i hope you create an app for the apple watch?
It’s too early to say we have any real plans here, but it’s safe to say we want to create something in this space.
Feel free to use this thread for brainstorming on specific features you’d like to see in such a thing as well as just general support for the idea. A lot of the work in phase 1 here will be simply deciding how to pare down a feature list to what would actually be desired on the Watch. Remember that in phase 1 of apps for the Watch, what you see on the watch itself is actually generated by your iPhone. Phase 2 will run the whole app on the Watch itself. In both cases, a critical piece will be deciding what not to build and what is actually needed.
Thank you.
In my opinion a good use of the Watch, looking at the TV, would be addressing volume changes/mute (rotating the dial) and pause/play. Maybe even getting the status of a movie (reached position, minutes vs total).
These would be the killer features, IMHO.
Then, in a second phase, I’d add the rest of the controls (activities and others). But these secondary controls, that are less used, would be always manageable via smartphone.
So, thinking about this, it’s a real use of the proximity feature in Roomie. I’ve always thought that was a very esoteric feature, since it seems to require a remote in the room as the basis, and if you have that already, it’s unlikely you’d have a need for a second remote in the same room (unless everyone in the family is running around with their phones).
But a watch does move around. And the room remote doesn’t. So turn on proximity, and the watch automatically switches to the room of the closest remote. Very cool.
what’s going on with this?
Some great feature requests, but nothing on your twitter / news feed about any of them, is there any news on what’s being developed for roomie now? I would really like to see some of this stuff, soon.
These are not super new anymore, i’ve already gotten an entire slew of apps updated specifically for the yet to be released app. If this stuff is going on, please let users know!
It would be good to look at the Twitter feed before saying that perhaps. We’ve actually covered Roomie for Apple Watch now multiple times in public articles, tweets, and last week we even sent out a screenshot – all of which is linked or referenced in our tweet stream. For example:
Coming soon, Roomie for Apple Watch
Everyone who doesn’t already can follow us on Twitter at @RoomieRemote. In general, that tends to be the best place for impromptu, unexpected announcements about things like this.
On Roomie for Apple Watch, Apple began reviewing apps for that just a few days ago, and we were one of the first in the queue (other than the elite 15 like Facebook that got a privileged early spot). Of course, you never really know how reviews will go, sometimes reviewers just have bad days. Sometimes it takes an afternoon, one time it really did take 42 days. But the vast likelihood is that we will be live with an Apple Watch app before you have your Apple Watch.
Roomie for Apple Watch is something we’ll be very interested in feedback on. It’s a first release and we think it’s extremely cool, way better than we imagined possible when we started it. Over the course of the next year, it is expected that Apple will be opening up lots of new ways to do things. For now, you need your iPhone in Bluetooth range to use any Apple Watch app.
The feature set of Roomie for Apple Watch is fairly complete minus guides – whether we include some form of guides in a future release will depend on what people want/think after it’s in the field. Basically any Virtual Remote is supported – minus the old-style Original Remotes, and all Rooms/Activities can be navigated. Synchronization with the main Roomie Remote for iOS is instantaneous. Custom Remote Designs in general are respected, and the architecture of Roomie wherein we are able to figure out proper positioning for everything really shines here.
Thank you.
OK - so can I say that controlling my stuff with Roomie from my Apple Watch is INSANELY COOL!!
…and of course, slightly buggy. Sonos controller feedback seems to cause the app to crash on the watch.
The Sonos specific issue and other things are being fixed in a 3.2.1 maintenance release. If anyone notices any issues with the Watch version, please send them to support.
Thank you.
Roomie on Apple Watch is awesome. I’ve tried a lot of apps, mostly from big name companies, and they are really bad. They try to re-create their iPhone/iPad apps (poorly) without any good reason and the forced adaptation to the watch form factor is laughable useless (example: reading newspaper, newsfeed, or articles on the watch).
The Roomie watch app is truly useful and nicely designed. I do have some suggestions/comments:
Given the small size of the watch screen, many of my activity names are hard to read. I changed them to be more “user friendly” when displayed on the watch. For example, the activity for viewing/controlling DirectTV DVR was called “Watch DirecTV” and I renamed it to simply “Watch”. However, a lot of the precious screen space is taken up by the activity icon. The icons, like the DirectTV logo, take up almost half the horizontal screen area. I would like you to add smaller versions of the icons for all the standard activities.
Of course, with this change the names of activities on larger screen iPhone and iPad are shortened and less friendly for visitors and babysitters (where the longer description helps explain better the function of each activity).
I would suggest you consider making the activity names (and possibly other elements) dynamically configure themselves for the Apple Watch versus other devices. One way to do this would be to add a second line in the design mode so when using “Edit Activity”, underneath “Title” you can add “Small Title” and underneath “Image” you can add “Small Image” so I can select two forms of the text and two icons. Then a new configuration item “Use regular Title for …” with options for “iPhone, iPad, or Watch” and similar configuration line “Use small Image for…” with choices of “iPhone, iPad, Watch” would allow device-specific auto-adjusting layouts.
Just one possible method to illustrate the point. Obviously, you’ll figure out the best way, but would really be nice to have this capability.
Is there a plan to add an option so that the roomie remote can be added to the “glances” feature on Apple Watch? This would help get quicker access to the roomie app.
thanks
Roomie on my Apple watch is brilliant. Since it is my most used app, I agree with black banshee that it would be even better if it was added to glances to save going through the apps home screen.
The Apple Watch app for Roomie is great! One suggestion: I notice the Apple TV watch app has a swipe/select model. Possible to get this for Roomie?
Thanks for a great app. : )
We’re looking into many improvements as part of the Apple Watch 2 release that will align with our big Fall release. One of those is that Apple will allow us to use the digital crown, so that will be awesome. There are many other improvements Apple has made so we’ll certainly be evaluating how best to use each. Roomie Watch for Watch 2.0 will be a huge update.
Thank you.
After having my Apple Watch for two weeks now I have to say the killer app is Roomie. All of the other features are ok but this app makes the watch a must have for me. . One request, when I tap the volume it mutes my Pioneer receiver rather than giving a volume slider. Can we get an option for a volume slider rather than mute? My pioneer receiver moves at .5db increments so I have to tap the watch face a dozen or so times to get any meaningful change in volume. A slider like the iPhone app would make a big difference. Thank you Roomie for a great watch app!