At WWDC 2024, Apple Unveiled Each New watchOS Function
The latest update for watchOS is approaching, and it's bringing a multitude of new features straight to your watch. A significant portion of these innovations centers around monitoring your health, as Apple strives to provide you with new ways to stay informed about your body's condition.
A new health monitoring app: Vitals
Some of the most notable advancements involve an app titled Vitals, which will give you a holistic view of your health data in real time and across different time frames. From here, you can examine your health indicators, such as heart rate and sleeping patterns. This app will help you track your progress over the past few days, weeks, or even months.
Training Load: Fine-tuning your workout experience
WatchOS 11 users will now have access to the Training Load feature, enabling more control over your workout tracking and its potential impact on your overall recovery. Training Load assesses variables like pace, heart rate, and altitude and then exploits your height and weight to project a training effort score between 1 and 10. You can even modify this score to reflect how you feel you performed during your exercise session. The watch will assemble a 28-day training load, collect and average user workout effort ratings and durations throughout that period, providing a comprehensive dataset.
Apple claims that this information can enable you to better gauge your workout performance, which should be particularly advantageous for individuals training for competitive activities like marathons, ensuring they don't undertrain or overtrain. Furthermore, you can customize your activity rings or even suspend them for a more personalized activity tracker without forfeiting your past earned rewards.
Fitness-related improvements
Custom workouts will now support pool swimming activities, with options for work and recovery sets, as well as haptic signals to align with your interval changes. Pregnant women can expect more health-related functionality from the Apple Watch with watchOS 11, as additional features will become accessible in the Health app on your iPhone's iOS 16.
Live translation
Apple briefly introduced a new live translation feature in watchOS 11. It appears to function like AI-powered translators on Android smartphones, such as the Galaxy S24 Ultra. However, the company didn't provide extensive details on this feature's capabilities beyond revealing it will support 20 languages and appear in Smart Stack when you're traveling.
Intelligent Smart Stack
Smart Stack received some upgrades, too. Now, it's equipped with more intelligent features that only surface when necessary, such as weather warnings ahead of an approaching storm. Smart Stack can also recommend widgets you might find useful, like Photos, Distance, and Shazam widgets. Live Activities are now visible within your Smart Stack, so you'll have the latest information about your online orders and other time-sensitive data.
Connecting with others: Check In
Apple's previously launched Check In feature will be available on Apple Watch with watchOS 11, allowing you to touch base with friends and family. For instance, you might want to notify them when you've arrived home safely after an event. This is a useful security feature that complements the new turn-by-turn hiking navigation feature watchOS will offer, which operates even if your iPhone is out of reach.
A more versatile Double Tap
Apple is extending the API for Double Tap, an original gesture that debuted on Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra Watch 2. With watchOS 11, Double Tap will become compatible with scrolling through various apps, such as Calendar, Messages, and Weather.
Tap to Cash: Effortless payments
Navigating payment choices is about to get smoother with the introduction of Tap to Cash, a feature allowing direct peer-to-peer payments. To use this functionality, simply hold your Apple Watch close to another Apple Watch or an iPhone to transfer money without needing to input phone numbers.
Working with Apple Intelligence
Users with Apple Watch linked to an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max powered by Apple Intelligence can look forward to receiving summarized notifications straight on their wrists. While the release date for these AI-enhanced features is yet to be disclosed, they're scheduled to begin testing this summer.
Other enhancements
Finally, watchOS 11 will present redesigned versions of the Photos face, as well as enhanced ticketing capabilities for concerts and events. Now, when you attend a performance, your watch will engage a live activity and immediately display details like your seat number.
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At WWDC 2024, Apple showcased numerous tech advancements for watchOS 11, including new watchOS features such as live translation and Tap to Cash. (tech)
During the WWDC 2024 event, Apple announced the latest watchOS features, including the new Tap to Cash feature for seamless peer-to-peer payments. (new watchOS features wwdc 2024)
