Apple announces new software for its devices once a year, at the Worldwide Developers Conference. This happened on Monday, June 10, and confirmed the reports that had been leaked a while ago. But although many new features were announced, all newsworthy, there was also a problem for some watch users: the number of Apple Watches losing support for the next operating system is more than ever: three watches won You do not get the benefits of watchOS 11. To understand why, it’s worth looking at how advanced the updates will be.
Updated on June 12th with details of new features that contributed to the removal of support for so many watches.
Apple Watch 6: is it the oldest watch that is compatible with watchOS 11?
The watches you’ll have to do without are the Apple Watch Series 4, Apple Watch Series 5, and Apple Watch SE 1St generation. More information has emerged as to why these watches will be discontinued.
First of all, there’s a whole new app coming to watchOS 11 called Vitals that shows your health metrics in a snapshot. Apple describes it this way: “The new Vitals app displays key health metrics and context to help users make more informed daily decisions, and the ability to measure training load offers a game-changing new experience when training for improved fitness and execution.”
To me, this sounds like the next step after the introduction of Trends, which look at health metrics and let you know if you’ve gained or lost weight over a period, for example. This means you can gain insight into key metrics such as heart rate, wrist temperature and respiratory rate measured while you sleep. Of course, you have to wear your watch at night to get this information.
Then there’s the one I’m most looking forward to: Translation. I already use it on the iPhone, but it will be more convenient on the watch. As Apple says, “Users can access translation for one of 20 supported languages right on their wrist. With the new Smart Stack intelligence, Apple Watch can automatically offer a suggested Translate app widget when users travel to a location with a language that is different from their Apple Watch.”
There’s also Check In, that reassuring feature that lets a friend, for example, know you’re safe at home. This will be useful if you are going for a walk or run in difficult terrain, for example, assuming you have a cellular connection on your watch. But it’s also available in the Workout app, so, as it describes, “a friend or family member can keep track of the end of their workout.”
Having the capabilities of these features, not to mention improvements to US National Parks Trail Maps, Tap to Cash and more, the CPU pull will be significant. With such a big update, perhaps we should be surprised that only three watches are losing support.
Tom’s Guide pointed out in a report subtitled “We didn’t expect this to happen” that “The compatibility details at the bottom of Apple’s watchOS 11 Newsroom announcement surprised us. Although the move makes sense when you give it some context. Before the Apple Watch Series 9, the Apple Watch Series 6 was the last Apple Watch to welcome a performance-enhancing processor. With the kinds of new Apple Watch upgrades built into watchOS 11, it’s very possible that earlier chips won’t be able to properly handle the processing demands. However, more watch features and apps than ever are using machine learning.”
And there are plenty of new features coming to watchOS 11, like the ability to pause your activity rings to avoid destroying your long-running streak because you need a day off, for example. There are also new insights into your workouts with Training Load.
According to MacRumors, the report comes from a private X account with a solid track record for these kinds of details.
Joe Rossignol says: “The leaker who leaked this information has a private X account, so we chose not to share his name or link to it, but they have shared accurate compatibility information and build numbers for Apple software updates in the past . “
So which three watches won’t be supported? Unsurprisingly, these are the ones that were released most recently on the current compatibility list.
That’s a lot of watches to lose from the list at once, right? But on closer inspection, it’s not as surprising as it sounds. The Series 4 is powered by the S4 chip, while the Series 5 includes the S5 chip. But despite being different, both have the same processor at their heart, so performance is considered similar. And the first-generation Apple Watch SE also uses the same S5 chip.
In other words, the processing power in all three is roughly the same, and it was first released in September 2018 on the Apple Watch Series 4, i.e. almost six years ago.
As always with OS updates, it’s important to note that all watches will continue to work, keeping time with devilish accuracy, but will remain with the current watchOS 10 software.
Although no new features will be added if there are security issues, Apple can still fix them with new watchOS 10 security updates.
All watches with an S6 chip or later will have access to watchOS 11 when it’s released. These are: Apple Watch Series 6, Apple Watch Series 7, Apple Watch Series 8, Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Ultra and Apple Watch Ultra 2. The second generation Apple Watch SE is also on the list as it is powered by the S8 chip.
You need to pair the watch with an iPhone running iOS 18, but it looks like all iPhones are going back to the iPhone Xr – full details here.
