Apple Watch

I use mine daily with my re-sound forte aids. It comes in handy for answering the phone or streaming music when I don’t have my phone nearby For new technology I would say it works fairly well My hearing aids are only a month old so I have th new Bluetooth streaming technology which streams it directly from my phone to my hearing aids. These are my second set of hearing aids and I would say I’m very happy with the way it all works so far

jtlAuthor

Venice, Florida

I have the Zerena 9 ’s which also stream directly to the aids. What I don’t like is the need to carry the phone in my hand when I am talking. I think it would be easier to just have the microphone on my wrist and the phone in my pocket.

z10user2

What?! Made for iPhone not good enough for you??

jtlAuthor

Venice, Florida

Actually I need another device to figure out how to use.

Tabaker

I do, but often have connection issues unless my phone is very close. I can’t have my phone next to me at my work station, so the watch helps me change programs and volume. I also have ReSound Forte

Solonphotos

Apr 3, 2018Edited

I purchased the Apple Watch 3 and linked it to my Verizon cell phone account. I use the watch to stream to my Phonak aids with a ComPilot Air II clipped to my shirt. It is straight from Dick Tracy in 1951 … It works and I love it.

I should note that it does Not need my iPhone to be present – and that it stream music to my aids as well as phone calls - and it tracks my heart rate in the gym …

z10user2

Apr 3, 2018

That’s all very exciting tech…but in my opinion, the goal is to have as few devices as possible on ones person. Most of the manufacturers offer intermediate devices like your ComPilot.
The Apple Watch with a made for iphone hearing aid sure. I think I’ve read here of some success with that. But it still needs to be the mic.

sdpate1

May 19, 2019

The MFI link may be fixed this fall (member archive)

etherington

May 20, 2019

I do it to stream music and podcasts. I have Phonak Marvels. I just have to go through the somewhat cumbersome procedure of the pairing process to pair directly to the watch. Anything stored in the watches memory can be played pretty much anywhere. It helps to wear the watch on the same side of my body as the control when walking, as my body can block the low power signal while swinging my arms. When both the watch and iPhone are connected by Wi-Fi, very few if any limitations as to connectivity (except blocking the BT signal). I do think the watch has a much lower BT signal than the iPhone.

Nov 16, 2020

How to Create an Apple Watch Complication for an for which the smartphone app can also run on the Apple Watch.

My demonstration here is specifically for the ReSound Smart 3D app and involves iOS v14.2 and WatchOS 7.1. But it should work for any other OEM HA MFi smartphone app that also allows you to install a Apple Watch version of the smartphone app on your watch. And it is intended to solve problems like that for the ReSound Smart 3D, which claims to have a “complication” for the Apple Watch but that complication doesn’t show up functionally for me on my Apple Watch.

What is a “complication?!” Essentially, it is a shortcut that can appear on your chosen watch face Home Screen that allows you to launch some aspect of an app (or the entire app itself) by tapping on the complication icon. That way you can avoid extra steps of going to the app list or the docker on the watch to scroll, find, and launch the app. Below is a photo of my current Infograph watch face with a red arrow pointing to the ReSound Smart 3D app SHORTCUT that I created as a complication to launch the Smart 3D app on my watch.

The app won’t quite launch straight away. A confirmation screen zips up with “Run 3D App?” and I just tap on the RUN button to get the app going. It all happens VERY FAST on an Apple Watch 6. The watch has to be connected to your iPhone via /Wi-Fi as the watch is essentially serving as a remote control to the iPhone.

Here is a step-by-step illustration of how I created the ReSound watch SHORTCUT complication on my iPhone. It should work for other HA OEM smartphone apps that can be installed on the Apple Watch, too.

On the iPhone, I launch the SHORTCUTS app, tap the MY SHORTCUTS tab on bottom left, and click ALL SHORTCUTS (red arrow) on the screen that comes up.

Shortcuts My Shortcuts Open Page ScreenshotMrkd

On the ALL SHORTCUTS screen, I tap the “+” sign in the top right to create a new shortcut.

On the NEW SHORTCUT screen, I tap “Add an action.”

On the ADD AN ACTION screen, I pick the SCRIPTING CHOICE

On the SCRIPTING screen, I pick the “Open App” option.

Scripting Open App Option ScreenshotMrkd

After choosing the Open App as the Scripting action choice, one will be back on the New Shortcut screen with the Scripting Action added but no app to launch chosen. Click the CHOICES button.

On the CHOOSE APP screen, I scroll down and pick the “Smart 3D” app choice

After choosing one’s hearing aid app (Smart 3D for me), one is back on the New Shortcut screen and one clicks NEXT to configure the Shortcut icon color and name

New Shortcut Choice After Choice ScreenshotMrkd

On the next page, the two arrows point to the locations by which one can configure Shortcut icon color and name. After doing so, click the DONE button at the top left.

Configuring Name and Icon Color of Shortcut ScreenshotMrkd

The last few steps are to make sure the Shortcut created on the iPhone will also be available on the Apple Watch to use as a “complication.” In the ALL SHORCUTS page loaded from the MY SHORTCUTS tab in the iPhone Shortcuts app, find the shortcut that you created and tap on the “…” menu choice.

Making Sure Shortcut on Apple Watch Screenshot

On the shortcut details page (3D App shortcut in my case), click the further “…” menu of choices in the upper left.

Opening Shortcut to Place on Watch ScreenshotMrkd

On your shortcut DETAILS page, make sure the “Show on Apple Watch” option is checked.

Shortcut Show on Apple Watch Option ScreenshotMrkd

I am assuming anyone who wants to do this knows how to add and remove “complications” from an Apple Watch face. Now when you edit complications on a Watch face and want to add the scripted launch of your HA app, under the Shortcuts list for complications, you should find the shortcut that you created and named as above. After adding the shortcut as a complication, you should be able to directly and VERY rapidly launch your HA app from your watch Home Screen.

Creating this tutorial was pretty “complicated” (pun intended). Hope I didn’t omit anything useful.

There is a bit of flakiness in the dependability of the Shortcut complication. Usually it works GREAT! But I went through a period where the the app on the iPhone worked great but neither launching the Shortcut on the watch nor launching the app directly on the watch would connect me to the HA app. Tried rebooting watch, iPhone, HA’s but nothing rescued connecting from the watch. Then after letting everything sit overnight and charging and rebooting my HA’s, the watch app was back to working great. I wondered whether rechargeable HA battery level might be a “complication?!”

The other complication is that it’s supposed to be possible to take Apple Watch screenshots by pressing the crown and side button on the watch simultaneously. Doesn’t work for me. So much for everything with Apple “just works.”

But the Apple Watch Gen 6 with a ReSound Smart 3D app Shortcut as a complication on my watch face Home Screen is astounding. And who knows, maybe I can also create a shortcut (double simultaneous virtual button press?!) to take the Apple Watch screenshots that I haven’t been able to manage manually (all the screen captures above except for a cell phone photo of the watch face were done via the iPhone Shortcut app).

narenkona

New York, USA

@jim_lewis said:

The other complication is that it’s supposed to be possible to take Apple Watch screenshots by pressing the crown and side button on the watch simultaneously. Doesn’t work for me.

Jim, thanks for the great write up of how to use shortcuts to add this complication

I found this Apple support article1, on how to enable taking a snapshot on the apple watch. This might help you on that one.

And one thing I had figured out a while ago is that the older Apple Watch faces do support adding the Smart 3D complication directly. Try on either the Simple or Utility faces as an example. Although with IOS 14/WatchOS 7, the icon doesn’t show up anymore - but if you press the watch where you put the complication it will bring up the Smart 3D app on the watch.

I’ve sent an email to resound asking if they can add their complication support to the newer faces, and letting them know about the problem with the icon. I’ll report back here what I hear from them.

Nov 17, 2020Edited

@narenkona said:

I found this Apple support article , on how to enable taking a snapshot on the apple watch. This might help you on that one.

And one thing I had figured out a while ago is that the older Apple Watch faces do support adding the Smart 3D complication directly. Try on either the Simple or Utility faces as an example

Thanks for the suggestions. I had previously gone through the Apple Watch procedure for enabling Watch screenshots but it just doesn’t work for me on a Watch 6 running WatchOS 7.1 for some reason - maybe the usual OS upgrade idiosyncrasies that need to be ironed out? I did somehow take a screenshot on a non-watch face screen and it got transferred to my iPhone Photos. But only managed to generate that single one in many, many two-fingered tries after enabling screenshots.

I did find as you say that the ReSound Smart 3D app will appear in the list of available complications for the Simple and Utility watch faces and I can add it to either but just as you say, not for the modern watch faces. Since one can have the most complications on the Infograph watch face, that’s the one that I want to add the 3D complication to but the Shortcut method will tide me over 'til ReSound fixes things with Apple on that score.

I do find that there is a Smart 3D icon for the Simple and Utility watch faces, though. For me, it doesn’t show up when editing the watch face from the iPhone but it does show when editing either watch face directly on the Apple Watch. And the 3D complication also shows up when using either watch face. The 3D complication is a TINY hearing aid! And strangely enough, it’s white for the Simple watch face, red for the Utility watch face. There doesn’t seem to be a means to change the complication color?

MDB Central California

I think you’re having fun with your new toy! :>) Is Microsoft Flight Sim getting jealous?

@MDB Yes, there’s the watch plus the upcoming Black Friday deals. There’s an interesting Apple Watch battery utility that can actually read ReSound Quattro rechargeable battery levels apparently just by intercepting their “in-the-clear” -like transmission but I don’t think because of obvious security concerns it can interrogate the ’s for their battery level, which detracts from the useful timeliness of such an ability.

‎Battery Life3
‎Monitor iPhone and Apple Watch battery data at a glance with Battery Life - the ultimate battery analysis tool downloaded by millions of users since 2014. Battery Life is pioneer compared to all other battery analysis tools from the App Store. The...

For the Apple Watch and the iPhone one can set high and low charge notifications but unfortunately not for the Quattro rechargeable HA’s (I’ve already contacted the Battery Life developer about it and suggested that he work with ReSound).

If you use the Battery Life app too much (as I did when I first installed it), you can run down the battery on the device that you’re using for interrogation of your other devices. To counteract that, I’ve switched to “manual” interrogation mode except when I really want to go with auto background refresh. In the app’s settings, I’ve turned off background refresh and turned off all Siri options, which I really don’t need and may be a PR thing.

The Battery Life app has an Apple Watch complication, too, which I’ve set on a secondary watch face that I can just swipe to from my primary Infograph one and the complication will display Apple Watch and iPhone battery levels at a glance and launch the app with a tap.

teejayess

California central coast

In reply to @jim_lewis

@jim_lewis said:

I had previously gone through the Apple Watch procedure for enabling Watch screenshots but it just doesn’t work for me on a Watch 6 running WatchOS 7.1 for some reason - maybe the usual OS upgrade idiosyncrasies that need to be ironed out?

Just tried and it does not work for me either on the Watch 6 with watchOS 7.1. I never used it that much, but it did work on my old Watch 4 with watchOS 6.x. I already have open tickets with Apple Support, time for one more. Gah!

@teejayess said:

I already have open tickets with Apple Support

TIA, where does one go to open a ticket with Apple Support? I would hope that they’d be like Microsoft for Windows and have a built-in feedback mechanism similar to the Windows Feedback Hub where one can actually see and review all the feedback one has submitted, see who’s upvoted or further commented on their own experience relative to your feedback item, and see if there is any official reply from the support folks. That would certainly be one of my Support Tickets for Apple!, i.e., for an on-device feedback mechanism/app (with Windows, I’ve submitted so many items, time goes by, some darn thing bites me again and I forget that I complained about that something a year ago, etc.! - but MS has really been improving Windows). Think I will suggest the same for ReSound - does any OEM have the equivalent of a UserVoice-like site? They should! MS actually uses UserVoice for a number of their apps as well as offering in-app feedback mechanisms, too.

teejayess

California central coast

Nov 18, 2020

I’ve found calling direct is best. or the support site. https://support.apple.com/

Scroll down to Get Support and go from there. They can never direct me to a canned reply (evil grin) so I get the option to online chat or have them call me after I enter more info.

Calls always seem to be best, and they tell me a ticket number.

That MS system would be great, but even Google cannot offer that kind of support, sadly. I’ve found Resound support so bad that I do not even try anymore. Most product support is horrendous these days. Persistent Google searches find the best results, then I take that to the support people via chat or phone call for resolution.