Apple Watch: apps given 10-second limits to save battery and distraction

Attention span will be far smaller for watches than phones, Apple rulings suggest

A man cleans the window displaying the Apple watch during the unveiling of the new and highly anticipated product at Saint-Honore street in Paris (LOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty Images)

Apple has encouraged developers to make apps for its smartwatch in such a way as to avoid annoying users, according to reports.

The company suggests that apps only require 10 seconds of users’ time, whenever they look at them, so that they don’t take up too much attention. The limit will also allow the battery to be preserved, a concern that is likely to be central to selling the watch.

The company has also asked developers to keep notifications and other distractions to a minimum, according to a report in Bloomberg that also revealed the company has been allowing companies to test Apple Watch apps in a secret lab at its headquarters. Apps should keep specific notifications about certain emails from buzzing on users’ wrists if they’re still at work, for instance.

At the moment, many watches notify users about every event on their phone. That means that on a busy day the buzzing from watches can be almost constant — and while the appeal of such watches is partly in keeping people from having to look at their phone to see notifications, the constant buzzing has been a point of complaint about existing ones.