Access latest features designed to enhance companionship, fitness, and wellness in watchOS 9
Apple Unveils watchOS 9: Enhanced Health Features, Third-Party Apps, and More
Apple has announced the latest update for its Apple Watch operating system, watchOS 9. This new version brings a host of exciting features, including improved health and fitness tracking, enhanced third-party app capabilities, and a slew of user-friendly updates.
One of the standout features of watchOS 9 is the introduction of the AFib History. This FDA-cleared feature is designed for users aged 22 years or older who have been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. It provides deeper insights into a user's condition, estimating how frequently a user's heart rhythm shows signs of atrial fibrillation and offering weekly notifications to understand frequency. Users can also download a PDF with a detailed history of their AFib and lifestyle factors, which can easily be shared with doctors and care providers for more informed conversations.
Sleep tracking in watchOS 9 has also been expanded, providing even more insights. Using signals from the accelerometer, the watch can now detect when users are in REM, Core, or Deep sleep. Users will see sleep stage data on Apple Watch in the Sleep app and can view more detailed information, like time asleep, alongside additional metrics, like heart rate and respiratory rate, in sleep comparison charts in the Health app on iPhone.
The health and fitness data in watchOS 9 is encrypted when the user's iPhone is locked, ensuring privacy is fundamental in the design and development across all of Apple's features.
In terms of fitness, watchOS 9 introduces on-screen guidance for various exercises, including HIIT, Cycling, Rowing, and Treadmill exercises. This includes Intensity, Strokes per Minute (SPM) for Rowing, Revolutions per Minute (RPM) for Cycling, and Incline for walkers and runners in Treadmill.
watchOS 9 also brings a new Workout app with advanced metrics, views, and training experiences. This enhanced app is designed to offer a more immersive workout experience.
The update also opens up new opportunities for developers. watchOS 9 includes new APIs that allow developers to build best-in-class third-party apps with CallKit and share sheet support, access to Photos picker, and the ability to integrate watchOS apps with Apple TV.
Other notable features include Quick Actions, which allow users to answer or end a phone call, take a photo, play or pause media, and start, pause, or resume a workout with a double-pinch gesture. The QWERTY keyboard on Apple Watch Series 7 now supports French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish (Mexico, Spain, Latin America).
The Reminders app on Apple Watch now lets users add or edit key details such as date and time, location, tags, and notes. The Calendar app on Apple Watch now allows users to create new events directly from Apple Watch and access a Week view.
Family Setup on Apple Watch now supports the Home app, allowing a child to control HomePod speakers and smart home accessories. Fitness+ subscribers without Apple TV can now use AirPlay to stream workouts and meditations with on-screen metrics to compatible third-party TVs and devices.
Apple has also hinted at future developments, including blood pressure monitoring on the Apple Watch Series 11 and satellite communication on the Apple Watch Ultra 3.
With watchOS 9, Apple continues to push the boundaries of what a smartwatch can do, offering users a more personalised, health-focused, and connected experience.
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