Watchkit - didReceiveApplicationContext works only for the first time

Question

When I run an watch connectivity app with iOS and watchOS simulators in Xcode, WCSession delegate method didReceiveApplicationContext works only for the first time, but then it is not called and nothing changes in the Interface controller. Can anyone please explain the reason why is this happening?

Below is WCSessionVC class of UIViewController

import Foundation
import UIKit
import WatchConnectivity

class WCSessionVC: UIViewController, WCSessionDelegate {

    let session = WCSession.default

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        session.delegate = self
        session.activate()
    }

    func updateApplicationContext(applicationContext: [String : Any]) throws {
        if WCSession.default.isPaired {
            do {
                try WCSession.default.updateApplicationContext(applicationContext)
            } catch let error {
                throw error
            }
        }
    }

    func session(_ session: WCSession, activationDidCompleteWith activationState: WCSessionActivationState, error: Error?) {
        print("Session activated")
        let message = ["quote": "Hello"]
        do {
            try self.updateApplicationContext(applicationContext: message as [String : Any])
        }
        catch {
            print(error)
        }
    }
}

Below is InterfaceController class of WKInterfaceController

import WatchKit
import Foundation
import WatchConnectivity

class InterfaceController: WKInterfaceController, WCSessionDelegate {

    @IBOutlet var lblUserId: WKInterfaceLabel!

    var watchSession: WCSession? {
        didSet {
            if let session = watchSession {
                session.delegate = self
                session.activate()
            }
        }
    }

    override func awake(withContext context: Any?) {
        super.awake(withContext: context)

        if let session = watchSession {
            session.delegate = self
            session.activate()
        }
        // Configure interface objects here.
    }

    override func willActivate() {
        // This method is called when watch view controller is about to be visible to user
        super.willActivate()
        //loadDataFromDatastore()
        watchSession = WCSession.default
    }

    override func didDeactivate() {
        // This method is called when watch view controller is no longer visible
        super.didDeactivate()
    }

    //MARK: Delegate Methods
    func session(_ session: WCSession, activationDidCompleteWith activationState: WCSessionActivationState, error: Error?) {
        watchSession?.activate()
        print("Session activation did complete")
    }

    func session(_ session: WCSession, didReceiveApplicationContext applicationContext: [String : Any]) {
        DispatchQueue.main.async {
            print("watch received app context: ", applicationContext)
            if let data = applicationContext["quote"] as? String {
                self.lblUserId.setText(data)
            }
        }
    }

    func session(_ session: WCSession, didReceiveMessage message: [String : Any]) {
        print(message)
    }
}

Answer 1

The reason for this is because updateApplicationContext only triggers when the contents of the application context dictionary changes. The apple documentation describes it as (emphasis is mine):

Use the updateApplicationContext(_:) method to communicate recent state information to the counterpart. When the counterpart wakes, it can use this information to update its own state. For example, an iOS app that supports Background App Refresh can use part of its background execution time to update the corresponding Watch app. This method overwrites the previous data dictionary, so use this method when your app needs only the most recent data values.

So think of it as a property setter method that only triggers KVO when the value actually changes. Here the receiving side delegate method is only triggered when the contents of the dictionary changes, so in your example above if you change this line:

let message = ["quote": "Hello"]

to be this:

let message = ["quote": "Hello", "date": NSDate()]

You'll see the receiving side delegate gets a callback each time.