I developed an iPhone/Watch app with the single target setting (new method) for Watch app projects, which will be available from Xcode14. This app uses HealthKit to retrieve information such as step count and heart rate from healthcare. The watch app is not independent and requires the iPhone app (companion app).
Regarding the permission to access health care, i found some differences from the Old WatchApp Project (application project structure using WatchExtension when Xcode 13.4 or lower is used).
- This does not occur in the iPhone simulator or watch simulator, but only on the actual device.
- Both the iPhone app and watch app now display a dialog to allow access to health care
- In the Old WatchApp Project, if access was granted in either app, the granted access is synchronized.
- When checking the Health Care access status in the iPhone Settings App, permission settings for both the iPhone app and watch app are displayed independently.
- Because each permission setting is independent, you can choose to allow access to the iPhone app but not to allow it to the watch app.
- the Old WatchApp Project, permission settings for the iPhone app and watch app were synchronized, so it was not possible to have different settings for each.
These behaviors are not described in the documentation. It would be understandable if the transition from watch "extension" to watch "app" is to split the app into two separate units.
However, since there is no official documentation explaining this, i cannot determine whether this is the correct specification or not. Furthermore, since the companion app is required rather than a separate Watch app, having the Health Care permission settings out of sync with the companion app could cause unexpected problems and worsen the user experience. (It would be difficult and cumbersome for the user to know what settings they have made).
Is there a solution to synchronize this behavior with the companion app like as the Old WatchApp Project? Do i have to go back to the project configuration (use of watchExtension) before Xcode13?
I have prepared a sample project below that can test the above. https://github.com/HayakawaAKIRA/SingleTargetWatchOSApp-HealthKit
reference:
https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2022/10133/ https://developer.apple.com/documentation/watchkit/wkapplication https://developer.apple.com/documentation/healthkit/setting_up_healthkit
