Acknowledged
6 months ago

Feature Request: Allow CIQ 4.0 "super apps" to exist only as glances (and not icons in the activity/app launcher)

Background:

In CIQ 4.0 devices, native apps have the ability to exist only in the glance list, and not in the activity/app launcher. There are many of examples of this, such as the steps glance and HR glance.

In general a native app has at least 3 combinations of "launcher modes":

- glance list only

- activity/app launcher only

- glance list and activity/app launcher (this seems rare)

(I'll ignore other launcher modes like the controls menu, hot keys, settings menu, and watchface complications)

However, CIQ 4.0 device apps / widgets ("super apps") only have the following 2 combos:

- activity / app launcher only

- glance list and activity/app launcher

Feature Request:

As a CIQ developer, I would like to be able to implement an app which is only available from the glance list, and not the app launcher, for the following reasons:

- it's an app meant primarily to provide "glanceable" information that can be quickly accessed by the end user. It doesn't make sense for this app icon to clutter up the activity/app launcher,

- native apps can do this, so why not CIQ apps?

As a user who recently upgraded from 945 LTE to 955 myself, I found it disconcerting that my favorite CIQ widgets now appear in the activity list by default. I know that I can remove them manually, but that's an extra step. I realize that this behavior is intentional, though. Maybe a compromise would be to add a new flag to the manifest which specifies that a super app should not appear in the activity/app list by default?

I also noticed that some CIQ widgets (which were originally created prior to the introduction of super apps) actually have *less* functionality in the activity list as opposed to the glance list. This is because the newly implemented glance view provides information that isn't present in the activity list or when actually "opening" the app.

e.g. Battery Graph: https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/923cd514-fe15-476c-855e-26846d2007ec#0

When I first install this widget, the glance shows me my current battery level, but when I initially open the app, all I get is a message saying that battery information is still being gathered. To be fair, this is a temporary situation but it seems like an example of an app which makes more sense to live in the glance list rather than the activity/app list.

flowstate
Parents
  • over 1 year ago in reply to flowstate

    Remember, it's always been the case where native apps can do things differently than CIQ app.

    With Super apps on a 4.x device, you can use Garmin Express to remove something from the activity loop or the glance loop.  PiTemps is a single app, but you see it as both a glance and an app in Garmin Express.  

    Also, you can edit the activity loop on the watch itself to remove something you don't want there. On a touch device like the 965. youcan press the icon in the activity loop and able to do things like set as a favorite, reorder and remove.

    The default is it shows in both places, but it's easy to exclude it from one place or the other.  In the years since CIQ 4 came out and very many downloads I don't think I've had a single user ask me about this.  And there are times I might use the the item in activity vs starting from a glance, as on a watch, the glance times out after a couple minutes, when when started from the activity loop, it runs until I terminate it.  You can also add some of the native glances to the activity loop if you want.

    Did you just get your first CIQ 4 device?  You also won't see much (if any) discussion about this in the forums and it's been this way for years

Comment
  • over 1 year ago in reply to flowstate

    Remember, it's always been the case where native apps can do things differently than CIQ app.

    With Super apps on a 4.x device, you can use Garmin Express to remove something from the activity loop or the glance loop.  PiTemps is a single app, but you see it as both a glance and an app in Garmin Express.  

    Also, you can edit the activity loop on the watch itself to remove something you don't want there. On a touch device like the 965. youcan press the icon in the activity loop and able to do things like set as a favorite, reorder and remove.

    The default is it shows in both places, but it's easy to exclude it from one place or the other.  In the years since CIQ 4 came out and very many downloads I don't think I've had a single user ask me about this.  And there are times I might use the the item in activity vs starting from a glance, as on a watch, the glance times out after a couple minutes, when when started from the activity loop, it runs until I terminate it.  You can also add some of the native glances to the activity loop if you want.

    Did you just get your first CIQ 4 device?  You also won't see much (if any) discussion about this in the forums and it's been this way for years

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