Apple Seeds Fourth Beta of watchOS 9 to Developers

[MacRumors]

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming watchOS 9 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new beta coming three weeks after Apple released the third beta to developers.

To install ‌watchOS 9, developers will need to download the configuration profile from the Apple Developer Center. Once installed, ‌watchOS 8‌ 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.

watchOS 9 introduces four new watch faces, including Lunar, Playtime, Metropolitan, and Astronomy, plus it includes updates to some existing watch faces and complications. The ECG app now supports AFib History for tracking how long a person has been in atrial fibrillation.

The sleep tracking feature now includes sleep stages, letting the Apple Watch track when users are in REM, Core, or Deep sleep, and Apple has added a Medications app. The Medications app lets users manage and track their medications, vitamins, and supplements, with reminders when it's time to take them.

Updates to the Workout app add custom workouts and improvements for runners, triathletes, and swimmers. Fitness+ workouts now support streaming to certain third-party TVs for those who don't have an Apple TV, and notifications have been redesigned to be less obtrusive when the watch's screen is active.

Other new features include a CallKit API that allows VOIP calls to be answered on Apple Watch, Apple Watch Mirroring for controlling the Apple Watch with an iPhone, Quick Actions for doing more with a double pinch gesture, and updates to the Reminders and Calendar apps.

Article Link: Apple Seeds Fourth Beta of watchOS 9 to Developers

 

[Smith288]

Fixes include:
"Ambiguous Bug fixes"

 

[chickeneaster]

I might install the second public beta on my watch, really curious

 

[BarrettF77]

For the most part the first PB has been mostly stable. Better than ones last year and better than watch os 8 for sure.

 

[chickeneaster]

For the most part the first PB has been mostly stable. Better than ones last year and better than watch os 8 for sure.

That's good to know!

 

[CMoore515]

Dev beta not OTA yet

 

[Funny Apple Man]

* cries in Apple Watch Series 3 *

 

[Rychiar]

I just want more customization on the photo face or at least a centered layout

 

[nortonandreev]

Are the gradients on the Modular face new? Looks nice!

 

[drak22]

my watch is preparing the update, I hope that in half an hour I get it xD
any appreciable news?

 

[ndouglas]

I’m not sure if anything more interesting is going to be in this update, but, new watch faces are always welcome!

Will be cool to see if the REM sleep tracking works well and matches up with my Fitbit REM sleep info.

 

[mavis]

So I posted this in the Watch forum but hopefully some people will see it here:

Don't reboot your watch on watchOS 9b4! Edit: rebooting didn't fix it, but a hard reset did. Hold the Digital Crown and side button, until the watch powers off.

I installed watchOS 9 beta 4 on my S7 today, and the first thing I checked once it finished was Airplane Mode mirroring (it was broken on b3 and it remains broken on b4 - Focus mirroring works fine, but Airplane Mode doesn't) ... so I rebooted both my iPhone and my watch. Big mistake.

After rebooting, none of my third-party app complications are visible. The complications are not selectable while editing watch faces directly on the watch (only Apple's stock app complications show up). I can see the complications on my iPhone, but setting them up in the iPhone's Watch app doesn't actually make them visible on the watch. So Carrot, HeartWatch, etc - nothing works.

Just an FYI. It worked after updating to b4, but not after rebooting. YMMV, but this is what happened to me.

 

[trifero]

So I posted this in the Watch forum but hopefully some people will see it here:

Don't reboot your watch on watchOS 9b4! Edit: rebooting didn't fix it, but a hard reset did. Hold the Digital Crown and side button, until the watch powers off.

I installed watchOS 9 beta 4 on my S7 today, and the first thing I checked once it finished was Airplane Mode mirroring (it was broken on b3 and it remains broken on b4 - Focus mirroring works fine, but Airplane Mode doesn't) ... so I rebooted both my iPhone and my watch. Big mistake.

After rebooting, none of my third-party app complications are visible. The complications are not selectable while editing watch faces directly on the watch (only Apple's stock app complications show up). I can see the complications on my iPhone, but setting them up in the iPhone's Watch app doesn't actually make them visible on the watch. So Carrot, HeartWatch, etc - nothing works.

Just an FYI. It worked after updating to b4, but not after rebooting. YMMV, but this is what happened to me.

I don´t care to test a Beta in my Iphone, as I can revert easily. But I have never tried in my Apple Watch.

 

[BriceApp]

So I posted this in the Watch forum but hopefully some people will see it here:

Don't reboot your watch on watchOS 9b4! Edit: rebooting didn't fix it, but a hard reset did. Hold the Digital Crown and side button, until the watch powers off.

I installed watchOS 9 beta 4 on my S7 today, and the first thing I checked once it finished was Airplane Mode mirroring (it was broken on b3 and it remains broken on b4 - Focus mirroring works fine, but Airplane Mode doesn't) ... so I rebooted both my iPhone and my watch. Big mistake.

After rebooting, none of my third-party app complications are visible. The complications are not selectable while editing watch faces directly on the watch (only Apple's stock app complications show up). I can see the complications on my iPhone, but setting them up in the iPhone's Watch app doesn't actually make them visible on the watch. So Carrot, HeartWatch, etc - nothing works.

Just an FYI. It worked after updating to b4, but not after rebooting. YMMV, but this is what happened to me.

I noticed this too after rebooting. I uninstalled Outlook on my watch for example and reinstalled it. I was able to then get it to work as a complication on my watch again.

 

[mavis]

I noticed this too after rebooting. I uninstalled Outlook on my watch for example and reinstalled it. I was able to then get it to work as a complication on my watch again.

Cool! That was going to be the next thing I tried. But the hard reset cleared it up for me, for all of my apps and watch faces.

 

[drak22]

This beta 4 has not been good for my series 7. The battery seems to drain randomly, besides the fact that last night I did not record the sleep data, despite having activated and deactivated it, data simply does not appear. I also spend 12% of battery in 4 hours, too much it seems to me. Do you notice a functioning like this, or is it going well for you? I have to say I reset the clock this morning, but it doesn't seem to have done much.

 

[honglong1976]

Finger pointing to 3rd party apps causing battery drain

 

[drak22]

Finger pointing to 3rd party apps causing battery drain

I don't have any apps on the watch, I even have most of the native apps uninstalled because I don't use them. They could already provide watchOS with a sample screen of real battery consumption, and not the garbage that it has now.

 

[BriceApp]

Under normal usage I am seeing battery drain around 3% an hour, which seems closer to watchOS 8 than the battery drain I was seeing on beta 3. This is on a series 7 45mm.

 

[_Spinn_]

Interesting that this came out a day later than the other developer betas.

 

[gank41]

So I posted this in the Watch forum but hopefully some people will see it here:

Don't reboot your watch on watchOS 9b4! Edit: rebooting didn't fix it, but a hard reset did. Hold the Digital Crown and side button, until the watch powers off.

I installed watchOS 9 beta 4 on my S7 today, and the first thing I checked once it finished was Airplane Mode mirroring (it was broken on b3 and it remains broken on b4 - Focus mirroring works fine, but Airplane Mode doesn't) ... so I rebooted both my iPhone and my watch. Big mistake.

After rebooting, none of my third-party app complications are visible. The complications are not selectable while editing watch faces directly on the watch (only Apple's stock app complications show up). I can see the complications on my iPhone, but setting them up in the iPhone's Watch app doesn't actually make them visible on the watch. So Carrot, HeartWatch, etc - nothing works.

Just an FYI. It worked after updating to b4, but not after rebooting. YMMV, but this is what happened to me.

I came here to post this as well. Still missing all 3rd party app complications.

 

[mavis]

I came here to post this as well. Still missing all 3rd party app complications.

Even after a hard reset?

 

[gank41]

Even after a hard reset?

Looks like a FOURTH hard reset fixed it. I had cycled thru a few watch faces and those complications needed to be re-added again, but the other watch faces are still good.
😰

 

[gank41]

I realize it's pretty quick turnaround regarding an opinion on this latest beta, but besides what initially scared the heck out of me being fixed, I'm seeing a bunch of improvements. Generally speaking, battery life is poor to abysmal during the Watch betas, and I've been getting excellent battery life. Charged up to 100% yesterday around 4pm, wore it to bed and woke up with 57% battery this morning. I set it on the charger just now to top it off and roughly 10-15 min later I'm back to 100%. I've also had issues with my S7 Watch not remembering my wireless SSID here at home, and if it does, it keeps that 'Private' setting enabled which then triggers my Xfinity app to let me know a 'NEW' devices has connected.. I wish they'd just give us an option to turn that off all together. But, anyway, it's remembering my SSID and that I had Private turned off..

 

[Fordski]

I'm noticing that sleep stages data is not being reported on this beta; it worked on pervious betas. I have 2 Apple Watches (S4 and S6) and neither one reports sleep stages. Anyone else experiencing this?