Problem statement
The Apple Watch and Wear OS companions were built to different mental models, so "what my watch can do" is a per-platform answer.
On watchOS the user gets a configurable home list of Items (entities), Assist, notifications, watch-reported sensors, and WidgetKit complications whose per-family content, gauge and labels are configured in the phone app and mirrored to the watch; on Wear OS the equivalents are tiles, a differently shaped shortcuts/favorites list, and its own complication set with its own configuration surface.
The two also diverge underneath: what item types are supported, where configuration lives (phone versus watch), whether it works offline, and which transports the watch can even use. No shared inventory exists, so feature requests and support answers fork by platform, docs describe two unrelated products, and each new watch capability gets designed twice.
Community signals
No response
Scope & Boundaries
In scope
- A complete inventory of watch capabilities on both platforms: on-watch screens and navigation, the customizable item list and which item types it accepts, complications/tiles and their families or sizes, Assist, notification handling, watch-side sensors, and multi-server behaviour.
- A parallel inventory of the customization model: what is configurable, where it is configured (phone app versus on-watch), how configuration reaches the watch, whether it survives offline, and what the defaults are.
- A cross-platform mapping classifying each entry as aligned, diverged, Apple-only, Wear-only, or blocked by platform capability, with transport and OS limitations recorded explicitly.
- A shared vocabulary for watch concepts, and agreement on the canonical customization model and target capability set.
- Documentation restructured so each watch capability is described once with per-platform notes.
Not in scope
Foreseen solution
No response
Risks & open questions
No response
Appetite
No response
Execution issues
No response
Decision log
Problem statement
The Apple Watch and Wear OS companions were built to different mental models, so "what my watch can do" is a per-platform answer.
On watchOS the user gets a configurable home list of Items (entities), Assist, notifications, watch-reported sensors, and WidgetKit complications whose per-family content, gauge and labels are configured in the phone app and mirrored to the watch; on Wear OS the equivalents are tiles, a differently shaped shortcuts/favorites list, and its own complication set with its own configuration surface.
The two also diverge underneath: what item types are supported, where configuration lives (phone versus watch), whether it works offline, and which transports the watch can even use. No shared inventory exists, so feature requests and support answers fork by platform, docs describe two unrelated products, and each new watch capability gets designed twice.
Community signals
No response
Scope & Boundaries
In scope
Not in scope
Foreseen solution
No response
Risks & open questions
No response
Appetite
No response
Execution issues
No response
Decision log