Apple watchOS 7: Key features you should know
US-based technology behemoth Apple announced the new watchOS 7 for its Watch series at the on-going World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2020 in the Cupertino HQ.
Apple is bringing lots of features including fresh watch faces, new health-related sleep tracking, additional work-out trackers, and more.
Apple watchOS 7: Everything you need to know
New Watch Faces and Sharing
With watchOS 7 offers new ways to discover and share unique combinations to completely configure the watch face to suit any activity or lifestyle, from the new parent to the surfing aficionado, tennis player, or photographer.
Now, new customisable and personalised faces, inclusive of complications, can be shared through Messages or Mail, and discovered through the App Store or even from links through websites and social media channels.
New watch face Chronograph Pro comes with a detailed and ultraprecise; it includes a tachymeter to calculate speed based on time traveled over a fixed distance, the Photos face offers colour filters, and the bold X-Large face now has an option to add a rich complication.
Furthermore, app developers now have the ability to offer more than one complication per app on a single watch face. For instance, on one watch face, Glow Baby can display multiple complications that help new parents track bottle-feeding, breastfeeding, pumping statistics, and nap times, while Dawn Patrol can show surfers tide, wind speed, and water temperature from a favourite surf spot.
Sleep tracker
With watchOS 7, Apple Watch gets sleep tracking, which offers valuable tools to help users get the desired amount of sleep, get to bed on time, and create a pre-bedtime routine to meet their sleep goals.
With the new update, Watch will be able to detect micro-movements through the accelerometer, which signals respiration during sleep and the Apple Watch intelligently captures when the wearer is sleeping and how much sleep they get each night. In the morning, the wearer will see a visualisation of their previous night’s sleep, including periods of wake and sleep. They will also see a chart showing their weekly sleep trend, the company said.
Also, in Sleep Mode, Apple Watch turns on Do Not Disturb and automatically darkens the screen overnight.
Furthermore, Apple Watch offers a silent haptic alarm or gentle sounds, while the wake-up screen shows the current battery level. Depending on personal charging behavior, if the battery is too low within an hour of bedtime, Apple Watch will remind users to charge it ahead of sleep. As the Apple privacy policy, sleep data is encrypted on the device or in iCloud with iCloud sync, and data is always in the user’s control.
Automatic Handwashing Detection
With COVID-19 pandemic creating havoc around the world, personal hygiene has become more important than ever before. As per the World Health Organization(WHO), people are advised to wash hands properly for at least 20 seconds can help prevent the spread of illness.
In a first-of-its-kind innovation for a wearable, Apple Watch uses motion sensors, microphones, and on-device machine learning to automatically detect handwashing motions and sounds. It then initiates a 20-second countdown timer, and if the user finishes early, they will be prompted to keep washing. Apple Watch can also conveniently remind the user to wash their hands when they return home, the company said.
Also, the Health app on iPhone will show the frequency and duration of the user’s handwashing, as well as information on the importance of handwashing, as it relates to overall health. Sounds used to detect handwashing are not automatically recorded or saved by the Health app or Apple Watch.
Workout Types and Fitness App
With the new watchOS 7, Apple adding four new workout types supported by powerful heart rate and custom-built motion algorithms: Core Training, Dance, Functional Strength Training, and Cooldown.
To correctly capture calorie exertion for Dance, Apple Watch uses advanced sensor fusion, combining data from the heart rate sensor and inputs from the accelerometer and gyroscope, that accounts for the unique challenges of measuring different body-to-arm motions typical with dance. This workout type was validated and tested with four of the most popular dance styles for exercise: Bollywood, cardio dance, hip-hop, and Latin, the company said.
Also, the Activity app is now rechristened as Fitness. It provides a streamlined view of data including daily Activity, Workouts, Awards, and Activity Trends on one tab, and Activity Sharing and Activity Competitions on another.
Hearing
Last year, watchOS 6 introduced the Noise app that measures ambient sound levels and duration of exposure. Now, the watchOS 7 adds further support for hearing health with headphone audio notifications. Customers can now understand how loudly they are listening to media through their headphones using their iPhone, iPod touch, or Apple Watch, and when these levels may impact hearing over time.
Citing WHO, Apple says a person can be exposed to 80 decibels for about 40 hours per week without an impact on hearing abilities.
When total listening with headphones has reached 100 percent of the safe weekly listening amount, Apple Watch provides a notification to the wearer.
Users can also see how long they have been exposed to high decibel levels each week in the Health app on the iPhone and can control the maximum level for headphone volume. No audio from the headphone audio notification feature is recorded or saved by the Health app or Apple Watch.
Must read | Apple iOS 14: Key features you should know
Other notable watchOS 7 features
For optimal convenience, while biking, cycling directions are available right on the wrist. Directions are large and easy to read, and Maps can direct when to dismount and walk the bike, or take the stairs to save time. The wearer can choose a route that avoids steep hills, gets to the destination the quickest or takes the most direct path.
Customers can now use Siri to translate many languages conveniently from the wrist, dictation is handled on the device with the power of the Apple Neural Engine for faster and more reliable processing when dictating messages and more, and Apple Watch now supports Announce Messages with Siri. The Shortcuts app is also now available on Apple Watch and can be accessed as a complication.
New complications for native features include Camera Remote, Sleep, and Shortcuts.
New Mobility Metrics available in the Health app include: low-range cardio fitness, walking speed, stair-descent speed, stair-ascent speed, six-minute walk distance, double support time, step length, and asymmetry.
These metrics are important for the clinical community to monitor patients’ ability to move safely and easily as they age. Typically only measured in a lab setting, these metrics can be uniquely measured by Apple Watch and iPhone, and used by developers, such as Zimmer Biomet, a musculoskeletal healthcare company, in-patient care and in management tools such as mymobility, the company said.
Apple watchOS 7 availability
The developer beta of watchOS 7 is available to Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com starting June 22. For the first time, a public beta will be available to watchOS users next month at beta.apple.com.
Later this fall (September 2020), watchOS 7 will be available as a free software update for Apple Watch Series 3, Apple Watch Series 4, or Apple Watch Series 5 paired with iPhone 6s or later running iOS 14 or later.
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