. I presume you know that. Why is it that this multi-trillion dollar company is incapable of knowing what we know?

Except, from my perspective, they didn't cripple it. They made it better. I'm not suggesting that you need to agree with me. But I am saying that you might consider that yours is not the only valid opinion.

It's difficult to overstate how monumental this decision is.

For you. For me, it's a nice change but not a big deal one way or the other.

ilittlewood wrote:

I wouldn't bet on that. This has caused quite an uproar and I strongly suspect Apple will add a switch to enable swipe or lock the face.

I hate it too but They spent money on this and it takes more than a few thousand me-toos to make them budge. 👨‍⚖️

Anthony Sbarro wrote:

Nah. After three months living with the beta, I sent mine back to Apple to get reverted to OS 9. Very well may be the last Apple Watch I ever own.

It was the first “bug” I reported and didn’t I look silly. l 🤡

What's your basis for dismissing this as nothing but, "... a few thousand me-too's"? How did you arrive at that figure? Other than a couple of people on here, I've not met anyone who actually likes this change. That's anecdotal, to be sure, but I think it's indicative that this is not a tiny minority. Apple has reversed course many times on similar UI changes, one of the most recent being the decision to change the position of the End Call button in iOS 17. It doesn't cost that much to make a change like this, nor to revert it as the code to do so is in the repo.

ilittlewood wrote:

What's your basis for dismissing this as nothing but, "... a few thousand me-too's"? How did you arrive at that figure? Other than a couple of people on here, I've not met anyone who actually likes this change.

I like it.

You need to remember that people who are happy with the way things are don't generally log onto a troubleshooting forum just to say, "Hey, everything's great, love the new look". So, what you see online is not necessarily a representative sample.

Apple, on the other hand, has access to a tremendous amount of user data. They know what features people like most, use most, hate or don't use.

Exactly Sbarro. The change by Apple is ridiculous. Made by a product group that clearly doesn’t have a clue about UX. Or, competition has gotten their people into Apple teams to start messing with the UX. The update is so bizarre to me that that makes more sense to me.

AngieKR wrote:

I don't think several of you realize you could change your watch face just by swiping left or right and don't understand.

I don't think you understand that not everyone uses the watch the same way. The fact that some of us are happy with the change doesn't mean we don't understand the feature both in its previous implementation and its current one. While I have always been aware of the fact that you can swipe to change faces, if I did it more than once a month on purpose, that would have been a lot. However, I would change it accidentally and that was extremely annoying.

Neither way of using the watch is better than the other.

I haven’t gotten an unintended face selected since the update—something that had preciously happened all the time—and swapping faces is still fast.

But given your strongly-held opinions here and how much dislike this change causes, I would absolutely concur with you; stop using the Watch.

ilittlewood wrote:

if it's not changed back, I will stop using the watch completely as it's so frustrating to use as it stands today.

A tad extreme. I have lived with this appalling change since June and yes it annoyed me immensely. Just go back to the old Rolex days and enjoy just one nice face. At least they added Widgets to take care of the Dock that they took away, and recently used apps should cover all the bases.

It’s still the best sports watch/iPhone companion there is.

BrewZoo wrote:

That’s not to mention the battery draining problem. IOS10 is a big FAIL!

After 24 hours, my series 7 has about 15-10% battery most days. Given that Apple says the battery life on watches (except for the Ultra) is about 18 hours and my battery is at about 85% capacity, I'd say iOS 10.1 is having no noticeable effect on my battery life.

Same. The update appears to be”less intuitive”. I am extremely disappointed. I now have to make multiple button presses/ force touches to perform the same functions that were so easy before the update. I use multiple faces all day long to retrieve and check metrics, etc. Too cumbersome now. The watch has become a liability. I cannot be the only one who is incensed. I don’t comment and never really have, but this calls for it. Apple, you made a mistake. Make it right.