Apple Seeds Fifth Beta of watchOS 6.1 to Developers

[MacRumors]

Apple today seeded the fifth beta of an upcoming watchOS 6.1 beta to developers, a week after seeding the fourth watchOS 6.1 beta and over a month after releasing the watchOS 6 update with full App Store, new Apple Watch faces, and more.

Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the new watchOS beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General > Software Update.

To install the update, the Apple Watch needs to have over 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the charger, and it has to be in range of the iPhone.

There were no major changes found in the first four watchOS 6.1 betas, so it's not entirely clear what's included in the update, but we'll update this article should new features be found in the fifth beta. The update may be focused on bug fixes and under-the-hood performance improvements.

watchOS 6.1 does work with the Series 1 and Series 2 Apple Watch models, which were excluded from the watchOS 6 release.

Apple said that watchOS 6 would come to the older Apple Watch models at a later date, so it's possible watchOS 6.1 will be the first version of watchOS 6 to work with the Series 1 and Series 2 Apple Watches.

Article Link: Apple Seeds Fifth Beta of watchOS 6.1 to Developers

 

[FishyFish]

Absolutely stunning. Thanks Apple!

 

[Eorlas]

Absolutely stunning. Thanks Apple!

anything about it in particular that is stunning?

 

[FishyFish]

I’m just loving watchOS 6.1 beta 4 so far!

 

[RicD]

anything about it in particular that is stunning?

My guess, being available for older V1 and V2 versions (a good gesture); mine is V3 LTE. The article states “...The update may be focused on bug fixes and under-the-hood performance improvements...”, always welcomed.

 

[Benz63amg]

I’m just loving watchOS 6.1 beta 4 so far!

What are you loving about it so much lol? It’s identical to watch OS 6.0.1

 

[FishyFish]

What are you loving about it so much lol? It’s identical to watch OS 6.0.1

I haven’t experienced that! I really liked beta 4 but beta 5 is just amazing. Speedy, flawless, great battery life. I’m still at 86% with always on display on, where with 6.0.1 I would be at 40% at this part of the day.

It’s just a phenomenal update.

 

[Braderunner]

What are you loving about it so much lol? It’s identical to watch OS 6.0.1

Shortcuts on Watch work again. Definitely not identical.

 

[DeepIn2U]

what about proper sync'ing of iMessages in iCloud promise 2yrs ago?! Delete on Watch deletes on iPhone, iPad, and Mac's that are signed into same iCloud account and visa-versa?!!!

what about that broken promise/!/ ??!!
Craig/!

 

[Bazooka-joe]

I haven’t experienced that! I really liked beta 4 but beta 5 is just amazing. Speedy, flawless, great battery life. I’m still at 86% with always on display on, where with 6.0.1 I would be at 40% at this part of the day.

It’s just a phenomenal update.

So public release next week alongside the 13.2 for the phones, iPads, ATV and MomePods?

 

[NavySEAL6]

Does this address battery life? Is there any chance my brand new Series 5 will at least match the battery of my two year old S3?

 

[pauljdurack]

Is anyone else irritated that for watch series 3 have a truncated app list, At minimum we’re missing the new hearing app and for what reason?

 

[mlody]

Cant wait for the update to become available for s1/s2 owners. My reminder app on my s2 is broken since I upgraded to ios13

 

[SRLMJ23]

Is anyone else irritated that for watch series 3 have a truncated app list, At minimum we’re missing the new hearing app and for what reason?

Only Series 4 & Series 5 support the "Noise App."

I am sure Series 3 could support the "Noise App," however, I feel like the Series 4 was lucky to get it!

Usually the newer features like that are reserved for the latest model of the Apple Watch, in this case, Series 5.

On a side note, you really are not missing much. I turned it off on my Series 5, because it is a battery drain especially if you have the Noise App as a complication, where it shows the decibel level all the time. Maybe once watchOS 6.1 comes out, and whatever was causing the bad battery drain just in general (not just because of the Noise App) is fixed, a lot of us can turn back on the Noise App.

Also, I have been running the watchOS 6.1 beta 4 (going to upgrade to 6.1 beta 5 right after this post) and battery life is WAY, WAY better than watchOS 6.0 and I believe watchOS 6.1 beta 2. It was either 6.1 beta 2 or 3 that actually made the battery worse than the first beta and basically the same as watchOS 6.0