Apple on Wednesday seeded the first public beta of its upcoming watchOS 10 update for testing.
watchOS 10 can be downloaded after upgrading your iPhone to the public beta version of iOS 17 and after signing up on Apple’s beta software website. After that, The watchOS 10 beta can be installed via the Watch app on the device’s attached iPhone. Go to “General” -> “Software Update,” and choose the watchOS 10 Public Beta option under Beta Update to install the beta. The Apple Watch should have at least 50% battery life, be connected to a charger, and be within range of the iPhone.
The update brings plenty of new and improved features, including redesigned apps, mood tracking, new watch faces, and more.
watchOS 10 brings a new design language, with redesigned apps that provide more information at a glance, as well as new ways to navigate and quickly access content.
Apple Watch apps, such as Home, Maps, Messages, Weather, Stocks, World Clock, and others, now use more of the Apple Watch display, providing more “glanceable” information.
The Apple Watch Activity app and the iPhone Fitness app make it easier to track daily movement, providing additional details, sharing improvements, a redesigned trophy case area, and Apple Fitness+ trainer tips.
A new Smart Stack feature provides widgets displaying timely information that can be revealed with a turn of the Apple Watch’s Digital Crown from any watch face. For instance, Weather shows the forecast. When you’re traveling, the Smart Stack will show your boarding passes from the Wallet app. Using Smart Stack, users can enjoy the watch face of their choice, while still providing quick access to information.
watchOS 10 also includes two new watch faces: “Palette” and an animated “Peanuts” face with Snoopy and Woodstock. The Palette face shows the time in a wide variety of colors in three overlapping layers, and the colors on the display also shift as time changes. The Peanuts watch face features Snoopy and Woodstock, who interact and play with the watch hands, react to weather conditions, or become active when the user performs a workout.
World Clock now features background colors reflecting the time of day for different time zones.
New cycling workout features include new metrics like Functional Threshold Power, Power Zones, a full-screen view on the iPhone, and more. Hiking now includes Compass and Maps.
The watchOS 10 Mindfulness app allows users to log their emotions and daily moods. Using the Digital Crown, users can scroll through shapes to designate how they are feeling, select what is having the biggest impact on them, and describe their feelings.
A new feature seeks to decrease the risk of myopia using the Apple Watch’s ambient light sensor to show Time in Daylight, which is also displayed in the Health app.
For more information about watchOS 10, click here.
As usual, MacTrast and Apple both warn users to not install any betas on their daily driver Apple Watch, especially early versions of new operating systems. Instead, only install betas on a device set aside for testing purposes.
