The new watchOS beta warns of old apps that won't work from the next version

All upcoming versions of Apple's operating systems are currently in beta testing. A fundamental novelty appeared in the test version of watchOS with the designation 4.3.1. It now shows a notification if the user opens an older application. It looks like it's headed for something similar to the throttling of support (and gradual ban) for 32-bit apps on iPhones.

The new watchOS beta includes a special notification that appears on the screen when the user launches a WatchKit application. This interface worked primarily with watchOS 1, and all apps that use it must get an update. Apple does not explicitly mention that similar applications will stop working in future versions of the operating system. However, if we look at iOS and its end of support for 32-bit apps, the whole process was very similar.

Apple is expected to drop support for the first apps using WatchKit with the arrival of watchOS 5, which we should expect this year. From the point of view of apps as such, this is a logical step, since the entire framework for creating apps for the first version of watchOS was different than it is now. The applications of the time were created on the current hardware at the time and counted on the functionality on which the first Apple Watch was based. Since then, however, the situation has changed, both from the point of view of performance and from the point of view of the independence of the Apple Watch itself.

It is the dependence of the first Apple Watch on iPhones that makes these old apps unsuitable. The first versions of watchOS and the Apple Watch streamed all content to the watch from the phone. This approach changed already in watchOS 2, and since then the applications have become more and more independent and less and less dependent on the paired iPhone. Currently, there is no reason to keep alive applications that use old and obsolete procedures.

Apple completely ended support for the first-generation watchOS last week, so this move is a logical addition. The company wants to force developers to update their applications to newer versions of the systems (if they haven't already done so, which is rather unimaginable given the huge changes).

Source: 9to5mac