Looked into this a little more and this is what we appear to have:
When and iPhone Roon zone is enabled, then the iOS notification center media controls control the local iPhone zone - and therefore media control are also available on an apple watch as a media player remote (accessible via large pink/red media dot on watch face at 12’o’clock).
I don’t know if it is possible on iOS (as notification center media control may be tied to opening iOS audio device for media playback), but if it is, it would be great if there was an option in Roon for the notification center media controls to control whatever the current zone is in the controller app instead of just the local iPhone zone. This way, you would get basic control from your watch always instead of only the local zone.
OTOH, if not possible, then its a much bigger job for Roon - they would need to write a watch kit app and also the watch face complications for new and old style watch faces to get the quick access from the watch face. Not a massive job (in its simplest form, it just acts as remote control for the iOS app, so all the complexity remains there), but certainly a lot more than a few lines of code that a media widget might be. I suspect the media widget approach is not possible however without claiming audio output as well.
Of course I would vote for apple watch becoming a full Roon controller and endpoint - not a bad player when paired with decent bluetooth headphones (I have my series 4 watch paired with Sony WH-1000XM2), but I don’t think that is currently possible until Apple open up the watch APIs a lot more.
I have some control of pretty much everything controllable in the house via my apple watch and including Roon via the Harmony Watch Control app and Deep Harmony Roon extension, but I would much prefer a dedicated Roon app for the watch.
I may have a look at Homebridge as well to see if that can do anything useful via the Apple Home app which is on the watch.
You’re certainly entitled to your opinion, Mike. And while I am very much a fan of Classical music like you - I see you’ve made a number of posts about the genre - others might argue that the feature requests you support are in fact the icing on the cake. Who’s to say who is right? I would like to suggest we focus on the merit of this feature request in its own right and let Roon set the priorities.
Adding my 2.5 drachmas here. Would love to see this implemented similar to “Now Playing” app. Upper left corner to show current zone and ability to switch zones by tapping. Upper right corner shows time. Three buttons for replay/play/skip. Scrolling text at bottom showing Artist and Title. Very surprised that it hasn’t been implemented yet!!!
It involves the Indigo Domotics home automation software running on Mac.
There is an Indigo extension for Roon that allows volume and transport.
I create action groups within Indigo for various controls of Roon (eg. increase volume by 5, next song, previous song.
Within Indigo, I use the HomeKit Bridge plugin to assign an on switch to each action group.
Within the Home App on IOS, i assign a Home Scene for each switch.
I then use an IOS app called Home Run.
This app creates an interface on the apple watch with a set of icons.
Each Icon controls a Scene in the Home app.
One needs to set up a separate icon for each action you want (eg. increase volume by x amount).
So:
Home Run on Apple Watch triggers:
A Scene in the Home App which triggers:
An action within Indigo:
Which triggers the Roon Extension.
Works instantaneously, but there is no feedback from Roon to the Apple Watch app.
Not for the faint of heart! One would need to be intimately familiar with Indigo.
Just to say it can be done…
But controlling volume from the Apple Watch by rotating the crown would be the best. I am constantly adjusting volume, or skipping to the next song when I have guests over and music is in the background.
Another vote for simple Roon control by Apple Watch: play, pause, track skip. That’s all. Do this, and implement editing for tidal, quobuz etc playlists, then I’m sold on a lifetime subscription.
