JOIN USWWDC 19: Apple watchOS 6 brings App Store and more
Cupertino-based technology major Apple, which is currently the reigning global leader of smart wearables announced the new watchOS 6 at the on-going Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2019 at San Jose.
The company claims the new watchOS 6 will further add value to the feature-rich Apple Watch.
Apple watchOS 6: Key features you should know
Dedicated App Store and apps: Like the iPadOS, Apple is making its smart wearable less depended on iOS-powered iPhone for app installation. With the new watchOS 6, Apple Watch owners can directly download third-party apps, see app previews & ratings, search for apps using Siri, user can even dictate or scribble and view app product pages designed for the watch screen right from the wrist.
The company is also urging developers to build Apple Watch-only apps, created to work independently on Apple Watch without an iOS app.
Health & Fitness: The biggest update coming in the watchOS 6 is the Health, which will offer Cycle tracking for women Watch owners. With this, ladies can log important information related to their menstrual cycles and see predicted timing for their next period and fertile window using the convenience of Apple Watch.
The daily log function enables the quick addition of information related to the menstrual cycle, including current period, flow, symptoms, results from ovulation prediction kits and other elements of fertility tracking. In a bid to offer Cycle feature to a wider audience, Apple is introducing the new Cycle Tracking feature in the Health app on iPhone with the iOS 13.
Apple is also offering a new Hearing health feature via native Noise app for Watch, which will be able to assess the surrounding sound level in places like concerts and sports arena. If the audio levels cross 90 decibels, an alert will be pushed on the Apple Watch warning the user that the longer exposure to loud noises will cause long-term hearing damage, which will eventually lead to cognitive decline. According to the World Health Organisation, if a person is exposed at this level (more than 90 dB), it will begin to impact the hearing.
Another big improvement coming to the Fitness feature in the Apple Watch is the Activity Trends. With, the smart wearable will be able to assess the progress made by the owner in terms of standing, exercise and move over 90 days to 365 days, and let he/she know if they need to do more to keep them fit or keep up with the current practice.
New Watch faces: It brings dynamic new watch faces and customisation options offering more personalisation and access to favourite apps, contacts and information including Modular Compact, Solar Dial, California, Gradient and Numerals faces.
Other notable new features and apps coming in the watchOS 6 include the Voice Memos app, Audiobooks, Calculator app with option to compute tip for hotel food bill, splitting checks right from the wrist and also, Siri search queries can be able to display webpage results in full on Apple Watch.
Besides the new watchOS, Apple also introduced a new line of Summer Watch bands collection. It comes in colours of the Sport Band and Sport Loop in Canary Yellow, Dragon Fruit, and Cornflower, which are available for purchase in select global regions Also, there is also a special Pride Edition Sport Loop with a donation being made to the following LGBTQ advocacy organisations: Encircle, Gender Spectrum, GLSEN, ILGA, PFLAG, the National Center for Transgender Equality and The Trevor Project.
The developer preview of watchOS 6 is available to Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. The public version of the software features will be available this fall for free for Apple Watch Series 1 or later paired with iPhone 6s or later running iOS 13 or later.
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