Many of the new features coming to watchOS 11 are focused on fitness, with a new workout load feature for the Activities app, pregnancy stats in Cycle Tracking, and a brand new Vitals app. Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday showed all the things we can expect when the operating system update for Apple Watches rolls out this fall.
The new app, Vitals, synthesizes data collected overnight to give you a better idea of your overall health. The sensors on the Apple Watch will track details like heart rate, wrist temperature and breathing and combine this with data from the Apple Heart and Movement study so it can track changes over time and alert you when things seem out of the ordinary range. From what we’ve seen, Apple Watch batteries (outside of the Ultra model) don’t last all night after a full day of use, so it’ll be interesting to see how useful the new app turns out to be.
The Activity app gets a few new features, including Training Load, which measures the intensity and duration of your workout to see how it affects you over time. Using GPS data, sensor metrics like heart rate and pace, and your personal data like age and weight, the app will assign a score to each workout from one (easy) to 10 (full). And if you don’t agree with the rating, you can manually correct it. In the post-workout summary, you can see if you’re training above or below average.
The Workout app within the Apple Watch will now include a Check In button to let friends and family know when you’ve gone outside and come home safe from a run.
Using your iPhone, you can set more customizations in the Activity app as well. Now you can adjust your goals for the day of the week and set rest days while still sticking to your streaks. The summary screen in the iPhone Fitness app is also customizable.
The Cycle Tracking app can now keep you informed during pregnancy by displaying applicable health data while tracking the length of your pregnancy. This includes an overview of the heart rate that normally increases during pregnancy, as well as a current timeline of gestational age. Third-trimester walking stability cues can also help you avoid falling problems that sometimes occur. Mental health will also get some attention, with reminders to do monthly assessments to keep you aware of issues pregnancy and postnatal conditions can cause, such as depression.
The Smart Stack – the rolling list of active app widgets that you access by swiping up from the bottom of the screen – is also getting some updates. Now instead of just active apps, Smart Stack will include weather-sensitive widgets, such as rainfall warnings before it rains or a travel translation widget. This alerted us to the fact that the Translate app comes to the Apple Watch with translation support for 20 languages. Live activities and registration will also come to Smart Stack.
Apple opens access to the Smart Stack to third parties. So, for example, you’ll see your Uber arrive in the widget carousel. Developers will also have access to the Double Tap feature for hands-free interaction with more apps.
If you like the Photos watch face, there’s good news here too. Machine learning models will help you find the best photos to feature by identifying and rating images of your friends and family based on facial expressions and image composition. It can even automatically crop and frame them for you.
Almost as an afterthought, Apple also mentioned the arrival of turn-by-turn directions for self-created hiking and walking routes.
If you’d like to try out the new features for yourself, you can do so next month if you’re part of Apple’s beta software program. Developers were given access after the announcement. And for regular folks, watchOS 11 will be available as a free software update this fall for Apple Watch Series 6 and later.
Follow here for all the news from Apple’s WWDC 2024.
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