Apple Watch app now a HUGE BUMMER

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Dawn Bustanoby

• July 20, 2021 20:53

I’ve been a Gaia GPS user since the early days, and have been on the TestFlight testing platform for several years.

I’m really, really disappointed with the Apple Watch app now being completely stand-alone. 

1) the main things the watch integration were useful for me were being able to see my times, milage, elevation gain, etc on my wrist instead of having to pull the phone out of my pack or pocket (a pain with trekking poles or on a bike.) Now I can’t have Gaia running on my phone and see it on my watch, it’s one or the other.

2) come on.  The Apple Watch doesn’t even remotely have the battery life to track an entire day’s hiking (or any long activity.) So I can’t use it for the vast majority of my adventures.  It’s either the watch OR the phone.

3) If I can’t see my position on my phone while using the watch app simultaneously, I’ve lost the hugest benefit of using Gaia at all, the maps!

This is so incredibly disappointing. The old Apple Watch integration wasn’t totally ideal, but it was heaps better than this version, which is only usable by a small segment of Gaia users (ones who are doing short activities.) There are tons of other workout apps that are targeted to the audience you’ve now tailored the watch app for, and now you’ve excluded longer adventurers from having watch integration.

I’m super bummed.  I’ve been waiting through several updates to see if this changes but it seems clear that as a stand-alone app now, you don’t intend to ever tether the two again.

Please please please reconsider.

Thanks

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  AKERDoc

  • July 24, 2021 01:41

  I totally agree with this! The GaiaGPS watch app is useless to me. I hate it.

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  dvenardos

  • July 25, 2021 19:17

  Thanks for this info. I just started using GaiaGPS for a backpacking trip and won't bother with the Apple watch app.

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