Apple final week launched watchOS 11, the most recent main software program replace for suitable Apple Watch fashions, in addition to the brand new Apple Watch Collection 10 and a black model of the second-generation Apple Watch Extremely, each of which include watchOS 11 pre-installed. New watchOS 11 options embrace Exercise and Exercise Ring updates, a Vitals app, new watch faces, and extra.
On this article, we have listed 25 options and enhancements in Apple’s new smartwatch software program, lots of which can have gone underneath your radar. Keep in mind that watchOS 11 requires Apple Watch Collection 6 or later and an iPhone XS or later with iOS 18.
1. Digital Crown for Notifications
Beforehand in watchOS 10, you needed to swipe down in your Apple Watch watch face to view notifications, indicated by the pink dot on the prime of the display screen. This methodology nonetheless works in watchOS 11, however now you possibly can alternatively flip the Digital Crown downwards to disclose them and shortly scroll by.
2. Verify In
Verify In allows you to routinely notify a buddy or liked one whenever you’ve arrived at a vacation spot. Apple launched Verify In on iPhone in iOS 17, but it surely did not characteristic in final 12 months’s watchOS 10 replace for Apple Watch. Fortunately, Apple has rectified the omission in watchOS 11, and now you can begin a Verify In from Messages by coming into your vacation spot or arrival time (through the + button). What’s extra, you can begin a Verify In when doing an out of doors exercise, which is helpful for those who’re going for a run after darkish.
Once you begin a exercise within the Exercise app, swipe proper to disclose the Begin/Pause, New, and Phase choices. Beneath these, you may discover the brand new Verify In possibility. When beginning a Verify In, you may be requested to outline when you need to be prompted to Verify In with somebody – whenever you arrive residence, after a timer, or when the exercise ends.
3. Pause Exercise Rings
Apple Watch now allows you to pause your exercise targets if you might want to relaxation up. Faucet the primary Exercise Rings show in your Apple Watch, and you will see a brand new Pause Rings possibility that mutes teaching and purpose monitoring whereas sustaining your Transfer streak. So for those who’re aiming for a streak and one thing sudden upends your efforts (for those who fall unwell, for instance) you possibly can pause monitoring with out dropping out and having to start out once more. Pause choices embrace for right now, for every week, till subsequent month, and customized (you possibly can pause your rings for as much as 90 days).
4. New Watch Faces
The Pictures watch face has been redesigned in watchOS 11, and might now search images in your library, analyze them utilizing machine studying, and choose one of the best compositions, framing, and picture high quality in your watch. You can even customise the time dimension and structure (together with issues), in addition to select your favourite font.
Elsewhere, there are two further watch faces in watchOS 11: Flux and Reflections. Flux modifications coloration as a horizontal line representing the seconds dial travels up the display screen and switches up the quantity type with every new minute. In the meantime, Reflections might be switched between a round and fullscreen type. Neither watch face helps issues, however they do look neat.
5. Sync Maps to Watch
In iOS 18, the Maps app options detailed path networks and hikes, together with all 63 U.S. nationwide parks. Should you add a path, hike, or customized path to your maps Library and obtain it to your iPhone for offline use, you may as well decide to sync it to your Apple Watch, the place you may get turn-by-turn instructions.
In Settings, you possibly can assign varied capabilities to the Motion button, however in watchOS 11 you may as well do that simply by lengthy urgent the Motion button.
This may deliver up a menu that features Exercise, Stopwatch, Waypoint, Backtrack, Dive, Flashlight, Shortcut, Voice Memo, Translate, Accessibility, and Acknowledge Music. Deciding on a operate will routinely assign it to the button in order that it really works subsequent time you press it.
7. Exercise Effort
After finishing most cardio-focused exercises within the Exercise app, you may obtain a immediate to charge your effort or edit your estimated effort, indicating how onerous you exercised. Your tempo, elevation, coronary heart charge, and private knowledge like age, top, and weight are factored into every ranking. The trouble metric is used to calculate your coaching load over time (see beneath). Should you do not need to charge your effort, flip off the Effort Reminder change, which might be present in Settings ➝ Exercise.
8. Coaching Load
The brand new Coaching load characteristic compares the depth (calculated by the trouble metric) and period of your exercises over the past seven days to what you have completed over the earlier 28 days. It then classifies your present coaching load on a scale from nicely beneath to nicely above — that can assist you perceive the relative pressure in your physique and determine if it is sustainable.
Coaching load can also be matched together with your in a single day Vitals readings (see characteristic quantity 19) to present you a greater concept of whether or not you are under-training or overdoing it. You may assessment your coaching load within the Exercise app.
9. Music Recognition
Shazam now comes pre-installed in watchOS 11 underneath the moniker “Music Recognition,” the place you possibly can determine songs enjoying within the surroundings and entry beforehand acknowledged songs, that are synced throughout your iPhone. There’s additionally an choice to allow Music Detection within the Good Stack, which can make Music Recognition a advised widget when music is enjoying in your neighborhood.
10. Tides App
The brand new Tides app allows you to test the situation of over 115,000 seashores everywhere in the world for the subsequent seven days. Slide your finger alongside the tide gauge to move ahead into the long run. You may test rising, falling, excessive, and low tides, in addition to climate, wind pace and route, dawn, sundown, swell top, and intervals between swells. There’s an choice to open the tide location in Maps and Climate, in addition to a Tides widget that you would be able to add to the Good Stack.
11. Exit Sleep Mode Quicker
In earlier variations of watchOS, you needed to lengthy press the Digital Crown for round three seconds to exit sleep mode. This delay felt like an age in the midst of the night time. Fortuitously in watchOS 11, all you might want to do is press the Digital Crown and your common watch face will probably be displayed instantly.
12. Add Lacking Exercise Minutes
Should you pause a exercise after which proceed figuring out however overlook to renew in your watch, the Exercise app will now ask you if you wish to resume – and can even supply so as to add on the minutes that you just missed.
13. Customized Pool Swim Exercises
watchOS 11 consists of new customized exercises for Pool swims. So now you possibly can customise 100 yard particular person medley, 800 meter freestyle, 1200 yard pyramid, 800 yard swim and kick, 800 yard time cycles, and 1200 yard pace work. Your Apple Watch will then information you thru timed intervals of labor and restoration within the pool, with haptics to let you understand when it’s time to maneuver to the subsequent interval.
Moreover, a brand new Up Subsequent exercise view for all sorts of Customized Exercises can present what stays within the present interval and supply a snapshot of the upcoming interval. Due to enhancements in GPS positioning, the Exercise app additionally affords much more exercise sorts that may monitor distance. These embrace Soccer, American Soccer, Australian Soccer, Out of doors Hockey, Lacrosse, Downhill Snowboarding, Cross Nation Snowboarding, Snowboarding, Golf, Out of doors Rowing, and extra. Additionally, you will see your route maps for extra exercises than earlier than.
14. Change Exercise Objectives
The Exercise app for Apple Watch now allows you to schedule customized exercise targets for various days of the week. Should you faucet the +/- button when viewing your Transfer, Train, or Stand targets within the app, a brand new Change Objectives possibility allows you to schedule targets for particular person days of the week, or simply for right now.
This implies you possibly can, for instance, set customized exercise targets from Monday to Friday, with decrease targets throughout the weekend. This schedule may also be managed by the Health app in iOS 18. The Transfer, Train, and Stand exercise summaries embrace the identical +/- button that allows you to alter the purpose for simply right now, or alter your schedule for every day of the week.
15. Pin Timers
The Timers app now allows you to pin timers that you just use frequently to the highest of the app interface. Merely scroll all the way down to the underside of the timers, faucet Edit, after which faucet the pin icon on any timer to pin it to the highest.
16. New Double Faucet Actions
The Double Faucet characteristic can now be used to scroll by navigable content material in any Apple app, together with the Climate and Messages. You may even use a double faucet to dismiss a timer that has ended. Apple has additionally opened up Double Faucet to builders with a brand new API, so count on to see third-party assist coming quickly.
17. Customise Health Abstract
Within the Health app on iOS 18, for those who faucet and maintain any card (excluding Exercise Rings) within the redesigned Abstract view, an Edit possibility will seem. Faucet that, and jiggle mode will probably be enabled. This lets you select from a choice of out there sizes and knowledge presentation sorts for the tapped card – much like how widgets work on the Dwelling Display screen.
You can even prepare the playing cards underneath Exercise Rings in the way in which that most closely fits you, in addition to add playing cards utilizing the Add button. The identical customization display screen might be accessed through the Edit Abstract possibility on the backside of the interface, the place additionally, you will discover a See All Classes choice to instantly entry the info you need.
watchOS 11 brings a number of new clever widgets to the Good Stack, together with Vitals, Tides, Music Recognition, Verify In, Translate, and Pictures.
19. Vitals
Apple has enhanced the sleep monitoring capabilities of Apple Watch with the introduction of the Vitals app. The app shows essential in a single day well being knowledge together with coronary heart charge, respiratory charge, wrist temperature, blood oxygen ranges (the place out there), and sleep period. One of many app’s key options is its potential to determine personalised typical ranges for every well being metric collected throughout sleep, permitting you to shortly assess how your present metrics evaluate to your standard patterns.
The app sends notifications if a number of metrics fall outdoors your typical vary. These alerts are accompanied by contextual data, highlighting potential components which may affect these readings, resembling drugs, modifications in elevation, alcohol consumption, or sickness.
20. Translate Phrases
Due to the Translate app in watchOS 11, now you can see a translation in your wrist by typing or dictating a phrase. You may play the interpretation out loud and even gradual it down. And you need to use the Translate app in your watch with out your iPhone when you’ve got a Wi-Fi or mobile connection, or by downloading a language for offline use. In line with Apple, the Translate widget may also routinely floor in your Good Stack for those who’re touring in a location the place a unique language is spoken.
21. Redesigned Now Taking part in View
In earlier variations of watchOS, the Now Taking part in View would take up the entire display screen, stopping you from shortly checking your watch face. In watchOS 11, it has been moved to the highest of the Good Stack, which is accessed with a scroll of the Digital Crown, preserving the time and your issues entrance and heart. To revert to the fullscreen media playback controls, merely faucet the widget.
22. Play Audio By way of Apple Watch Speaker
When you have an Apple Watch Collection 10 or an Apple Watch Extremely 2, now you can select your watch’s audio system by which to play audio. When you have music or podcasts downloaded to your watch, even when you do not have AirPods or your iPhone, you possibly can nonetheless hearken to them out of your wrist. To modify playback from iPhone to Apple Watch, within the audio output menu (accessed through the top-right icon within the Now Taking part in display screen), merely faucet Management Different Audio system & TVs, then faucet Apple Watch.
23. New Modular Extremely Bezel
The Modular Extremely watch face has picked up a brand new bezel possibility that shows your coaching load and vitals readings. Vitals should acquire knowledge for seven sleeps earlier than displaying something (you want sleep mode on for it to gather the total set of information). Coaching load relies on the trouble of your exercises over the past 4 weeks.
24. Change Alert Tones
In Settings ➝ Sounds & Haptics, you may discover new choices to decide on the Ringtone and Textual content Tone that your Apple Watch emits, in addition to the flexibility to customise particular person alerts for brand spanking new Mail, Calendar, Reminders, and Default.
25. Stay Actions in Good Stack
Final however not least, watchOS 11 brings Stay Actions assist to Apple Watch. So when you have an ongoing Stay Exercise in your iPhone, it should additionally conveniently seem on the prime of your Good Stack, permitting you to maintain tabs on how the exercise is progressing proper out of your wrist.