Apple has announced to developers all new Apple Watch apps submitted to the App Store starting June 1, will be required to be natively built with watchOS 2:
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.
What does this mean? All Apple Watch apps must be built with watchOS 2, which means they’ll be faster and native apps, meaning they’ll work when your watch is out of range with your iPhone.
WatchOS 2 was first previewed last year at WWDC, granting developers and their apps access to the Apple Watch’s Digital Crown, Taptic Engine and heart rate sensor, plus numerous more APIs to build new experiences.
The public release of watchOS 2 was back in September, and this latest announcement by Apple means developers will be required to bring their Apple Watch apps up to speed. Many expect watchOS 3 to be previewed this year at WWDC, along with iOS 10 and next versions of OS X and tvOS.
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hmmm… Even when native, many apps will still need data from the iPhone (ex: Fantastical, Meteomedia, Shazam, etc.) I hope will see a real difference in speed by being native but I’m not raising my hopes up to much…
I find native apps still are slow. Needs to get better. Let’s hope watchOS 3 will show a big leap.
I think speed will come from a combination of writing native apps and much improved hardware in future Apple Watches.