Uber drops Watch support as noticed by MacRumors. It seems that ride-hailing service has followed the example of its chief competitor Lyft and deprecated its Apple Watch app. It’s still possible to install the app but when opening it, users are presented with the following message:
Please switch to the Uber mobile app. We no longer support the Apple Watch app. Sorry for the inconvenience 😢
Uber
I imagine the usage of the feature was relatively small. But all the same, I’m sad to see the functionality go. The Apple Watch is a hugely popular device and its install base is still growing year on year. If anything you’d expect usage of the app to go up. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. That being said, apps on Apple Watch generally offer a better experience when they’re designed to offer lightweight functionality.
Some of the best experiences on the Apple Watch are those designed by third-party developers. But often third-party apps get bogged down with too much UI. They try to do too much on a tiny display. Developers need to let the watch be what it is. A portable wrist computer designed to provide essential functionality at just the right time. Uber did design their watch app well. But the Apple Watch was never intended to provide dense amounts of information.
Uber is a notable Apple Watch opt-out because the company was one of the first to partner with Apple when the device first launched. That being said it likely isn’t too much of a loss to Apple in the long term. There are plenty of high-quality apps for the Apple Watch with more being added all the time. If anything the quality dial has only increased as the user base has. Uber just isn’t an ideal use case for this form factor and that’s ok.
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