watchOS

9to5Mac exclusively reported over the weekend that Apple Watch will gain the ability to detect blood oxygen saturation, a critical vital for maintaining heart and brain health. The new health feature isn’t the only change coming to Apple Watch Series 6 and watchOS 7.

Based on leaked iOS 14 code obtained by 9to5Mac, we can share many more details including new watch faces, sleep tracking, and parental control features in development for later this fall.

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Apple is developing at least two new features focused on health that will expand Apple Watch capabilities in the future. Apple Watch will add the ability to detect blood oxygen levels for the first time, 9to5Mac has learned based on an exclusive look at iOS 14 code snippets

Blood oxygen levels between 95 and 100% are considered healthy; blood oxygen levels below 80% may lead to compromised heart and brain functionality. Risk of respiratory or cardiac arrest is common after continued low blood oxygen saturation.

To that end, Apple is developing a new health notification based on the vital measurement. When Apple Watch detects low blood oxygen saturation below a certain threshold, a notification will trigger alerting the user similar to current heart rate notifications.

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Apple Watch is highly customizable thanks to its vast collection of watch faces and complications. You can manage watch face layouts directly from Apple Watch, or from the companion app on your iPhone. One feature that I would love to see added to Apple Watch this year with watchOS 7 is support for automatic face switching.

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As expected, Apple today has released iOS 13.3, iPadOS 13.3, tvOS 13.3, and watchOS 6.1.1 to the public. These updates include bug fixes and performance improvements, as well as some notable new features and customization options.

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Apple has today released iOS 13 for the iPhone, and watchOS 6 for the Apple Watch, and you can see our roundups for an overview of the new features you can start using right now. However, there’s a lot more still to come as Apple is staggering the software update schedule this year.

There are more features for the iPhone already previewed, and entire OS updates coming over the next month or so. Here’s what Apple has announced so far.

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Apple Watch has a major new software update out today that brings loads of new features to existing models. Look for the watchOS 6 update inside the Apple Watch app on the iPhone after updating to iOS 13, then head below to find the top features included in the new update.

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While I haven’t worn an Apple Watch 100% of the time since the release of the Series 0, I have owned every single one. There are benefits to wearing one for health reasons, and there are also reasons to wear one for connectivity purposes. I particularly love owning a cellular version so I can go running without my iPhone or make a quick trip to the store. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I could see future versions of the LTE Apple Watch as a great first cell phone for kids. There has been something that has frustrated me about the Apple Watch from the first day I owned it to today, that’s when Apple Watch doesn’t have a network connection. Is it time for Apple to release a version of Wi-Fi Assist for Apple Watch?
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I’ve been thinking a lot about my kids, and how we will approach technology as they get older. I recently wrote about our approach to social media, and that led me to thinking about how I will approach cell phone usage in their lives. My oldest son will turn nine this year, so it’s something I know is going to come up sooner rather than later. After thinking about the role of a cell phone in a child’s life, I’ve realized that an Apple Watch with a LTE connection will eventually become the perfect kid cell phone. We’re not quite there yet technology-wise, but I can see a day when all the stars will align.
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watchOS 6 includes six new watch faces with even more customization options for personalizing your Apple Watch — if you have a Series 4 model. The upcoming software update is also coming to Apple Watch Series 1 through 3, but you’ll need to upgrade your Apple Watch if you want to try out all the new watch faces.

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watchOS 6 introduces several new watch faces for the Apple Watch Series 4 including the new California option. Much like the recent Infograph face, California can be customized in a range of ways to fit your style.

Apple debuted a brand new Pride face in the middle of the WWDC 2018 keynote last year, pairing a rainbow colored watch face with a matching band. Now Apple’s Pride face is getting a new design on the Apple Watch with an updated style option. There’s also a new Pride Analog version with full screen and circular versions.

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I’ve had a long road with the Apple Watch. I bought the original one on release day, but sold it within a few months due to the slowness of watchOS 1. I purchased a Series 2 when it was released, but I ended up returning it a few weeks later. When the Series 3 Apple Watch was released, I ended up buying one to write a review, but returned it before the return period was up (it was around Christmas so I had a longer return period). In the entire time the Apple Watch has existed, I’ve probably owned it a total of six months. A month ago, I picked up another one. This time, I have a Series 4 Apple Watch with LTE. I know I am late to the Apple Watch party, but I do have some thoughts that I think are interesting based on my past history, and my thoughts on Apple’s health plans with Apple Watch. I’ve been around the watchOS scene from day one, but I’ve definitely come and gone for periods of time.

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watchOS 6, the next major version of Apple Watch software, will be an interesting operating system update. In recent years, the Apple Watch OS has focused on health and fitness features matched with software that uses new hardware like streaming Apple Music and Podcasts over LTE and the ECG app.

Apple Watch Series 5 hardware rumors are already extremely light, limited to the return of the ceramic Edition casing, and watchOS 6 rumors are even more sparse. With several Apple Watch features complete and built-in sleep tracking not expected until late 2020, what should we expect to see in watchOS 6?

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Matt Birchler is out today with his annual watchOS concept, this time imagining watchOS 6. Birchler envisions some of the features he’d most like to see, including a redesigned Siri face, new sleep tracking rings, and more.

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A handful of popular Apple Watch applications have been updated today with FlickType integration. FlickType is a third-party keyboard designed for the Apple Watch that uses a gesture system to streamline typing on the Apple Watch’s display, and a new SDK makes it easier for developers to implement the keyboard.

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Update: Developer betas are now available including iOS 12.2, watchOS 5.2, tvOS 12.2, macOS 10.14.4, and Xcode 10.2 beta 1.

Now that Apple’s bug fix beta updates to iOS 12.1 are now available to all users, it’s time for the next big point release of iOS 12. Apple will release iOS 12.2 developer beta 1 today. watchOS 5.2 beta 1 for developers is also arriving today. The software update should be available at the top of the hour. We’ll update and report back any changes that we discover inside.

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Two weeks after releasing the latest watchOS 5.1.3 developer beta, Apple is releasing its final version for consumers later today. The release notes only mention bug fixes, but we’ll update if anything notable is discovered on the new release. iOS 12.1.3 is also coming out to all customers.

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