Apple has just confirmed watchOS 6 is the next version of the company’s wearable software that will likely be coming to your Apple Watch by the end of 2019.
The biggest upgrade so far is the App Store is coming to your Apple Watch. You’ll be able to cycle through apps to download on your wrist without having to put them onto your iPhone.
Below we’ll talk you through all of the other main features Apple has introduced on stage at WWDC 2019…
Cut to the chase
- What is it? The next version of Apple’s smartwatch operating system
- When is it out? It’s now official, likely coming in September
- What will it cost? Nothing!
watchOS 6 release date and compatibility
As expected, watchOS 6 was just unveiled at WWDC 2019 and we’ll likely hear whether it has a beta available in the next few hours of the conference. It’s unlikely to officially launch until September this year, when it’ll probably rollout to your devices.
It will be free to download and should be compatible with the Apple Watch 4, Apple Watch 3 and inevitable Apple Watch 5 (which will probably land alongside the finished watchOS 6 software).
It’s likely also to land on the Apple Watch 2, but probably won’t be compatible with the Apple Watch Series 1 (the updated version of the original Apple Watch), since the original Apple Watch isn’t compatible with watchOS 5, so the Series 1 device will be next in line for the chopping block.
None of this is certain yet, but we’re likely to hear more about it at the end of the show so check back in the next couple of hours for the latest news.
Image Credit: Apple
watchOS 6 App Store
The biggest upgrade coming to your Apple Watch
That should allow you to have extra space on your iPhone by limiting the features you want on your Apple Watch to just your wearable.
You’ll be able to search the App Store through your voice, using scribble or via Siri. It’ll show you a variety of details for each potential app such as screenshots on the watch’s display, and you’ll be able to install them there and then.
It should mean you’re able to download and install apps directly onto your wrist on devices like the LTE version of the Apple Watch 4 without having to have your iPhone with you.
New apps for watchOS include Apple Books (that’s for audiobooks you have in your catalog), Calculator and Voice Memos.
The calculator is something people have wanted on Apple Watch for some time, and one of its unique features will include a way to work out how to split bills or how much tip you should pay.
The update is confirmed to bring new watch faces to your Apple Watch too. A new complication for watch faces also allows you to monitor how loud it is in a room, so you’ll be able to keep an eye on your surroundings to see if they may be damaging to your hearing.
In terms of new health features, there’s something called Activity Trends. It’s a way to show you your previous fitness data and give you a picture of how your last 90 days compares to the previous year.
If your activity begins to fall down, the watch will be able to give you advice on what to do too.
Cycle Tracking will allow women to track their menstrual cycle on their watch, and the same functionality is coming to the Health app on iPhone to allow for the same thing too.
It’s a big feature on products from the likes of Fitbit and Garmin, so will likely be handy for women around the world.
Developing…
What we want to see
While we fill this article out with the latest features coming to watchOS 6, you can see our wish list of our most wanted watchOS 6 features below…
1. Third-party watch faces
We’ve been wishing for this since the first generation of watchOS and it still hasn’t arrived, but it still seems like a possibility, so hopefully third-party watch faces will land on watchOS 6.
Apple’s creations are great but they’re very limited in number, especially compared to the huge selection on Wear OS, which exists thanks to third-party creators.
2. Sleep tracking
The Apple Watch range is capable of tracking sleep, but it requires a third-party app to do it, which seems weird given how much focus Apple has put on health and fitness with its wearables.
The hardware can already monitor your heart rate and your movement, which are key to sleep tracking, so all Apple needs to do is bake the software functionality in to watchOS 6. Hopefully it will.
3. Display the iPhone battery level
Image Credit: TechRadar
Another feature that we’d like to see Apple offer is the ability to see your iPhone’s battery level on the Apple Watch. That way if your iPhone is in your pocket or plugged in at the other end of your house, you don’t need to find it to check how much life it has.
There are third-party complications for this, but we’d like to see it added as a standard feature by Apple.
4. More apps
This isn’t necessarily something that a new generation of watchOS could solve, but we’d really love there to be more apps available for the platform.
While it’s hardly app-starved, there are far fewer apps available for watchOS than iOS. That makes a certain amount of sense, since the smaller form factor means there’s less that you can comfortably do on an Apple Watch than an iPhone, but it’s still a versatile bit of kit, so we want to see more apps take advantage of it.
5. An always-on screen
One of the more surprising features that you won’t find on the Apple Watch is an always-on display, meaning that the screen turns itself off when idle and then you can’t see the time or anything else until it turns back on again.
That’s less convenient than an always-on screen and also isn’t a look everyone will want, as it leaves the device looking less like a watch when you can’t see the time.
Always-on screens do drain battery faster, but on other wearables they’re usually optional and less flashy than the main display, so the drain isn’t huge.
6. Additional exercise options
Image Credit: TechRadar
Apple has been gradually improving the health and fitness skills of watchOS and the Apple Watch hardware over the years, but there’s still room for improvement.
We want to see it go both wider and deeper. Wider with ever more activities available for tracking, and deeper with more metrics and more feedback, so the Apple Watch can be both a tracker and a coach.
7. Android support
This isn’t going to happen, but nor are we going to stop wanting it. The Apple Watch 4 is one of the best smartwatches available but needing an iPhone to use it is severely limiting.
Wear OS and other smartwatch platforms work with both iOS and Android, making them available to everyone and far more viable for anyone who isn’t loyal to a specific smartphone OS. We want Apple to follow suit and open up its wearables to all.