(Update 16.09.20)
On the Golden Master release of WatchOS 7 Apple have introduced a fair few new features again to WatchOS 7 making the release which is TODAY even more exciting!
Now there is an additional 6 watch faces as well as the ones mentioned below. These include a new Memoji watch face, Typograph, GMT, Chronograph Pro, Count up, Stripes and Artist. There is also a new Memoji app allowing you to customise your Memoji on the go!
In Activity it is finally possible to change your exercise and stand rings. With limits though. Stand can only be changed between 6 and 12 and exercise from 10 minutes to 60 per day.
[Below was written on June 27th 2020]
The Apple Watch was first released in 2015 and has now become an important part of the apple history, One of the best Smartwatches around and personally one of my favourite Apple devices. On Monday Apple announced the newest version of the software that powers the device, WatchOS 7.
I’ve been using WatchOS 7 for the past few days and below are my thoughts as well as looking at some unannounced features but first I want to look at what is one of the most requested features for a long time and that is…
Sleep Tracking
Sleep tracking has been a talked about feature for years and has been something devices like Fitbits have had for a while but appeared to of been forgotten about in the Apple Watch but finally this year it has come.
You can set up your sleep schedule in the health app or if you’re like me and you don’t really have a sleep schedule you can input each day what times you plan to go to bed via the clock app like you used to be able too.
Before you go to bed your iPhone will go in to Winddown mode (The default time for this is 45 minutes before but I changed mine to 30 minutes) during this time the phone will turn on Do not disturb mode and can even dim your lights for you if you have home kit enabled lights on.
You can view all your sleep in the Sleep app on your watch via a nice-looking chart or if you want to see more detail in the health app on your iPhone. Charging is an issue many have been asking as a lot of us charge overnight well when it goes into Winddown mode the watch will let you know if it needs to be charged a little and when you wake up you get a “Morning report” telling you the time, weather and your battery percentage.
In WatchOS 7 Apple have removed all 3D touch features so it looks like the next Apple watch may not have 3D touch, but this could be to make way for a slightly bigger battery as Battery life is defiantly the biggest let down in the Apple watch I think.
Activity & Workouts
The first thing worth mentioning is that on the iPhone the Activity app is no longer called Activity it is now called Fitness. Interestingly though when you’re on the Watch app on your phone or on the Apple Watch itself it is still called Activity. Anyhow the app on the watch is pretty much the same apart from the removal of 3D touch.
On the workout’s app an additional three new workouts have been added. Dance, Core-Training and Cooldown. Cool-down will probably be the most useful for me for after my runs however I think Dance will also be a popular one. Dance has actually been on the workout’s app for a while however before the activity was just tracked the same as a slow outdoor walk now it is a lot more accurate.
The activity app on your iPhone has had a bit of a major overall Featuring only two tabbed sections now “Summary” and “Sharing” Personally I think the summary tab now looks a bit cluttered, There simply is too much to look at in one go and I’ve found myself looking on the watch version more because it is easier to read the information. They’re in the right place with the summary idea however I think Trends should be on it’s on Tab still. I’m also gutted that Trends still doesn’t get any notifications.
Handwashing
I’ll admit it is a bit of a gimmick, but it is a cool gimmick and a bit of a useful one given the current situation around the world. How it works is when the watch detects that your washing your hands it will start counting down from 20. I’ve noticed the notification doesn’t go off till its counted three seconds I imagine this is a deliberate thing to make sure you actually are washing your hands. When the 20 seconds is up you hear another notification go off and a range of different messages will be displayed from Well Done to Good Job. If you don’t do the full 20 seconds of hand washing then the watch reminds you the importance of doing so. You can view your hand washing in the Health app as well now.
Looking at the small things
There’s not as many things different in WatchOS unlike iOS so there’s only a few small things
I’ve noticed. One I mentioned already was the removal of 3D Touch and another example of that is now you have to go in to Settings then App View to change the view, which is a lot more extra steps compared to before.
Siri UI is updated to match the new UI on iOS.
Wallet , You can now go through all your passes my pressing the side button twice and using the Digital Crown to quickly scroll through them.
Music , Now you can search your library on your watch. You can also view the new listen now menu.
I’ll be looking into more of WatchOS and the Activity app as the betas go on. Follow me on Twitter if you have any questions and to keep up to date.
Thanks for reading.
Kyle Wilkinson
WWDC 2020, Read more*1
WWDC 2020 - A Summary
iOS 14, First Looks.
WatchOS 7, First Looks.
[1] All links are shortened using "Short URL" which you can access their main site here https://www.shorturl.at
[2] Screenshots are taken on an Apple Watch Series 4 running WatchOS 7 Developer Beta 1, Some features may change on the public release of WatchOS 7.
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