watchOS 9: Key features you should know about Apple's new wearable software

Apple revealed the new watchOS 8 for its smart Watches at the ongoing World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2022 event (June 6-11).

The watchOS 9 come with new features including more customisation options for the native workout app, heart rate zones, more watch faces AFib (Atrial Fibrillation) history, and more.

watchOS 9: Key features you should know about Apple's new wearable software

Four new watch faces: Includes Metropolitan, Playtime, Astronomy and Lunar. With Metropolitan, users can customise the font of the numerals on the dial.

Playtime is a dynamic piece of art with a fun animated watch face. It was created in collaboration with artist Joi Fulton.

Astronomy is a remastered version of the original of the same namesake. It features a new star map and real-time cloud cover data.

And, the lunar watch face comes with integration into Hebrew, Islamic and Chinese calendars. With the Quick Actions gesture feature, users can double pinch action to activate a sports activity tracking or capture the photo.

Four new watch faces coming to Apple Watches later this year. Credit: Apple

New Workout customisation options: Currently, during the outdoor running mode, the workout app shows heart beat rate, average speed, and distance covered. With the watchOS 9, Apple is bringing new metrics to the app such as Stride Length, Ground Contact Time, and Vertical Oscillation to the Workout Views to help user understand how efficiently he/she run.

Users can rotate Digital Crown to view easy-to-read metrics on Workout Views.

Also, watchOS 9 brings Heart Rate Zones, which can be manually created or automatically calculated using personalised Health data, and can be used to monitor the intensity of a workout.

The new watchOS 9 will bring more metrics to the Workouts app. Credit: Apple

Custom Workouts: With this, users can add three activities such as swimming, biking/cycling, and running into one. And, the Watch based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)-based algorithm and tracking sensors, will be able to automatically switch between those three activities to offer accurate calorie burn count details. Also, New alerts, including pace, power, heart rate, and cadence, can be added to guide users throughout the workout.

Sleep pattern to offer deeper insights: Using signals from the accelerometer and heart rate sensor, Apple Watch will be able to detect when users are in REM, Core, or Deep sleep.

Users will see sleep stage data on Apple Watch in the Sleep app and can view more detailed information, like time asleep, alongside additional metrics, like heart rate and respiratory rate, in sleep comparison charts in the Health app on iPhone.

The new watchOS 9 is bringing more metrics to offer more detailed information on Sleep pattern. Credit: Apple

AFib (Atrial Fibrillation) history: Once updated to the iOS 16, users will be able to history of variation patterns to know how frequently the heart is in arrhythmia (irregular heartbeats) over the week/month. This will help users assess the risk of serious complications and seek medical care.

Also, the new watchOS 9 is bringing a useful fitness metric Cardio Recovery feature, which will show an indicator of cardiovascular health. It will provide estimates of Cardio Recovery after an Outdoor Walk, Run, or Hiking workout, even when the workout does not reach peak intensity.

The new watchOS 9 will offer AFib history details. Credit: Apple

Medication reminder: With deep integration of the Apple Watch and Health app (even on iPhone), users will be able to custom schedule medication reminders at different intervals for a particular medicine, vitamins, or other supplements, to get timely alerts with details such as medicine name and how many tablets to be taken at that particular time.

Also, in the US, users can receive an alert if there are potential critical interactions with medications they have added to the Health app. For instance, it will give suggestions such as there might be a chance of side effects or reaction between two medicines or reaction may occur after alcohol consumption.

The new watchOS 9 coming with the Medication reminder feature. Credit: Apple

Improvement to Notifications banner: Like the iOS 16, the watchOS 9 will ensure notifications arrive in unobtrusive banners. And, also the apps running in the background are prioritized over the rest of the apps in the Dock, making it easy to quickly return to them.

Quick Actions: With this feature, users can use double-pinch gestures to answer or end a phone call, take a photo, play or pause media in the Now Playing app, and start, pause, or resume a workout.

This new feature builds on the innovative technology used in AssistiveTouch on Apple Watch, which gives users with upper body limb differences the option to control Apple Watch with gestures like a pinch or a clench without having to tap the display.

Which Apple Watch models are eligible to receive watchOS 9?
The new watchOS 9 will be available to the Apple Watch Series 4, Series 5, Watch SE, Series 6, and the latest Series 7.

When will the new watchOS 9 come to the public?
Apple is scheduled to release the watchOS 9 to the public later this fall season. The actual date of the roll-out will be revealed during the hardware event in September.

If patience is not your strong suit, then you can try out the public beta watchOS 9 beta next month by registering for the beta software programme (here).

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