Marco ArmentRE: https://mastodon.social/@caseyliss/116131870233125130
OK. No joke.
I literally just updated to watchOS 26 yesterday, and did my first workout with it today.
And
H
O
L
Y
S
H
I
T
Seriously, I may stop using the Apple Watch over this
FreediverX@marcoarment @caseyliss
I’ve disabled automatic updates on all my Apple products. I've lost all faith and trust in this company.
I’ve disabled automatic updates on all my Apple products. I've lost all faith and trust in this company.
Aaron@marcoarment @caseyliss omg thank you for saying this. There are absolutely no redeeming qualities about the Workout app's new UI and it feels like it's trying to sabotage me every time I interact with it.
Young Thos@marcoarment You should. The Apple Watch is boring, and life is too short for boring watches. As you well know as a certified watch guy.
For many years now I've been Garmin for workouts and literally any other watch for everything else
Lenora256@NeueWelle @marcoarment I would use Garmin if it were more accurate on me. Sadly, it isn’t. Apple Watch tracks closer to my heart rate than the Garmin I bought to try. I could even continue to use Bevel with it, since the Garmin Connect app has never been that great IMO.
@Lenora256 agreed, the Garmin connect app has indeed seen better days 😅
@NeueWelle What do you think of the Garmin integration with Bevel?
@Lenora256 to be honest, I haven't tried Bevel. I only use Garmin Connect and Strava. I feel getting the most out of something like that would require me to wear a smartwatch full-time, which is something I don't really want to do
@marcoarment I feel most apple appliances disappointing
That why I use Samsung
That why I use Samsung
Phil Kim@marcoarment My *very generous* Liquid Glass score, using Jason Snell's scale:
- iOS: 5
- iPadOS: 4
- macOS: 2
- tvOS: 5
- watchOS: 1
The only way I can use the Workout app is via Siri. Thankfully, it gets it right most of the time.
Kuba Suder • @mackuba.eu on 🦋@philkim @marcoarment Oh shitt… I thought watchOS would be the least affected…
What's so bad about it? (I haven't updated yet)
Randy Edmonds@marcoarment Garmen watches are better anyways
Vinny Coyne@marcoarment I hate it so much
SwampYankee@marcoarment My "favorite" part of the 26 workout app is the dozens of segments inserted into your run if you were unfortunate to wear long sleeves. Just randomly inserted segments inserted by default. The slow scrolling workout selector and all the extra clicks are special too. What a mess
benostrander@SwampYankee @marcoarment I agree with you. In my experience it seems that the common theme of Liquid Glass is that it takes more clicks to do things on every platform. As a bonus, it makes things difficult to read.
not that coachmike@SwampYankee @marcoarment Ok - glad to hear it’s not just me. Rain and long sleeves to max out your segmentation. 🙄
@coachmike66 I live in New York, my harbor froze over! Kind of have to wear long sleeves if I'm lucky enough to run outdoors at all.
Maarten@SwampYankee @marcoarment that was happening to me before the update as well. I tend to put the watch in swim mode (water drop in the control panel) which disables accidental touches. Downside: also disables intentional touches until you exit the mode by holding doen the crown.
Todd Vaziri@marcoarment @caseyliss it's so bad
Greg Pierce@tvaziri @marcoarment @caseyliss It’s so bad I added a one-step “Start Workout” shortcut to the Watch control center and use it instead of the app.
Fabien
Sage@tvaziri @marcoarment @caseyliss I’ve added direct Shortcuts to my “workout” watch face to sidestep this nonsense
Joey Vosters@sageolson @tvaziri @marcoarment @caseyliss how do you make these shortcuts. I constantly miss the 2nd part of my workout
Bob O'ShaughnessyYeah. It is awful. Hope you didn't expect split alerts or heart rate info in a watch only running work out, because they are gone for no discernible reason.
Pedro Fernandes@marcoarment @caseyliss I have been and still am, an Apple die hard but… not on the watch! come to the Garmin side. Battery life makes all the difference for everything related to working out.
@pfernandes @marcoarment @caseyliss Do Garmin watches allow for loading and playing back podcasts, though?
That’s the thing that keeps me locked in.
That’s the thing that keeps me locked in.
@coachmike66 @marcoarment @caseyliss they do, for sure not as convenient as Apple Watch, but for all the time that I had Apple Watches (10years) I have never listened to music or podcasts through them. Always carry my phone with me in a pocket
Jason Petersen (he)@marcoarment @caseyliss literally one of these cases where I can’t tell what the intended behavior is and I also can’t tell whether what I’m seeing is a bug or just intended
Jason Snell@marcoarment @caseyliss it's mind-bogglingly bad
Tim McGreger@jsnell @marcoarment @caseyliss I’m not going to defend the interface itself, but do none of you just use the raise to speak function? I always start my workouts just by raising my watch and saying “start an outdoor walk” or whatever I’m doing—works like a charm every time
@timmcgreger @marcoarment @caseyliss I turned off Raise to Speak because it accidentally triggers all the time. But yes, I have entirely stopped using the app interface and instead invoke Siri to start a workout.
@timmcgreger @marcoarment @caseyliss My top Apple Watch uses are:
"three minutes" (tea timer)
"begin outdoor walk"
"begin curling workout"
and having it on so it opens my door when I come home
Matt@timmcgreger @jsnell @marcoarment @caseyliss Raise to speak only works for me a quarter of the time now. TBH I forgot I could do it because of how often it doesn't work.
Paul Tower@jsnell @marcoarment @caseyliss I’m not sure where all the hate is coming from. I double click the crown, pick the workout app, then start my workout. It’s not great (the app takes forever to start up) but that’s nothing new.
What am I missing?
@hokiewalrus @marcoarment @caseyliss scrolling is slow, animations are lengthy, and you have to wait for the zoom out to get the controls. It sucks. Do you only do one workout?
@hokiewalrus @marcoarment @caseyliss basic UI rule is, don't make people sit and wait for UI to appear as you dazzle them with an animation. That app breaks it every time. I scroll to where I went to go, then I have to wait for it to draw its stuff before I can tap to start a workout. The old version was instantaneous.
@jsnell @marcoarment @caseyliss Ah, got it. Thanks for the explanation. Yeah I only 2 kinds of workouts in the app, so it’s always either the first or second choice.
Having to wait for the animations does suck, definitely agree. I have a series 10 and it rarely feels snappy as it is, anything that makes it feel even slower is bad design.
Karan J@hokiewalrus @jsnell @marcoarment @caseyliss why is it that I need to hit that small green arrow on the bottom curving edge of the screen and not the picture of the workout, which is a reasonable touch target when I'm moving around. I literally can't do anything with that massive image/icon/title.
This UI is fine if wasteful when you're sitting at a desk. When I'm moving around, I can't tolerate its requirement for precision.
Chris@hokiewalrus @jsnell @marcoarment @caseyliss same here, but maybe I’m not concerned about getting that much info out of it? Just start workout, end workout, fill rings haha
@chris_colvin @hokiewalrus @marcoarment @caseyliss waiting to start the workout is where it fails though. I guess if you never change workouts.
@jsnell @chris_colvin @marcoarment @caseyliss Ok, so I just did my workout and I noticed I do something to account for this subconsciously: I open the workout app on my watch, then start the treadmill, then go back to the watch and start the workout. So I was accounting for the delay without realizing it.
Is it possible for your brain to outsmart you? Cause that's what this feels like.
But now that I'm paying attention to it, yeah the delay sucks and is bad.
Dan Morgan 
@jsnell @marcoarment @caseyliss I think some watchOS designer is angry at @BasicAppleGuy for doing all those great workout parodies and ruining the UI is their way to get him to stop.
Machiel@jsnell @marcoarment @caseyliss the UI is bad AND the OS is so bad that it reloads the app half a second after you’ve opened it.
ockali@jsnell @marcoarment @caseyliss I „love“ how I have to wait 1-2 seconds for the animations to finish after opening the app, before I can launch a workout…
returnsnil@marcoarment @caseyliss
2026 is for me the year of ‘no more investing into Apple Ecosystem’.
If trends continue I’ll think about migrating my data and processes out in a year and why would I add to the pile of work? Prove me wrong, Apple.
2026 is for me the year of ‘no more investing into Apple Ecosystem’.
If trends continue I’ll think about migrating my data and processes out in a year and why would I add to the pile of work? Prove me wrong, Apple.
Ari@marcoarment getting one step closer to Googlifying his life with one of these: https://www.bestbuy.com/product/google-pixel-watch-4-45mm-wi-fi-matte-black-case-obsidian-band-2025/J39TC8JQPP/sku/6637325?utm_source=feed&extStoreId=839&ref=212&loc=22980597295&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22980599194&gbraid=0AAAAAD-ORIgxH3uh74Ab-NRYX6f8prmjN&gclid=CjwKCAiA2PrMBhA4EiwAwpHyCx3XQb_gDwnLxNDlBSPIglwurTr5t_Ig-UAiyrQMrgWXgadqCNCDWRoC9lgQAvD_BwE
Scott Edwards@marcoarment @caseyliss I assumed everybody was starting a workout by just telling Siri you wanna start a workout. So I didn’t even know what everybody was talking about 😂
Cesare Forelli@marcoarment Don’t you enjoy the USB-A of buttons? Tap 3 times to start?
hömma@marcoarment @caseyliss @jsnell As someone using the Apple Watch for workouts at least 5 times per day, I didn’t even know what you were talking about, because I am only using 3rd party apps for specific workouts or because Apple is missing some workout types.
Just tried it… holy shit.
philmehew@marcoarment I do two different types of workout, and the watch swapping the order of them every time is really jarring, doubled by the latency of the workout selection to show up, which often causes me to miss tap and end up the workout views menu because the x from the previous workout is in the same spot for a second.
Daniël de Kok@marcoarment The WatchOS 26 workout flow always makes me wonder if Apple PMs are actually using the Apple Watch for workouts? I just cann't understand how this made it to the final version.
Great hardware killed by stupid software.
Mark Otway@marcoarment
I solve this problem by sitting on my ass all day and not working out. #winning
Oh, and not owning a smartwatch at all.
ran mak@marcoarment i am staying on 11.6.1 because of the jessie toy story watch face, but i'm glad to hear that there are other benefits, too. but it sounds like i need to look into Garmin or something for my next watch 😞😞😞
John Cleary@ranvel @marcoarment If you take your Apple Watch to the Genius Bar and say you need to pair it with an older one that only runs iOS 18 they can downgrade it for you.
@john @marcoarment time to look for iphones that lose support in ios 18 on ebay! 😂😂😂
@ranvel @marcoarment I bought a s/h 13 mini on Facebook recently that was still running 18 as I regretted doing the 26 update on my phone. 😉
bubbajet@marcoarment I’ve never noticed because of my use pattern (hey siri) but wow. That’s ugly.
There’s got to be some design trend involving forums, magazines, and awards. My work stuff is *full* of paper cuts like this, and they tell me it’s been produced by award winning developers and it’s great and loved.
Jay Levy@marcoarment The various bugs I trip on daily are very frustrating. Easy answer for me on this one though is the WorkOutdoors app. Fantastic app… reliable for many years.
macfixerIt's not much better on iPhone. After starting a walking workout on my watch, I choose to use the iPhone interface because it's larger and easier to tap the targets…
…EXCEPT THAT WHEN YOU TAP THE "LAP" BUTTON THERE IS A SEVERAL SECOND DELAY, WHICH CAUSES YOU TO HIT IT A SECOND OR THIRD TIME, AND IT JUMPS AHEAD 2 LAPS OF ZERO SECONDS.
Now your lap times are screwed up!!