In addition to iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, Apple naturally did not miss the opportunity to introduce the new watchOS 7. All kinds of new features await us here too, including watch face sharing, new watch faces (including one with an embedded speedometer), and more. Sharing watch faces lets you share your favorite surfaces with other Apple Watch owners.
This works by holding down the watch face, then the contact is selected and the watch face is shared. So you should not only be able to send the watch faces via the clock but also via email and be able to download and activate new watch faces in the AppStore and corresponding links on websites.
Just like in iOS 14, the Maps app in watchOS 7 will offer the so-called bike directions in the future, so it also shows you incline, bike paths, and the like on your route. One of the main functions of the Apple Watch is to record training sessions. For this, the “Activity” app has now been renamed “Fitness”.
Dancing is now also supported as a new workout variant – more precisely: hip-hop, Latin dance, Bollywood, and cardio dancing. Due to the complexity, the acceleration sensor, the heart rate monitor, and the gyroscope of the watch support the acquisition at the same time. The app, now called Fitness, has also been given a new design and supports the display of cool-down phases.
Also new and long-awaited: sleep tracking. The Apple Watch allows you to track your sleep with watchOS 7 as many other smartwatches and bands can. The watch is put into sleep mode, it also allows suitable shortcuts to be triggered (so that, for example, relaxing music is played), gives the watch’s watch face a very simple surface overnight, and greets the wearer with a nice greeting in the morning.
Supported by machine learning technologies, you will be presented with various information after waking up, such as how to get more and better sleep, but also how long you have actually slept and the like.
To help users wake up, the Apple Watch offers a silent haptic alarm or soft tones, while the alarm clock screen shows the current charging status. If the battery is too weak an hour before bedtime, the Apple Watch reminds the user to charge the battery before going to bed, depending on their personal charging behavior. The sleep data is encrypted on the device or in the iCloud with iCloud synchronization and the user always has control over the data.
Perhaps not unimportant at the moment: With WatchOS 7, the Apple Watch will offer automatic recognition for washing hands in the future and can track how long you have washed your hands. A 20-second countdown runs in parallel so that you remain motivated to wash your hands long enough. Siri is also getting a little smarter on the watch, and will now also support the translation of spoken text in the future.
The developer beta version of watchOS 7 is available today for members of the Apple Developer Program at developer.apple.com
