Note: This article was first published on 6 June 2023.
Apple WatchOS 10 updates as seen at WWDC 2023.
When you think the Apple Watch couldn’t get any better, Apple shows how it doubles down on the smartwatch’s operating system — WatchOS 10 — at its WWDC 2023 keynote to make it even more comprehensive. We’ve summarised all the key updates below.
Improved UX: digital crown to control Smart Stack notifications
Using digital crown for Smart Stack interactions.
A significant change lies in the way you interact with your Apple Watch. Now, you can turn the digital crown to check your Smart Stacks notifications from any watch face.
You can long-press widgets to add to the Smart Stack. This makes it possible to set just about any crucial widget as part of the stack for all that crown rotation. The examples Apple gave include your flight boarding passes in Apple Wallet and Reminders for any upcoming meetings.
Apple Watch now using its entire watch display for content.
Default apps, like Weather, Stocks, Home, Maps, Messages, World Clock, and more, now use the full Apple Watch display to show all metrics and information at a glance. This also applies to Streaks (progress-based metrics) for the Activity and Fitness apps.
Third-party app developers can also implement Smart Stack compatibility with their apps, should they choose to do so.
Here comes a Snoopy watch face
Snoopy and Woodstock are now an Apple Watch watch face.
Apple Watch gets two new watch faces, Palette (a colour-shifting watch face), and Snoopy & Woodstock. The Snoopy-branded watch face is also interactive, where it plays with watch hands, reacts to weather conditions, and workouts.
Sports apps get so much more on Apple Watch
Cycling app gets more information --- on both Apple Watch and iPhone.
The Cycling app for Apple Watch gets new features — Apple Watch can now connect to Bluetooth-connected cycling sensors (s power meters, speed sensors, and cadence sensors) to acquire additional data like cadence and cycling intensity (Functional Threshold Power) and power zones.
New data lets you check your cycling power zones to further optimise your cycling efficiency.
The Cycling app has also been optimised for the iPhone, so it now shows all your cycling data as a Live Activity, where you can tap and check all the metrics on a full-screen format — helpful if you have the phone mounted on a bicycle.
The two pins (Last Cellular Connection and Last Emergency Call Waypoint) within your Compass app for hikers.
For hiking, there are new features via the Compass app. One is the Last Cellular Connection, which estimates the nearest place with mobile data with your network provider. Next is the Last Emergency Call Waypoint, which pins any network for emergency calls on your map.
For route preparation, there’s Elevation View which shows three-dimensional data in Maps. US-based users even get additional topographic map features to show your routes with more hiking data (contour lines, hill shading, elevation details, and points of interest).
For developers of other sporting apps, a new high-frequency motion data is now available, which lets users refine motions via added velocity and acceleration data. For example, golfing uses high-frequency motion data to check your golf swings.
Health updates: mental health and myopia
Mindfulness app now lets you log your momentary emotions discreetly.
WatchOS 10 also improved upon two health-related measurements to the devices — mental health and myopia.
For mental health, the Mindfulness app now lets users log their momentary emotions and daily moods via multidimensional shapes. It also works with the Health app on iPhone even if you don’t have Apple Watch.
Additional screening tools like depression and anxiety assessment are also available via the Health app. To use them, answer questions about how you feel, and it will generate a PDF report of results for caregivers to refer to when you attend therapy sessions. Apple caveated that the assessments are not medical reports, so it's important to bring them with you during treatment.
Are you helping to prevent myopia? There's an app for that too.
In myopia prevention, Apple Watch can measure the time spent under daylight. This helps to see if the user meets the U.S. health recommendation of 80 to 120 minutes of daylight activity to reduce myopia.
Another addition via the Health app is Screen Distance for iPad and iPhone, where the feature uses the device’s TrueDepth Camera and measures if a person is holding the device too close to their face to encourage healthier viewing habits.
Both mental health and myopia metrics are viewable as metrics via the Health app.
Apple’s WatchOS 10 will be available “later this year,” and it requires Apple iOS 17 for its full set of features to work.
Read more:
- Apple Vision Pro in a nutshell at WWDC 2023
- Apple Vision Pro hands-on experience at WWDC 2023
- Apple 15-inch MacBook Air hands-on at WWDC 2023
- Apple new Mac Pro and Mac Studio updates at WWDC 2023
- Apple AirPods Pro audio upgrades at WWDC 2023
- Apple WatchOS 10 key updates at WWDC 2023
- Apple iPadOS 17 key updates at WWDC 2023
- Apple tvOS 17 updates you can expect
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