Vine App Developers Launch Apple Watch App

Vine app developers recently launched a new frontier for their video-sharing social network: an Apple Watch app. The app has been in the works since early last summer, when it was used for a demo of watchOS 2’s ability to playback video at an Apple show event. The Apple Watch version of Vine is, to the surprise of tech columnists, somewhat independent of the iPhone app, allowing video play from users’ feeds as well as video view tracking in real time for their own videos.

For the uninitiated, Vine is a social media network similar to Instagram, but specialized in videos and with an emphasis on humor and viral content. It was one of the first adaptors of the auto-play looping video feature in social feeds.

Since iOS aficionados got their first glance of the Apple Watch, focus on the possibilities for the platform in iOS app development circles have zoomed in on its use as a notifications springboard. While this makes sense for a companion device, it’s also a shame to use such an expensive and attractive piece of hardware as a glorified notifications panel, especially with the surprisingly capable WatchOS 2 waiting to be tapped.

Therefore it’s exciting to see more robust Apple Watch app development happening, particularly since Apple Watch development has been lackluster compared to other iOS platforms. While San Francisco iPhone app developers support the Apple Watch and continue to push out cutting-edge apps for the device, consumer adoption has been slow. Presumably this will change as wearables become more mainstream and prices drop, but for the time being Vine is the anomaly more than the rule.

Vine is also launching a general update to their iOS app to accompany the new Apple Watch app, including a sleek new functionality for discovering content by swiping left on videos to load related Vines. Hopefully other major social networks will follow suit and continue to push what the Apple Watch platform is capable of with robust, feature-rich apps.