The Inside Story of Uber’s Apple Watch App

A great writeup by Mark Rogowsky on the story behind Uber for the Apple Watch. This part particularly stood out to me:

So the Uber Apple Watch app distills Uber down to a few basic functions: request a ride, know who your driver is, what car they’re in and what the license plate is, and — critically — when the car will arrive. It’s about providing the most important information with the fewest distractions.

“The goal was clearly not to replicate the Uber experience on the watch,” explained Yuhki Yamashita, the Product Manager on the watch project. “It’d be ridiculous to make a smaller version of the app on the watch.”

Bingo. Smaller versions of an iPhone app simply won’t work on the Apple Watch and anyone who takes this approach is likely to frustrate their users. Instead, the goal should be to highlight the most important functions of the app and deliver them to the Watch in a way that’s legible and glanceable. To me, interactions should be no more than a few seconds. The more swipes and taps it takes to do the most important function, the worse the experience is.

The last paragraph perfectly sums up what the Watch has the chance to do. Not just for Uber but for all apps:

But the simplicity will remain. “With the Uber app, I see people constantly looking at their phone: ‘Where’s my driver? When does the car get here?” explained Akhilesh Gupta, the engineering manager on the project. “The Watch has the potential to get rid of the constant worrying.” It’s the information you need when you need it. And in that regard, it tries to capture the essence of what the Apple Watch is all about.

The Watch is constantly on your wrist. It’s form is it’s function.