Apple Seeds Fourth Beta of watchOS 8.6 to Developers

[MacRumors]

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming watchOS 8.6 beta to developers for testing purposes, with the new software coming a week after the release of the third beta.

To install ‌‌‌watchOS 8‌‌‌.6, developers will need to download the configuration profile from the Apple Developer Center. Once installed, ‌‌‌watchOS 8.6 can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General > Software update.

To update to new software, an Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery life, it must be placed on the charger, and it needs to be in range of the ‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌.

We don't yet know what's included in the watchOS 8.6 update, and no new features have been discovered in the beta so far.

Article Link: Apple Seeds Fourth Beta of watchOS 8.6 to Developers

 

[gomichaelgo]

Weird, I am currently downloading the ios beta, and don't see the watch one at all.

 

[boxermansr]

Weird, I am currently downloading the ios beta, and don't see the watch one at all.

Same; it shows on the developer portal, but even after several restarts of watch and phone, it's not showing.

Edit: it's live now.

 

[Hails09]

Hi same here I’ve managed to download every other beta

 

[Hails09]

Hi same here I’ve managed to download every other beta

Hi it’s showing up now

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Wonder what the point of a 8.x release is without anything new.

Possibly something coming at WWDC like the classical music app that will be thrown in at the very end?

 

[gomichaelgo]

Same; it shows on the developer portal, but even after several restarts of watch and phone, it's not showing.

Edit: it's live now.

Yeah, it showed for me as well after my phone completed i checked again.

 

[WaruiKoohii]

Wonder what the point of a 8.x release is without anything new.

Possibly something coming at WWDC like the classical music app that will be thrown in at the very end?

Primarily bug fixes

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Primarily bug fixes

Is that common to have a .x release for bug fixes? I thought if it was just bug fixes we’d get 8.5.2?

 

[WaruiKoohii]

Is that common to have a .x release for bug fixes? I thought if it was just bug fixes we’d get 8.5.2?

Depends on how much is being fixed. A small number of changes will usually get you a point release, like 15.4.1. But a more substantial number of changes will typically result in a larger version increase, like 15.5.

 

[Pcar17]

For what it’s worth, I used to routinely download the watchOS betas to the watch via the Watch app on my iPhone. But I have found that downloading direct to the watch seems to be much faster and a cleaner process as well as I can update the watch and the iPhone at the same time.

 

[ArmCortexA8]

Still not showing on my Apple Watch Series 7 yet the new betas for iOS / iPhone appear - very odd indeed. Even when I forced the watch to check for updates - nothing showing.

UPDATE: Software update appeared this morning.