Apple Releases watchOS 9.4 With AFib History Expansion and Changes to Mute Gesture to Prevent Accidental Alarm Cancellation

[MacRumors]

Apple today released watchOS 9.4, the fourth major update to the watchOS 9 operating system that first launched last September. watchOS 9.4 comes two months after the release of watchOS 9.3.

watchOS 9.4 can be downloaded for free through the Apple Watch app on the iPhone by opening it up and 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.

The watchOS 9.4 update adds support for new emoji characters that include donkey, goose, black bird, shaking head, hyacinth, pea pod, and more. The update also introduces a change to wake-up alarms, preventing them from being silenced with the mute gesture to prevent accidental cancellations.

AFib History and Cycle Tracking have been expanded to new countries, with Apple's full release notes for the update below.

watchOS 9.4 includes improvements to Apple Watch and brings features to new regions.

• Wake-up alarms are no longer silenced with cover to mute gesture to avoid accidental cancellations during sleep
• Cycle Tracking with retrospective ovulation estimates and cycle deviation alerts now supported in Moldova and Ukraine
• AFib History now available in Colombia, Malaysia, Moldova, Thailand, and Ukraine

For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222

watchOS 9.4 is expected to be one of the last updates to the watchOS operating system as Apple works on transitioning to watchOS 10, expected to be previewed at WWDC in June.

Article Link: Apple Releases watchOS 9.4 With AFib History Expansion and Changes to Mute Gesture to Prevent Accidental Alarm Cancellation

 

[sjsharksfan12]

And the long wait to the update begins. Good thing I got a stand hour in before I updated. Hopefully it doesn't take more than an hour to update.

 

[HiVolt]

Odd, my watch says "Unable to Check for Update". Currently updating my iPhone so I dont want to initiate it from there.

 

[sjsharksfan12]

I have the watch on the Charger and it's still saying paused.

Apple needs to make updating the watch a little more simplistic because this is dumb.

 

[surfzen21]

Nice surprise as I expected this tomorrow.

I think Ill still wait for tomorrow to update. 😅

 

[tipoo]

Now could it not blare green light into the bedroom when it moves .001mm on the charger, especially if it's fully charged?

 

[jbachandouris]

28 minutes and it’s still ‘preparing’ AW Ultra.

 

[sjsharksfan12]

28 minutes and it’s still ‘preparing’ AW Ultra.

It's been close to 25 minutes and it's still stuck on updating. I'm seeing it fluctuate between 1 and 2 hours. Again, this is dumb.

 

[jbachandouris]

Finally started actually updating 30 minutes in from start. 10 minutes installing so far.

My biggest annoyance is the fact that you have to babysit your device to click install and enter password. What part of download AND install didn’t you get?!?!?

 

[CaptMarvel]

I am assuming lots of Apple Watch users were inadvertently cancelling their alarms? Is this from wild sleeping or…? Serious question.

 

[izzle22]

Odd, my watch says "Unable to Check for Update". Currently updating my iPhone so I dont want to initiate it from there.

The watch checks for updates through the phone so if your phone is updating your watch will be unable to check for updates.

 

[Brad7]

Turn Bluetooth off and update via Wi-Fi. I did that last time and it was much faster.

 

[Dan From Canada]

Odd, my watch says "Unable to Check for Update". Currently updating my iPhone so I dont want to initiate it from there.

I got the same message while updating my iPhone.
The phone finished updating and now my watch is updating.

 

[sjsharksfan12]

The watch just finished downloading. That whole process took a little less than an hour and a half. That just seems too long for a watch.

 

[PrecisionGem]

Thank god! New emoji. Glad to Apple so many useful new features.

 

[SipperGW]

i hope they enhanced the battery runtime…

 

[HiVolt]

I got the same message while updating my iPhone.
The phone finished updating and now my watch is updating.

Yeah, I'm curious if it had to do anything with the iPhone updating at the same time... I have done this before, btw, start the update process on my iPhone, and simultaneously on the watch itself without issue.

 

[HiVolt]

The watch checks for updates through the phone so if your phone is updating your watch will be unable to check for updates.

I have done this before though several times, and it let me do it.

 

[rjjacobson]

Did seem to be the longest install I have seen. Half hour to download on my iphone, then better part of hour to process, and then have to be there to see the need to press update and input my code. So like most here on my new Ultra it took better part of two hours. I assumed ultra would have been faster?

 

[sean+mac]

Wake-up alarms are no longer silenced with cover to mute gesture to avoid accidental cancellations during sleep

Finally! I was surprised more people didn't comment on this much needed change, but found the article on the topic on Thursday which is where everyone went to vent / express relief. I'll see myself out.

 

[_Spinn_]

Wake-up alarms are no longer silenced with cover to mute gesture to avoid accidental cancellations during sleep

Looking forward to this.

 

[Dranix]

My Watch6 battery has gone from 77% to 81% in the recalibration.

 

[ahmoda]

Finally! I was surprised more people didn't comment on this much needed change, but found the article on the topic on Thursday which is where everyone went to vent / express relief. I'll see myself out.

After I updated my watch yesterday, I woke up late because my alarm muted without pressing anything. it is not working unfortunately

 

[ProfessionalFan]

Thank god! New emoji. Glad to Apple so many useful new features.

New features rarely come in point releases from any company but go off.

 

[iStorm]

My S7 took about a half hour to update. I initiated the update on the watch itself. It downloaded in a few minutes, ~20 mins preparing, then popped it on the charger and took ~10 mins to verify and update.

After I updated my watch yesterday, I woke up late because my alarm muted without pressing anything. it is not working unfortunately

I think the key word is "wake up" alarms. Wake up alarms are done through the Sleep app, not the regular Alarms app. But yeah...wish they would have done the same thing to regular alarms too (or "Other Alarms", as the app calls them).