Apple Releases watchOS 8.6 With ECG Support in Mexico

[MacRumors]

Apple today released watchOS 8.6, the fifth major update to the watchOS 8 operating system that launched in September 2021. watchOS 8.6 comes two months after the launch of watchOS 8.5, an update that brought new emojis, Apple TV purchase authorization, and more.

‌‌watchOS ‌8.6 can be downloaded for free through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General > Software Update.

To install the new software, the Apple Watch needs to have at least 50 percent battery, it needs to be placed on a charger, and it needs to be in range of the ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌‌‌‌‌.

According to Apple's release notes, watchOS 8.6 expands ECG functionality and irregular heart rhythm detection to Mexico.

Article Link: Apple Releases watchOS 8.6 With ECG Support in Mexico

 

[t0rqx]

fix Siri and HomeKit processes via Apple Watch!

 

[Alfred.Woodden]

Hmm, isn't this more of a 8.5.2 update?

 

[Corsig]

Well I guess it’s good news for Mexico today everyone else will be waiting for June’s announcement

 

[JCCL]

With all the drugs-related violence, I’d be happy to just have a heart rhythm in Mexico…

And believe it or not, I have lived my close to 40 years in Mexico, never had anything stolen and my family hasn't either had any issue, never seen anyone firing a gun (fingers crossed it continues like that).

Fortunately, unlike the mass shootings in other regions, the drug related violence in mostly between the competing cartels, but it does take innocent lives and bystanders as well. Worst part is that the government doesn't even acknowledge it as a problem - so it is not looking like will get better any time soon.

 

[Mr. Dee]

I’m already groaning how painful this will be to upgrade. It’s the only aspect that sucks about the Apple Watch experience.

 

[DamonOrl]

Hoping this fixes the inconsistent fast charging issue.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Says my watch is up to date at 8.5.1

edit: nvm now it's there.

 

[Jimmy_Banks]

8.5 resulted in noticeably worse battery life, hopefully this resolves that.

 

[JM]

I love that purple watchOS 8 graphic.

 

[dbwie]

I am not able to download this update yet. Watch app says “checking for update” in an endless loop. I have been able to download and install all other updates that came out today.

UPDATE: I discovered that my Apple Watch had run out of storage space. I removed some podcasts and music playlists, and the install went forward as normal.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

8.5 resulted in noticeably worse battery life, hopefully this resolves that.

Same for me. I’ve also got my fingers crossed. I turned AOD back on and will give it a test run tomorrow.

 

[chineseguy38]

The purple Apple watch looks nice. Where can I get that?

 

[CarlJ]

I love that purple watchOS 8 graphic.

I want that damn band - they keep making me think I missed something.

 

[Zmmyt]

Is the podcast app finally fixed? Can’t get it to work, keeps crashing.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

My battery life is much better on 8.6. Seems back to normal.

 

[deathnite]

ECG app is now at version 2.19T572.
See spoiler for all regions where it's available.

Spoiler: ECG app history

watchOS 5.1.2: ECG app v1.1 (initial US release)
watchOS 5.1.3: ECG app v1.2
watchOS 5.2.0: ECG app v1.10 (now available in Hong Kong and Europe: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK)
watchOS 5.2.1: ECG app v1.13 (additional European countries: Croatia, Czech, Iceland, Poland, and Slovakia)
watchOS 5.3.0: ECG app v1.18 (now available in Canada and Singapore)
watchOS 5.3.1: ECG app v1.18
watchOS 6.0.0: ECG app v1.30
watchOS 6.0.1: ECG app v1.30
watchOS 6.1.0: ECG app v1.50
watchOS 6.1.1: ECG app v1.51
watchOS 6.1.2: ECG app v1.51
watchOS 6.1.3: ECG app v1.52
watchOS 6.2.0: ECG app v1.70 (now available in Chile, New Zealand, and Turkey)
watchOS 6.2.1: ECG app v1.70
watchOS 6.2.5: ECG app v1.80 (now available in Saudi Arabia)
watchOS 6.2.6: ECG app v1.80
watchOS 6.2.8: ECG app v1.90 (now available in Bahrain, Brazil, and South Africa)
watchOS 7.0.0: ECG app v1.18R395 (now available in Colombia, Israel, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates)
watchOS 7.0.1: ECG app v1.18R395
watchOS 7.0.2: ECG app v1.18R402 (Resolves an issue that prevented some users from accessing the ECG app in regions where it is available)
watchOS 7.1.0: ECG app v1.18R590 (now available in Republic of Korea and Russia)
watchOS 7.2.0: ECG app v2.18S563 (now available in Taiwan. Cardio fitness notifications. AFiB notifications: Atrial fibrillation classification at heart rates above 100 BPM now offered in the ECG app in most regions where the app is available)
watchOS 7.3.0: ECG app v2.18S801 (now available in Japan, Mayotte, Philippines, and Thailand)
watchOS 7.3.1: ECG app v2.18S811 (update only for the AW5 and AW SE)
watchOS 7.3.2: ECG app v2.18S821
watchOS 7.3.3: ECG app v2.18S830
watchOS 7.4.0: ECG app v2.18T195 (now available in Australia and Vietnam)
watchOS 7.4.1: ECG app v2.18T201
watchOS 7.5.0: ECG app v2.18T567 (now available in Malaysia and Peru)
watchOS 7.6.0: ECG app v2.18U63 (now available in 30 New Regions: Andorra, Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cook Islands, Cyprus, Dominica, Estonia, Fiji, French Southern Territories, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Guernsey, Haiti, Isle of Man, Jersey, Monaco, Montserrat, Nauru, Norfolk Islands, Seychelles, Slovenia, St. Barthélemy, St. Helena, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Martin, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Ukraine, Vatican City)
watchOS 7.6.1: ECG app v2.18U70
watchOS 7.6.2: ECG app v2.18U80
watchOS 8.0.0: ECG app v2.19R346 (now available in Lithuania)
watchOS 8.0.1: ECG app v2.19R354
watchOS 8.1.0: ECG app v2.19R570
watchOS 8.2.0: Apple skipped this one
watchOS 8.3.0: ECG app v2.19S55
watchOS 8.4.0: ECG app v2.19S546
watchOS 8.4.1: ECG app v2.19S550
watchOS 8.4.2: ECG app v2.19S553
watchOS 8.5.0: ECG app v2.19T242 (Updates to irregular heart rhythm notifications designed to improve atrial fibrillation identification)
watchOS 8.5.1: ECG app v2.19T252
watchOS 8.6.0: ECG app v2.19T572 (now available in Mexico)

 

[ruslansv]

Apple today released watchOS 8.6, the fifth major update to the watchOS 8 operating system that launched in September 2021. watchOS 8.6 comes two months after the launch of watchOS 8.5, an update that brought new emojis, Apple TV purchase authorization, and more.

‌‌watchOS ‌8.6 can be downloaded for free through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General > Software Update.

To install the new software, the Apple Watch needs to have at least 50 percent battery, it needs to be placed on a charger, and it needs to be in range of the ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌‌‌‌‌.

According to Apple's release notes, watchOS 8.6 expands ECG functionality and irregular heart rhythm detection to Mexico.

Article Link: Apple Releases watchOS 8.6 With ECG Support in Mexico

So iOS 15.5 along with 8.6 re-introduced a nasty bug (that was fixed in iOS 14 and was originally introduced in one of the minor releases for iOS 13) that would cause accelerating watch battery drain because of healthd daemon in iOS consuming excessive CPU.

Now sure what kind of QA apple does ...

If you look under Privacy/Analytics - you'd notice healths-cpu.resource log files starting to show up in some quantity - that's the symptom of the issue. Please report to Apple if you see this - the only way to get their attention.