Apple has shown a preview of watchOS 8, with impressive new features that make this operating system, the most advanced in a travel device, even more useful for users who want to stay healthy, active and connected.
Updates to the Wallet and Home apps make Apple Watch an increasingly practical tool for users to open the door of their car, home, office or hotel.
The Breathe app has been redesigned and incorporates new Tai Chi and Pilates workouts that help users lead a more active and healthy life, as well as improve their mental well-being. Plus, with the new Portraits face and improvements in Messages and the Photos app, it's easier than ever to stay in touch with loved ones.
Greater access with Wallet
With Apple Watch, using Apple Pay and Wallet to pay securely and contactlessly in stores or on public transit is incredibly easy.
In watchOS 8, Wallet offers users even more powerful ways to access the sites and items that matter most without contact, securely and easily.
The ultra-wide band, first announced at WWDC 2020, is now also arriving on the Apple Watch Series 6 digital car key.
This way Apple Watch owners can safely unlock their car remotely and start it from the driver's seat. 1
Starting this fall, users will also be able to add home, office or hotel room keys to their Wallet and unlock those doors with the touch of their Apple Watch. Two
Later this year and initially in the participating states of the United States, users will be able to add their driver's license or ID to Wallet. Certain security checks from the US Transportation Security Administration will be the first place users will be able to use their digital documents.
New Home app
The Home app has been redesigned in watchOS 8 to offer more convenient access to the most appropriate accessories and environments for each moment, as well as being able to control accessories by room.
Users with a HomeKit compatible camera will be able to see who is at the door just by looking at their wrist. Additionally, Apple Watch users can tap Intercom to quickly send a message to the whole house or to a specific room via HomePod, HomePod mini, or other personal devices.
New types of training
watchOS 8 introduces two very popular new types of training that are perfect for both physical and mental health: Tai Chi and Pilates.
These new workouts are based on powerful and validated heart rate and movement algorithms and provide users with highly accurate data.
A new way to practice mindfulness
Now more than ever, we are all aware of the importance of finding moments throughout the day to be more present. In watchOS 8, the Breathe app becomes the Mindfulness app, which includes an improved Breathe experience and a new session called Reflect.
Reflection offers a one-minute concentration exercise that can be done anytime, anywhere. Each Reflect session welcomes the user with an exercise that invites him to adopt a positive attitude.
For example, the user may see something like “Remember a recent moment when you felt calm and try to bring that feeling into the present” or “Think of something to be grateful for and why it's so important to you. ".
The Breathe and Reflect experiences also provide tips for users to get more out of each session and include beautiful new animations.
Respiratory rate during sleep
Today, Apple Watch helps users achieve their sleep goals by establishing a bedtime routine and recording data such as the amount of time they spend awake, heart rate and blood oxygen.
With watchOS 8, users have even more insight into their overall health, as they can also record their breathing rate (the number of breaths per minute) while they sleep. To do this, the Apple Watch accelerometer measures breathing rate during sleep, and this information can be viewed in the iPhone Health app, along with the trend over time.
This data is also available for developers to use in HealthKit.
Portraits and photos of the sphere
The Photo watch face is the most popular watch face on the Apple Watch, and watchOS 8 now offers users new ways to view and interact with their favorite photos from their wrist.
In the new Portraits sphere, iPhone portraits come to life with a multi-layered wrap-around effect that intelligently recognizes faces in photos and crops them to make the subject stand out.
The Photos app has also been redesigned and now offers new ways to view and navigate collections. Plus, memories and featured photos are synced to Apple Watch, and photos can be shared via Messages and Mail with the new Share menu.
Messages and contacts
Communicating with Apple Watch is now easier with new messaging tools. Users can combine handwriting, dictation and emoji in the same message.
For dictated messages, they can change the displayed text. To easily express a message, users simply type in a word or phrase and choose from hundreds of popular GIF options.
watchOS 8 also brings the Contacts app to the Apple Watch and offers an easy way to find, add, edit and share contacts right from the app.
Concentration
watchOS 8 lets you use Focus, a powerful set of tools available in iOS 15 to help users reduce distractions and focus on the present.
Apple Watch will automatically sync with whatever Focus settings have been configured in iOS to filter notifications from people and apps based on what the user is doing.
Focus leverages built-in intelligence technologies to provide usage pattern-based suggestions, for example, when starting a workout on the Apple Watch, Fitness Focus is suggested.
Other new features of watchOS 8
- I multiple timer they come to Apple Watch with watchos 8 and can be assigned a specific label with Siri (such as "washing machine timer" or "kitchen timer").
- There are multiple apps in watchOS 8 that take advantage of display technology always active, including Maps, Mindfulness, Now Playing, Phone, Podcast, Stopwatch, Timer and Voice Notes. watchOS 8 also makes it easier for developers to keep their apps updated with a new one Always-on API for third party apps.
- To help Apple Watch users with upper limb disabilities, AssistiveTouch allows one-armed use of the Apple Watch by detecting simple hand gestures so they can interact without touching the screen. Thanks to the built-in motion sensors, users can answer incoming calls, control a motion pointer on the screen and open a menu of actions that can access the Action Center, Control Center and much more.
- A new app Find items on Apple Watch allows users to find marked items on the Find network and the new app Find devices helps find lost Apple devices connected with the same Apple ID.
- THE Music app has been redesigned to allow users to share songs, albums and playlists via Messages and Mail and enjoy the best music and radio shows in one place.
- Weather app now includes notifications adverse weather, which display official warnings about certain adverse weather conditions. The app also includes alerts for precipitation in the next hour and has complications updated.
- The family settings now include the ability to add transportation cards for Hong Kong, Japan, and some cities in mainland China and the United States, and Calendar and Mail offer the option to add a Google account.
- AppleFitness+, the first fitness service developed entirely for the Apple Watch, expands its watchOS 8 offering with Picture-in-Picture support and new filter options. In addition, users can stop and resume the training they are doing on any device. At the end of the month, Fitness + will present a new series of workouts featuring Jeanette Jenkins, one of the most sought-after fitness experts, and a new series of featured artists with workouts with full playlists from Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Alicia. keys.
Privacy
Apple believes that privacy is a fundamental human right. And it's especially important in the areas of health and people identification, which is why health data is encrypted on the device or in iCloud with iCloud sync. The wallet's identity documents are encrypted and stored in the Secure Element, the same technology that makes Apple Pay a totally private and secure service. Apple cannot see when or where these digital documents are displayed when using your driver's license or ID.
Availability
The watchOS 8 developer beta is available to Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com starting today.
The public beta for watchOS users will be available next month on beta.apple.com. watchOS 8 will be available this fall as a free update to Apple Watch Series 3 or later, paired with an iPhone 6s or later running iOS 15.
Some features may not be available in all regions, languages or devices. Benefits are subject to change. Learn more at apple.com/watchos/watchos-preview.
1. Digital car keys require a participating car manufacturer and will be available later this year. 2. Compatible locks for home, office and hotel rooms are required to use the new keys in the Apple Wallet app and will be available from third-party manufacturers.
