25 New Features You May Have Missed in watchOS 11

Is there a setting you can adjust so that you can access control center by sweeping up from the bottom of the screen? Still haven’t gotten used to the side button.
 
RIDICULOUS that you can’t play audio through the speaker on the Ultra 1. This is so petty of Apple, I will not buy a new watch just for this, absolutely bonkers. IMG_5713.jpeg
 
Since upgrading to Watch OS 11 I no longer have the Explorer watch face. This was nice because it displayed the cellular strength right on the screen. Has anyone else had this issue? I don’t even see it listed in the OS11 users guide but it is listed for Watch OS 10.

Apple Watch faces and their features

Your Apple Watch comes with a variety of watch faces, most of which you can customize.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
 
I w
yossi said:
Finally ready to upgrade from my Series 3 Cellular- I imagine the performance will be a huge jump?

The only thing I am debating is just going with GPS to save $70 and also $10/month. I don't go running and I can't remember the last time I went somewhere with just my watch. I guess for the once a lifetime situation where my phone is dead and I need my watch, but is that worth it? Has anyone gone back from cellular to GPS and had regrets?
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I went from a Series 4 cellular straight to Ultra 2 last year. The jump was colossal. The battery life, the display, the responsiveness of the interface - all on a whole new level. I'm sure the jump to a series 10 gps Watch is going to be quite dramatic.
You need to weigh the pros (there are no downsides imo except for the additional cost) of having LTE on your Watch. I'd go for it. As the saying goes - "Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it."
 
Is there a way to allow Music Recognition to always be on and listening for music? Google has that on the Pixel line and it was a feature I really liked.
 
redbeard331 said:
RIDICULOUS that you can’t play audio through the speaker on the Ultra 1. This is so petty of Apple, I will not buy a new watch just for this, absolutely bonkers.View attachment 2427872
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As an AWU1 owner, I completely agree.
Let's be very generous and assume sleep apnea requires a new SOC, but the speaker. It's a small feature but still...

I remember during the AWU2 launch, Apple had to explain and demonstrate that real hardware modifications were necessary for the new Double Tap/finger gesture feature. In the past, most of us as Apple customers were used to receive any new features or software improvements each year, provided the hardware could support them.

Nowadays, both with the Watch and the iPhone, it’s becoming less clear what truly requires new hardware versus what is arbitrarily locked to newer models. While it’s understandable that as new features become scarce, Apple needs to create some differentiation, it feels like breaking the golden rule we had so far. I can’t help but wonder where this will lead us if we accept this as consumers.
 
By the way, I forgot to say that I love articles like this. Most of the time, I really couldn't be bothered to spend time watching some long video about new features (e.g., keynote address). I rather have a series of articles that provide details. Easier to digest, but more importantly, much faster for me to reading and skim than listen and watch a video!
 
Godspeed8230 said:
I did that in January and while I am overall very happy with my Series 9 GPS (coming from watchOS 8 and Series 3) I still haven't found a way to really like the Smart Stack and the fact that Control Center is now on the side button. I don't know, this disrupts my workflow every single time. What is more, I really don't like the giant clock and date when you open up the Smart Stack - it's feels so out of place and it is utterly useless.
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Agree, wish there were a way to disable Smart Stack/widgets altogether but that’s unlikely to happen. At least no clock and display at least 2 widgets
 
windywalks said:
What's wrong with a quick summary?
Not everyone is a tech enthusiast and this may come in handy instead of a drivel infused, monetized YouTube presentation.
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Exactly! I am a tech enthusiast, but I don't like to follow those videos and long-ass product feature pages. I much rather have journalists re-package the information for me such as articles like this that talk about "less well-known features" or even other articles that talk about "here are the new privacy features", etc. The journalist's role in this case is to both provide a frame and a summary.
 
Don't forget that deleting messages off the watch now deletes them off the phone. I hate this. I understand some folks like this but give us the option to keep them on the phone if we want to delete the messages off the watch. I keep messages on my phone for work and family but don't need dozens and dozens of messages on my watch.
 
cool new features. Unfortunately, battery life of my series 7 took a serious nose dive after upgrading. My watch is dead by six. Before I could easily go full day.
 
Correction to an error in the article. The Reflection face DOES support complications if you set it to the circular layout instead of the fullscreen layout.
 
ELman said:
Since upgrading to Watch OS 11 I no longer have the Explorer watch face. This was nice because it displayed the cellular strength right on the screen. Has anyone else had this issue? I don’t even see it listed in the OS11 users guide but it is listed for Watch OS 10.

Apple Watch faces and their features

Your Apple Watch comes with a variety of watch faces, most of which you can customize.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
Click to expand...

I’ve read this at 9to5mac I guess but it is removed.
 
Had missed pretty much all of these, lol.

BTW, turning the crown does not reveal any notifications for me. I saw someone else said it worked for them. Odd.

Edit: And now it worked. Huh.
 
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Why don't they just create a "watch face kit" for users or developers to make their own watch faces instead of getting stuck with Apple's old, tired faces?

The number one use for my apple watch is to check the time so watch faces are important. There are all these fake apps advertising these amazing watch faces for Apple Watch which tells you there is a demand.

This is why I went to a Garmin. There are many more faces available and you can make your own. When Apple allows 3rd party faces, I'll switch back.
 
Music complication for watch faces removed - so frustrating. Now Playing doesn't help - you can get to your current playlist but not change playlists. :(
 
I updated today and wish I didn't bother. It's practically reset everything, miles are now KM, in the exercise app I now have tons of exercises I had already removed. What a pain in the backside as I've now got to set it up again...
 
Hmm, just popped in to see what I might be missing since my Watch Series 5 is apparently obsolete now. Is it worth me buying a new Apple Watch now? I think I might wait for some extra health capabilities that might arise in the next year or so…
 
You forgot to mention how the Timer widget is now kind of ruined since the Last Timer one now starts your last timer instead of just taking you to all your timers.. and the new one with 3 timers also.. to go to the full timer app you need to meticulously tap the "Timer" word on the widget... same thing with the new workout widget showing your three recent workouts.. Kind of sucks, wish they let us or made one of the three icons on each timer/workout widget a button for the full app.
 
Super pleased we finally got offline Apple Maps for the Apple Watch. When offline Apple Maps was announced for the Apple Watch last year, it was logical for me that it would be for storing offline maps on your Apple Watch, then all of a sudden I noticed your iPhone needed to be near it for it to work. I was furious about that. Glad it's finally here.
 
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