Messaging in the Notification Era
The first problem is that notifications on Apple Watch lack the granularity needed in this era of messaging clients. Apple Watch notifications at present, are app-based, meaning that I can either choose to receive all notifications from a 3rd-party app, or none. Within some apps, there is more granularity (e.g. Twitter allows you to turn of @-reply notifications), but these aren’t contact-specifics. I can turn off all DMs, but not DMs from everyone but a sponsor. I can’t get a notification when my wife posts to Instagram and not anyone else.
Notifications on Apple Watch have their greatest value when each one truly is important, but not all notifications from an app are equally valuable. By mixing what is truly valuable (a message from my wife) with what is not (questions from my students), the entire value of notifications are diluted. Diluting the value of notifications, in turn, dilutes the value proposition of the entire Apple Watch.
Notification granularity is my single biggest complaint of the Apple Watch so far. Getting pinged or tapped on your wrist is really, really great. However, Apple’s current solution is pretty much all or nothing at this point. I can either get all my texts sent to my watch or none. Even when I turn on “do not disturb” in a group iMessage, my wrist still pings. Not good.
I’ve heard that Apple is working to solve these issues. And I hope it happens soon. Notifications are clearly going to become more important as technology starts becoming something we wear.