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Apple Seeds Third Beta of watchOS 3.1 to Developers

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Apple today seeded the third beta of watchOS 3.1 to developers for testing purposes, just over one week after seeding the second beta and a month after releasing watchOS 3 to the public. watchOS 3.1 has been in testing since September 21.

watchOS 3.1 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 must have 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the charger, and it must be in range of the iPhone. watchOS 3.1 requires an iPhone running iOS 10 to install.

watchos3.1beta.jpg

watchOS 3.1 appears to focus on bug fixes and under-the-hood performance improvements rather than outward-facing changes, as no new features were discovered in the first two betas. Should any changes be found in the third beta, we'll update this post.

watchOS 3 brings a new interface to the Apple Watch, with a dedicated App Dock and instant launch apps. There are new Activity sharing features, a "Breathe" app guides you through daily deep breathing sessions to cut down on stress, and there are new Reminders, Find My Friends, and Heart Rate apps.

Three new watch faces are included, and an SOS feature can automatically call emergency services. A revamped Messages app makes it easier to reply to incoming texts, plus there's a new "Scribble" feature for writing replies on the Apple Watch face with a finger. For more details on what's new in watchOS 3, make sure to check out our watchOS 3 roundup.

Article Link: Apple Seeds Third Beta of watchOS 3.1 to Developers
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/10/12/apple-seeds-watchos-3-1-beta-3/
Did you guys know that:

watchOS 3 brings a new interface to the Apple Watch, with a dedicated App Dock and instant launch apps. There are new Activity sharing features, a "Breathe" app guides you through daily deep breathing sessions to cut down on stress, and there are new Reminders, Find My Friends, and Heart Rate apps.​

Wait, you probably do since MR posts this paragraph in every watch article, and has been doing so since June.
 
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Jeremy1026 said:
Did you guys know that:

watchOS 3 brings a new interface to the Apple Watch, with a dedicated App Dock and instant launch apps. There are new Activity sharing features, a "Breathe" app guides you through daily deep breathing sessions to cut down on stress, and there are new Reminders, Find My Friends, and Heart Rate apps.​

Wait, you probably do since MR posts this paragraph in every watch article, and has been doing so since June.
Click to expand...

You should get your money back.
 
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I hope it'll soon be released. Bought the Series 2 with hopes of a blazing fast smart watch. Instead I get messages that don't always send or receive, apps crashing repeatedly or apps that take forever to load. Not what I had imagined before buying this.
 
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Fzang said:
I hope it'll soon be released. Bought the Series 2 with hopes of a blazing fast smart watch. Instead I get messages that don't always send or receive, apps crashing repeatedly or apps that take forever to load. Not what I had imagined before buying this.
Click to expand...

Strange, I get none of this on my series 2 (or my series 0 that I sold). Have you tried un-pairing and re-pairing?
 
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Watch OS should employ iPhone-like grids of app icons, round icons if necessary, but nevertheless, home screen grids. Would be more consistent with the Apple ecosystem are more user-friendly. Possibly rounded-recs, even. Apple could keep the zoom feature if they liked, where it would just lessen the numbers of apps per grid. The current messy honeycomb system is cute for a first look, but is impractical for regular daily use. I think home screen-like grids on the watch would be attractive and would elegant pave the way for app folders and eventual complete device independence, virtual SIM, LTE and full cellphone functionality. For now though grids would be nice.
 
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Mac Fly (film) said:
Watch OS should employ iPhone-like grips of app icons, round icons if necessary, but nevertheless, home screen grids. Would be more consistent with the Apple ecosystem are more user-friendly. Possibly rounded-recs, even. They could keep the zoom feature if they liked too, where it would just lessen the numbers of apps per grid. The current messy honeycomb system is cute for a first look, but is impractical for regular daily use. I also think home screen-like grids of round icons on the watch would be attractive and would elegant pave the way for app folders and eventual complete device independence, virtual SIM, LTE and phone functionality.
Click to expand...

I would like grids fine, and I like the current system fine—though I wouldn't use either more than occasionally. (The dock is the main app launcher.)

Things like folders would be neat if traditional "apps" made sense on a watch—but they don't. Apps are a nice extra I wouldn't want to live without (and I DO need the docked and complication versions) but that app launcher won't ever be a central thing the way it is on a phone.

And battery life aside, full phone independence is never going to give you an equally usable screen.

I love my Apple Watch—but the things it's good at are different things than the phone. (Or let me quickly see/do something simple without fishing out my phone.)
 
I hope this update fixes the drain on my iPhone battery. Got my iWatch 2 just last week and now I'm beginning to regret parting with my cash. Prior to the purchase my battery life (6S) was bearable now I'm lucky if it lasts till mid afternoon!
 
nagromme said:
And battery life aside, full phone independence is never going to give you an equally usable screen.
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I never said it would give you a equally usable screen as a smartphone. Also never is a long time. At some point Apple Watch can make calls and send messages over LTE without an iPhone around. That's a safe prediction. At some future juncture something like an LTE Apple Watch plus a small spare magnetic battery cube of sorts would be the ultimate camping companion for those who want a break from their smartphone.
 
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Jeremy1026 said:
Did you guys know that:

watchOS 3 brings a new interface to the Apple Watch, with a dedicated App Dock and instant launch apps. There are new Activity sharing features, a "Breathe" app guides you through daily deep breathing sessions to cut down on stress, and there are new Reminders, Find My Friends, and Heart Rate apps.​

Wait, you probably do since MR posts this paragraph in every watch article, and has been doing so since June.
Click to expand...

Honest question here: Do you want them to re-word/re-write that paragraph for every article or do you think it would be best without that wording at all? I understand how this is frustrating for regular readers of MacRumors (myself included), but if someone were to be sent a MacRumors link to an article or read an article out of context, I feel like it's good to have some information about the new OS features. I feel like MacRumors does a pretty good job of burying that text at the end of articles (as they probably realize most people have already read it before), but I think it'd be an oversight to assume every reader already knows all of the watchOS 3 features.
 
WitneySi said:
I hope this update fixes the drain on my iPhone battery. Got my iWatch 2 just last week and now I'm beginning to regret parting with my cash. Prior to the purchase my battery life (6S) was bearable now I'm lucky if it lasts till mid afternoon!
Click to expand...
Wait - what? Your Apple Watch is draining your iPhone battery? As in, if you unpaid the two, your iPhone sees significantly improved battery life?
 
MrGimper said:
But iOS betas get put in the main feed, as do macOS betas....
Click to expand...
Apple sometimes releases notes or the updates are more obvious for iOS. There's literally nothing to share about this beta as nobody knows what improvement(s) are being made.
 
Jeremy1026 said:
Did you guys know that:

watchOS 3 brings a new interface to the Apple Watch, with a dedicated App Dock and instant launch apps. There are new Activity sharing features, a "Breathe" app guides you through daily deep breathing sessions to cut down on stress, and there are new Reminders, Find My Friends, and Heart Rate apps.​

Wait, you probably do since MR posts this paragraph in every watch article, and has been doing so since June.
Click to expand...

Feel free to ignore that paragraph if you've seen it! I include it for readers who maybe don't catch every post we do and aren't as familiar with the new operating system updates.
 
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jclo said:
Feel free to ignore that paragraph if you've seen it! I include it for readers who maybe don't catch every post we do and aren't as familiar with the new operating system updates.
Click to expand...

How long do you intend to continue to use it? Personally I think that going on 5 months of use, in a 12 month release cycle might be a bit excessive.
 
Fzang said:
I hope it'll soon be released. Bought the Series 2 with hopes of a blazing fast smart watch. Instead I get messages that don't always send or receive, apps crashing repeatedly or apps that take forever to load. Not what I had imagined before buying this.
Click to expand...

Strange. I've NEVER experienced this on my original Apple Watch since moving to WatchOS 3.
 
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just got apple watch series 2... very happy. dictation is reliable and fast for replied. home works well with hue lights. listening to music without phone is great. talking on phone via watch a little disappointing sound quality wise. sure, it could be faster and battery life longer but getting a full day is good enough.
 
Jeremy1026 said:
How long do you intend to continue to use it? Personally I think that going on 5 months of use, in a 12 month release cycle might be a bit excessive.
Click to expand...

I'll probably tweak it going forward based on feedback... it'll be shortened and then eventually eliminated as more people install watchOS 3. I do listen to you guys and take into account what you have to say when I'm writing posts!
 
Fzang said:
I hope it'll soon be released. Bought the Series 2 with hopes of a blazing fast smart watch. Instead I get messages that don't always send or receive, apps crashing repeatedly or apps that take forever to load. Not what I had imagined before buying this.
Click to expand...

I'm looking forward to 3.1 with high hopes as well.

I bought a new Series 1 a week ago. I haven't experienced your loading problems, but apps do occasionally crash... and the watch itself has spontaneously rebooted on three different occasions. Plus sometimes (mainly when using Siri) it will just suddenly lose connectivity to my phone, even though they're on the same strong network - yet other times I can be a building away from my phone and the watch will relay phone calls or iMessages flawlessly.

It feels very much like the .0 experience we've come to know from the last several iOS releases.
 
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Jeremy1026 said:
How long do you intend to continue to use it? Personally I think that going on 5 months of use, in a 12 month release cycle might be a bit excessive.
Click to expand...
Get a life and over yourself, Jeremy. No one asked your armchair opinion on what MR should include in their articles.
 
The ability to add Bluetooth cadence monitor and to share Apple Watch activities to 3rd parties with GPS map such as Strava would be a great addition.
 
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